Lisa Barrett's stylish Canberra home

Who lives here
Part-time designer and founder of Tango & James, Lisa Barrett with husband Chris, who works in IT security, and sons Dyan, nine, and Hugo, seven, and dogs Jersey and Brindi.

What we did
"The interior was pretty daggy, but we knew it had loads of potential," says Barrett. "The great surprise was how much light was really coming in, which is beautiful,. It was all very beige, old daggy carpet and uncool colour schemes. We've stripped it all back and taken up the carpet and we redid the pine floors in Black Japan finish, which we absolutely adore. So much drama with the white walls as well. There's also interesting wall panelling, which came up really beautifully in the white paint. It just adds a really nice textual layer."

Our favourite room
"Equally the lounge room and our main bedroom just because they both have beautiful north-facing windows and the light is just lovely coming in. Beautiful views and just lovely light in both of those rooms [and] they're both quite spacious."

The 'hood
"We're quite close to the little Cook shops, where there's a groovy new cafe [named] Little Oink. They've got some beautiful food down there. It's super cute," says Barrett. "We also have a beautiful walking trail right behind our house at the gates out to Mount Painter Reserve, which is gorgeous. [It's] great to explore and we're heaps closer to the city than we used to be."

Future plans
"I love what we've done so far. I wasn't in love with the house when we were first looking at it [but] now that we've put our stamp on it and made these changes I absolutely adore it," says Lisa. "Certainly the bathrooms would be something I would love to do, but yeah, that's not something we've had money for in the budget right away. Also, definitely on the plans for next year, [we] will be painting the exterior white. A Spanish house has to be white, not scrambled-eggs yellow!"

Check out more of Lisa's style at  www.tangoandjames.blogspot.com and www.chicmyhouse.blogspot.com