Inspiration, Ideas & Insights for Your Next Chapter
The Luxe Journal
Welcome to The Luxe Journal—your curated space for all things design, downsizing, and elegant living. Whether you’re planning a move, refreshing your home, or simply browsing for beautiful ideas, you’re in the right place.
At Luxe Domain, we believe every transition should feel empowering—not overwhelming. That’s why our blog is filled with practical advice, design inspiration, sentimental styling tips, and expert insights from Kym Lackmann’s 20+ years in the industry.
This is more than a blog—it’s your trusted guide for living beautifully, with less.
The final questions you need to ask yourself before downsizing
In our final newsletter for the year I’d like to finish the five key questions you need to ask yourself before downsizing… Are you planning to repurpose existing furniture or buy new? We’ve had so many clients who are attached to favourite sofas, armchairs or even tables. Aside from the fabulous variety…
Having a place for everything in your new home
Well, having returned from a refreshing holiday in Sardinia and Rome, I’ve been busy catching up with work back in Melbourne, so haven’t been able to put pen to paper, so to speak. And of course, now we’re all galloping towards Christmas! Being able to visit Italy…our first overseas holiday since 2018, was more than…
Sardinian Iron Work
In terms of inspiration, again I hark back to our time in Italy. We rented a villa in Sardinia in an area on the west coast, called Punta Molara…which is a small peninsula on the west coast. Most of the houses in the area where we stayed were made from the local stone or built…
Fabulous books
While away I read two wonderful books which I’d like to pass onto you… ‘The Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop’ … An autobiography of Alba Donati who finally realises a long held dream of opening a tiny bookshop in Tuscany. How she creates the most beautiful environment for her community of customers to visit…during Covid…
Beguin, by Casamance
As part of their new release of fabrics, Casamance have produced a positively joyful multicoloured weave upholstery weight fabric. Multicoloured weaves are not a style of fabric I normally like, mainly because I feel from a distance they can read as a ‘melange’ of nothingness. However, this is not the case with Beguin, which comes…
Scale and Capacity
Continuing with the essential questions to ask yourself before plunging into downsizing, in my earlier piece I focused on the importance of lifestyle considerations, but now you need to consider the scale and capacity of your new home. With scale and capacity, obviously it’s important to understand how many bedrooms you’ll need, how many bathrooms…
Faucet Strommen
We recently met part of the family behind Faucet Strommen at Design Show Australia. As farmers in the Mallee in a former life, I was so thrilled to discover Faucet Strommen who offer high-quality Australian made tapware and fittings, all designed and made in Kerang, Victoria. Their beautiful range of products are designed and…
Aliro Collection by ABI Interiors
Let’s talk about grab rails! Long have they had a negative sentiment, but we’ve found someone who is flipping that idea on its head! Meet the Aliro Collection from ABI Interiors. Not just for the infirm, these very ‘non-hospital issue’ rails help when it comes to shaving legs, when you’ve dropped the soap or need…
Radar Two-Pack Coating
As much as I love sourcing mid-century furniture for my clients I know some have been reluctant to purchase dining tables. This is largely due to their tendency to mark so easily, due to ‘water staining’, created from wet glasses or dinner plates. It was terrific to learn from Paul Ternent last week, owner of…
Fabric inspiration
I’m forever inspired by fabrics but one I found recently really captured my eye! ‘Lacis’ in the celadon colourway, is part of the L’ENOVOLÉ FANTASTIQUE collection by Lelievre Paris. An upholstery fabric, in the following photos it’s used for a corner armchair and in a mid-century sofa, both of which look beautiful, and incredibly fresh…
Essential questions before taking the plunge into downsizing
When downsizing, and beginning the search for your ideal apartment or townhouse, what starts out being an exciting exercise often ends up being confusing and demoralising. This potentially difficult and emotional time can be further exacerbated if you’re not clear about what your expectations are and what will be the deal breakers for you. For…
Shayle Flesser
Shayle Flesser is a practicing fine artist, known for her bright and bold contemporary abstract paintings. Shayle hand paints all of her artworks on-site in her Brisbane-based studio and Gallery. Shayle’s exhibition ‘Act of Love’ can be viewed at Forty Five Downstairs from 13th June – 24th June. fortyfivedownstairs 45 Flinders lane Melbourne 3000
Lucie Rie pottery
Lucie Rie was an Austrian-born British potter, born in 1902. Rie moved to London to flee Nazi Austria. Best remembered for her brightly coloured, delicate vase, bottle and bowl Modernist forms. Key developments in Rie’s career, include creating glazes with flowing or volcanic textures, as well as combining coloured clays before throwing to produce upward…
Fyber Cosmos Collection
The Fyber Cosmos collection is created using pre-consumer and post-consumer nylon waste, using recovered fishing nets, carpets and industrial plastics. Fyber continues to work with premium raw materials that are sustainable. Key characteristics of the recycled nylon collection are: Environmentally friendly Easy maintenance Soft touch with zero fiber loss Lustrous appearance How is the collection…
Dipping Light
The colours and vibrancy of the Dipping Light form a striking design. When turned on, its many shades of colour filter the light, making a lively surrounding impact. The layers of paint, which were created by repeatedly submerging a lit bulb in paint, moderate the light’s intensity. The Dipping Light is offered as a portable…
Fireside
The winter months are a great time to cosy everything up in your home and better still, if you have an open fireplace or slow combustion fireplace. There is nothing nicer than unrolling your fireside rug from its summer hibernation, pulling armchairs closer, adding a few more cushions and throws, and bringing out needlework or…
Home Office Tips
Comfortable and ergonomic chair to work in, as well as good sized desk for laptop and screens if required…making sure that both of these are beautiful as well as being functional, which will immediately motivate you to sit and use the space! Access to power points so you can set up a small printer, shredder…
Inspiration
Exhibition at Jacob Hoerner Galleries featuring artworks by Andrew Gritscher Andrew’s work is ‘acutely attuned to Contemporary culture, his ideas and musings on people and the world we live in are complex, informed and intriguing’. His work is bold, multilayered and overflowing with visual information. Exhibition dates March 23rd – April 15th 1 Sutton Place,…
Discover
Products we’ve used recently and worth considering even as we merge into winter months, plus a range of furniture we can’t wait to specify… No.1 We’ve been smitten by Gubi’s Basket Collection, designed by Joe Colombo. This delightful rattan range of armchairs and sofas is at once reminiscent of our grandparents’ cane and rattan pieces…
Creating the essential ‘luxury feeling’ of a main bedroom
With many of our downsizing clients they relish the opportunity to finally clear out the clutter in their lives, and to identify which of their belongings are truly important. The next step then is to create the home of their dreams minus the constraints imposed from having children or elderly parents living with them. Clients…
Q & A with Kym Lackmann
This month we speak to Kym Lackmann director of Luxe Domain, a specialist business helping people achieve their luxury downsizing dreams through advice and design services. Tying into our George + Powlett residences which have attracted interest from downsizers, we hear from Kym about the process she takes with her clients and what constitutes modern…