Bringing a taste of the world to the Coast
FROM her time as a jetsetting Qantas flight attendant, Kristin Gilford was inspired by the architecture and design style of the countries she visited.
“I got a lot of my design inspo globally and because I studied interior design after school, it’s something I always wanted to do,” she said.
But a job with Qantas beckoned and for the next 15 years she worked with the airline, based out of Coolangatta and Brisbane flying to destinations in Asia.
“I started to cut back on work (with Qantas) after I had kids, so that gave me more time to look into opportunities to do design work,” she said.
“There wasn’t anything on the Coast which resonated with me, so that’s where the idea for the business came from.”
Joining forces with her mother Mary, who came out of retirement to handle the financial side of the business having worked as the CEO of a radi
ology company in Newcastle during her career, and with Ms Gilford as the creative force, Bungalow Interiors was born in 2014.
“We started in a small shop in Runaway Bay and almost a year later we took over the hairdresser next door after they left,” she said.
“Not long after that the Blockbuster Video store closed down and we took over that space, and then in our third year we added the coffee shop.
“We’ve got over 500 square metres of space with a mezzanine now and I think that’s enough.”
Located on the outside perimeter of the Runaway Bay Shopping Centre, Bungalow Interiors has an Aladdin’s Cave of products for the home from napiery and cushions to furniture and rugs.
The showroom floor and retail space is the central point where clients can come and get a feel for Ms Gilford’s design aesthetic, which she describes as “intrinsic and global”.
“We have a real relaxed luxury feel, nothing is too matchymatchy, it’s definitely curated as I like having pieces you can’t get from anywhere else,” she said.
“I source a lot of authentic unique pieces for clients, who have become our friends.
“I love not making it cookie-cutter for them, we want it to be unique, different and certainly not perfect in the way that I might have pieces from Morocco, India, the Far East, South Africa or even the U.K. in the one collection.”
The other arms to the business include property styling, interior design as well as a small range of clothing and the showroom’s espresso bar, which serves Botero Coffee.
“We are a family business and while I’m partners with my Mum, I’m also partners with my brother-in-law in the coffee shop and my daughter Maddison runs the clothing boutique,” she laughed.
“We love keeping it in the
family, and our staff are like family as well.”
While the showroom is the beautiful face of Bungalow Interiors, it’s the property styling division of the business which Ms Gilford loves the most.
“I just love the before and after’s as its really rewarding going into a space and turning it around,” she said.
“I love seeing the looks on people’s faces after you’ve styled their home because you can transform it into something they don’t think is possible.
“A lot of them say that they don’t want to sell it now.”
With all her regular overseas travels, the next frontier for Bungalow Interiors is to create her own range.
“We will start small and build from that,” she said.
“I won’t rush it, I don’t want the collection to be like what everyone else has.”