Melbourne’s Best Interior Designers: Creating Beautiful and Functional Spaces
4 min
Melbourne has a well-deserved reputation for elegance and style with interior design, and with so many to choose from (especially if money is no object!) we thought a short list of the best interior designers, was needed. Please note, these are in no particular order, because everyone is quite frankly, fabulous.
Simone Haag
An impressive portfolio of stand-out projects is the calling card for Simone Haag. Her website opens with a quote from editor of Vogue Living, which is pretty impressive. Young, enthusiastic, brave. Her studio core values are Discovery, Connection, Significance and Belief. Her “Art House” is a firm personal fav.
Christopher Elliott Design
The Richmond base designer has an elevated contemporary style, that transforms spaces in a thoughtful, memorable and meticulous manner using bold colours, clever use of light and interesting textures.
Flack Studio
Just flip through The Elwood House pictures to see the breadth of design expression that comes out of this studio, both residential and commercial. They master the contemporary elegance brief with ease, while still allowing a ‘touch of daring’ as they say, to create a holistic design.
Megan Hounslow
Is it okay to say Megan Hounslow’s paintings are in fact what attracted me first? A bit off topic, but then again maybe not. The Hounslow touch is pictorial and nuanced. The Netherby House project is a study in rapport between contemporary and heritage aesthetics.
Nickolas Gurtler Office
With studio values, such as ‘transportive, immersive and thought-provoking’ , it is no wonder the studio has such an impressive following in residential and commercial design. Their talented curation of items is an art form in itself.
Heartly
This Abbotsford studio, which offers full architectural services, has an unpretentious honesty that creates happy spaces. Their profile says “interiors created by Heartly are creative, confident, practical and beautiful”, and that’s true. They were shortlisted in the 2022 Australian Interior Design Awards for Canning Street Cottage.
Mr. Mitchell
If repeat and referral business is a signpost to a good studio, then Mr Mitchell deserves to be right up there. Twenty-three years in business, and still producing vital, magazine worthy spaces that will outlast fads and trends – because as we all know, elegance is forever in style. His Mittagong project? To die for.
Alexander Pollock
Aaron Wong leads the award-winning Alexander Pollock team as they create outstanding interiors for private residential and commercial residential projects. While all the homes are Insta worthy, their command of eclectic design is outstanding – the Kew House, for example, is brilliant.
Six Pieces Interior Design
Finding the perfect piece for the space is a drawcard to this full-service design studio. Although mentioned in other studios, the quality of 2D and 3D renders is fantastic here, guided by the fully qualified and experienced principals Caroline Lawton and Titia Huggard.
Camilla Molders Design
Not just a great place for design, but also a strong advocate for environmental responsibility. But back to interior design, with 20 years’ experience under her belt, contacts and resources are no issue for the studios informed, bespoke designs – from lofts to mansions, this practice is a go to.
Is it better to hire an interior designer?
Interior designers can be a better option if you’re designing a whole house because they can oversee the entire project for a more cohesive look. Interior designers also have access to trade prices, and often have longstanding relationships with trades and suppliers that can lead to lower costs, a smoother project and a better outcome in the long run.
How much does an interior designer cost in Melbourne?
Like most things, you get what you pay for. An inexperienced designer may charge between $50 to $90 per hour, but the average cost is between $100 and $300 per hour. It’s best to discuss budgets and expectations upfront to avoid disappointment or confusion.
At what stage should I hire an interior designer?
If you’re building a house, it’s wise to get an interior designer on board as early as possible, ideally during the planning stage. Often, they can help with critical details such as kitchen layout, storage options and materials selection, which will give you a realistic idea of budget.
How do I find the right interior designer?
Social media is your friend here. Many interior designers are active on Instagram, posting progress images, as well as finished spaces. Just be careful to check that the images they post are their own work. Alternatively, word of mouth is still a valuable source. If you visit a house, a restaurant or even a boutique hotel you like, ask who designed it. Be sure to create your own portfolio of images to take to your first meeting to help convey your ideas.
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Elon Musk is exploring a potential merger between Tesla and SpaceX, a deal that could reshape the future of AI, robotics, autonomous vehicles and space technology. With a combined valuation potentially reaching $3.5 trillion, the move could bring Musk’s vision of an interconnected technology ecosystem closer to reality, although a deal remains uncertain.
5 min
Elon Musk has engineered ties between Tesla TSLA 3.41%increase; up pointing triangle and SpaceX SPCX 7.79%increase; up pointing triangle that are hard to break, and now he wants to fuse them together permanently.
Musk has run both Tesla and SpaceX concurrently over the past two decades, using a schedule that dictated which days he spent focused on each business.
The companies have often shared resources and personnel, signaling their close ties. Last year, SpaceX looked into creating a spacesuit for Tesla’s humanoid robot Optimus, a person familiar with the matter said. Tesla last week showed off its new Roadster, a vehicle featuring SpaceX rocket thrusters that it hopes to soon bring to market.
And in recent months, Musk has repositioned both companies by expanding beyond their core operations toward a shared mission centered on artificial intelligence.
The world’s richest man on Tuesday signaled his interest in tying up SpaceX and Tesla, marking what would be the biggest corporate merger of all time. Because he serves as chief executive of SpaceX and Tesla, Musk said committees of independent directors at both companies are evaluating a possible deal, adding that a transaction might not come to fruition.
The committees will likely evaluate, with lawyers and bankers, how each company would fare in a potential deal and how a deal might best be structured. They then present their conclusions to their respective boards, who typically vote on whether to proceed.
“It’s an odd Kabuki dance where two groups of people are talking and I can’t be in the conversation,” Musk told SpaceX investors on Tuesday in response to an analyst’s question about a potential deal.
For Musk, the merger supports his vision of a world full of autonomous cars, humanoid robots and weekly rocket launches, as well as the data centers and satellites required to keep the whole thing running.
Some investors and analysts said they expect a transaction would be structured as an all-stock deal, with SpaceX potentially paying a modest premium for Tesla shares.
SpaceX, which has a market value of about $2 trillion, said it is seeing sharp growth in revenue across its businesses, which include operating data centers, launching rockets and operating satellite networks such as the internet service Starlink. Tesla is valued at about $1.5 trillion and is expanding its operations beyond its automotive and energy business. Shares in both companies traded higher following the news Tuesday.
Musk’s substantial ownership stakes in both companies, along with voting control at SpaceX, has enabled him to set the deal in motion. Analysts and investors said the deal will probably face regulatory scrutiny internationally, though some see Musk’s close relationship with the Trump administration as an asset to getting approval.
Blurred lines
The companies haven’t said which directors are on the special committees evaluating a potential deal. Several SpaceX and Tesla board members have either personal or business ties to Musk. And like Musk, venture capitalist Ira Ehrenpreis sits on both boards.
In a filing this week, Tesla outlined millions of dollars in business agreements with SpaceX and its subsidiaries last year, including $143 million in car sales to SpaceX, $3.3 million in advertising that it bought on the social-media platform X and $430 million in revenue from the sale of Megapack batteries for SpaceX’s data centers.
The companies also split the cost of resources including the use of Musk’s SpaceX jet and the bill for his personal security, which he runs through a private company.
Employees at both companies routinely move between companies to work on special projects, and some executives have dual roles, including Charles Kuehmann, vice president of materials engineering at both SpaceX and Tesla, and Ashok Elluswamy, the vice president of AI software at Tesla who runs a joint venture with SpaceX called Digital Optimus.
Over the years, Musk has launched new startups within his empire, including brain-implant company Neuralink, underground-tunnel developer the Boring Company and xAI, the AI startup that merged with SpaceX in February.
It is that AI business that Musk thinks can serve a market worth tens of trillions of dollars, justifying the need for a merger.
The business case goes like this: Tesla is developing robotaxis and robots, which it calls “physical AI.” SpaceX is working on the back end of physical AI: the data-center capacity and internet connection required for those robotaxis and robots to operate continuously.
“I don’t see what the value of Tesla is if it’s not merged with SpaceX,” said investment adviser Ross Gerber, a former Tesla bull turned critic invested in both companies. “If they don’t merge, the brains of everything that runs Tesla is owned by another company.”
On top of it all, both companies face constraints on the supply chains they need to make this world a reality, particularly when it comes to chips. To address this, Musk earlier this year announced a joint venture between Tesla, SpaceX and Intel to design and manufacture chips in Texas. “The most epic chip-building exercise by far,” he has said.
Musk at the wheel
For Musk, a merger would also solve two problems: demands on his attention and his lack of control at Tesla.
Tesla for years was Musk’s only public company, a status that came with greater scrutiny. There, Musk reports to a public board, as well as individual investors who make up around 30% of Tesla’s voting power, according to FactSet.
The question of Musk’s attention became a particular focus for investors and the board in recent years after he acquired Twitter in 2022 and launched xAI in 2023, and again in 2025 as he spent time in Washington, D.C., running the Department of Government Efficiency in the early months of President Trump’s second term.
As Tesla’s car business suffered in 2025, Musk threatened to take his AI ambitions outside the company if he wasn’t granted 25% voting control. Last November, Tesla shareholders approved a new pay package for Musk, which created a path for him to vastly expand his stake.
As of Sept. 30, Musk owned a roughly 20% stake in Tesla, according to the company’s proxy filing.
The SpaceX IPO gave Musk a different path. When SpaceX went public in June, the deal’s structure enabled him to have more than 80% voting power at the company—so much that he can’t be fired and decisions can’t be made without his support.
If SpaceX acquires Tesla, he will likely stay in control.
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