How to make over your home beauty business, by a Googong mum

Suzi Trajkovska is one of those women who loves organising. Cupboards, home offices, pantries and closets: the messier the better. She has systems for her systems and has had an eye for creating beautiful rooms ever since she was little.

Suzi works as a family daycarer from her home suburb of Googong, but recently started taking Fridays off to spend time completely making over the rooms of homes in surrounding suburbs. It all started when Suzi made over her own pantry, and a girlfriend demanded she come and do the same for hers.

“It was not an intentional start to a business,” Suzi laughs.

“But more and more people heard about what I could do and started contacting me.”

Today, her interior decorating business Edited Living Co is thriving — she gets most new clients by word of mouth — and Suzi’s Fridays are booked solid doing what she loves: researching interior trends, finding furniture for clients (recycled where possible) and shopping at Kmart.

Her most recent project included surprising her niece, Gabriella, with a brand new look for her home business, Beauty by Gabriella.

“Gabriella has had a pretty tough couple of years, including losing her mum,” Suzi says.

“I wanted to do something really special for her.

“We agreed to meet the Saturday after Anzac Day to talk about her desires for the room but I actually snuck in while she was away on the Anzac Day long weekend and did the makeover for her.”

Here’s the approach Suzi took.

Start with three words you want the space to feel.

“For Gabriella’s therapy room I chose modern, luxurious and relaxing. Modern is about a neutral colour palette and relaxing is about minimalism, having spots for things and reducing clutter.”

Invest in an excellent bed.

“In a home beauty business, your clients spend most of the time laying down. The most important thing you can invest in is a comfortable place for them to do this.

“Spend most of your budget on this, and you can decorate around it on a budget.”

Curtains make the room.

“Window dressings can make or break a room so we stripped back Gabriella’s old curtains and put in a sheer curtain from Freedom. The room was instantly transformed.”

Repurpose what you have.

“A lot of what you see, Gabriella already had in the room. It just needed a new set of eyes and some accessories to bring it to life.

“The baskets, marble-look trays are from Kmart and the big banana leaf plant in the corner is from Spotlight. All sourced locally in Queanbeyan and on a budget.”