The Room Illuminated

Room 106- Tegan’s dining room

“The space is full of art which makes me happy. We have so many cute, beautiful things which I enjoy looking at day-to-day & that bring a smile to my face.  

“Spots the Banana Friend – our very serious-faced big giraffe dude Xander & I bought at the market one Sunday.”

‘Our lovely dining table was handmade by my poppy back in the day, so that’s a clear fave!”

“We love having flowers on the table, our retro fruit bowl filled & lit candles for dinner time.”

“I love being creative & making things. Decorating & hanging art in our home felt like the best little curatorial job!”

1. What’s the room and who uses it? 

It’s mine & my boyfriend Alexander’s dining room & we use it mostly (as you’d expect) for nice dinners. Alexander is a very good cook (lucky me) so most nights we eat dinner here. We love having flowers on the table, our retro fruit bowl filled & lit candles for dinner time. The room itself is rather open with our lounge & kitchen all very close.

2. What do you do for a crust?

I’m an artist, illustrator & curator. I also work at a cute gift shop in Hawthorn. Sometimes I help out at my mum’s party shop in Essendon & I also babysit. I love being creative & making things. Decorating & hanging art in our home felt like the best little curatorial job!

3. What goes on in the room?

Majority of dinners, sometimes board games, quite often I work on my laptop here too, an occasional puzzle, very occasional dance party & to be honest often folding clean clothes.

4. Favourite piece in the room and why?

Oh, that’s too hard to choose, there’s a bunch! Our lovely dining table was handmade by my poppy back in the day, so that’s a clear fave! I love all of our beautiful art on the wall- works by my talented pals, myself & artists I love. I also love all our knick knacks & nice books – clearly, I love a book about Bowie. Mr Sqiggly our umbrella plant is also a beauty, he’s one of the first plants Alexander & I bought together back when we first moved in together for a short-lived stint in Footscray earlier this year. How could I forget to mention too Spots the banana friend our very serious-faced big giraffe dude Xander & I bought at the market one Sunday.

5. Anything on your wish list that you would love to add to the space?

Oh, I’m always up for adding more little knicks knacks & pretty plants. I’m hoping to get a set of vintage ceramic flying birds to hang over near the kitchen, we just haven’t spotted the perfect trio from an antique shop yet. Also cannot wait to chuck a Christmas tree in here, I’ve had my eye on a pastel pink one for a while!

6. What do other people say when they see your room
for the first time?

Maybe that “it’s a lot” or commenting on how full it is. I do have lots of stuff & combined with Alexander’s stuff now we both have a lot of stuff! I love pretty things & we both wanted our home to be fun, cosy, colourful, quirky & uniquely “us” & I think we achieved that!

7. Why do you love this room?

There are lots to look at, which I love. The space is full of art which makes me happy. We have so many cute, beautiful things which I enjoy looking at day-to-day & that bring a smile to my face.

8. What’s one lovely memory you have whilst being in the room?

Mid year we had a bunch of friends over for my 29th birthday. We shimmied the dining room table near the wall, chucked some snackies on there (cheese, olives & chippies), put out some dance lights & had a boogie in the room- was lots of fun!

Follow The Room Illuminated on

Check out Tegan’s Instagram here.

This entry was published on December 2, 2022 at 8:00 am. It’s filed under Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.

Leave a comment