Queen of interiors Anna Spiro says keep the colour

Some rooms in Anna Spiro’s Birkdale home are muted, others are full of daring bright hues.

Anna Spiro at home north of Brisbane. Picture: Glenn Hunt

Brisbane interiors queen Anna Spiro is worried about the disappearance of the Sunshine State capital’s vibrant colours.

“The whole movement of people wanting to go ‘Hamptons’ — why be something we are not? It’s so sad when Queensland has so much magnificent colour,” Ms Spiro said.

“Why are we constantly looking to Sydney and Melbourne for inspiration when we have all we need here?”

The designer is well known for her vibrant styles. Her eye was behind the striking choices at the award-winning Halcyon House boutique hotel at Cabarita Beach, on the NSW North Coast, and can be seen through her textile works at Anna Spiro Designs, based in Brisbane’s inner-city New Farm.

Ms Spiro’s home in the Redlands suburb of Birkdale, southwest of Brisbane, is the area’s original homestead which dates back to the 1880s. However, opening the front door one is met with a modern clash of colour.

Anna Spiro’s Birkdale house is the area’s original homestead, dating back to the 1880s.

As she looks around the entry way of the property, the designer muses: “Queenslanders, they forgive and forget.

“We can simply live in them and enjoy them without needing to worry.”

Some rooms are muted white but highlighting accents of colour, like the country galley-style kitchen with its blue ceramics and gold hardware.

Other rooms are full of daring bright hues, one made up of vibrant orange and yellows with floral patterned curtains, and another with cotton candy pink walls and emerald green skirting boards and door frame, brought together by a colourful antique Chinese shawl draped across the bed.

Cotton candy pink walls and emerald green skirting boards. Picture: Glenn Hunt

Ultimately, it all comes down to the three key elements of playfulness, quirk and quality.

While the home is highly curated with antique finds such as the handpainted Hungarian chair in the entry way, the presence of her kids, Harry, 17, and Max, 10, are scattered throughout.

Whether it is a painting on an art wall positioned next to a prized collectable or a ­handmade gold duck that sits on the mantle of the working fireplace in the kitchen, everything has its place.

Books, magazines and textured artworks are scattered across surfaces and nestled against the walls in most rooms. Ms Spiro said all the seemingly mismatched pieces had complementary elements to make people feel comfortable, inviting guests to flip through a book in one of the many armchairs and lounges.

The final product is a home of colour, pattern and texture that is warm and inviting.

But all things must come to an end, with the decorator listing her home through Sarah Hackett of Place Bulimba last week.

The final product is a home of colour, pattern and texture that is warm and inviting. Picture: Glenn Hunt

Before Ms Spiro’s purchase of the historic property 10 years ago, previous owners extended the home to create a guest wing, attaching a Queenslander of a similar vintage from Bardon, west of Brisbane.

One potential buyer of the homestead had expressed plans to uproot the homestead, much to Ms Spiro’s dismay.

“I feel like that is why I am so scared of selling this house and what people might do to it,” she said.

Anna Spiro is selling the Birkdale property and turning her attention to a new project closer to the beach which, she pledges, will be more understated. Picture: Glenn Hunt

Over the several years she has owned the home, she has welcomed many people who once lived there through the historic doors, and hopes that one day her boys will be able to return and do the same.

Ms Spiro recently sold her Stradbroke Island holiday home within walking distance of Home Beach and Adder Rock after she was approached by a pair of buyers from Brisbane.

On why she has decided on selling her Birkdale residence, the designer said she was after a new project closer to the beach, pledging her next property will be more understated.

One of the projects also drawing her attention is her next book on interiors, due to be published by October 2021.

Offers on the property will close at 4pm on September 15.