Our studio proudly defines ‘collaboration’ – each individual project is reviewed and contributed to by our highly experienced team, ensuring a comprehensive and well-rounded design outcome for you.
Our building is welcoming, sprawling and features a unique virtual reality space where you can view details of your new custom design as it will appear, exactly.
Our interior design studio sees you touch and experience Brisbane’s vastest selections of bespoke and newly released finish products (tiles, floor coverings, stone, tapware, etc) all in one place.
Our team is fanatical about best-in-class design and our client service – seamless. We’ve been designing Brisbane homes, renovations, extensions and interiors for more than twenty years. We are an award-winning studio, with long term referrals and repeat clients. Here’s who we are.
MELISSA WOODCROFT
Director / Licencee Building Designer / Interior Designer
Melissa’s focus is to see clients effortlessly move through to the building stage with the provision of comprehensive custom building and interior design plans. She loves working with challenging blocks and circumstances (e.g. builds on narrow blocks), thinking outside the box, and coordinating clients’ family home designs.
Melissa is tech-savvy, having introduced unique virtual reality technology to Concepts Unlimited Design. She has coordinated the building and interior design for seven of her own family’s homes (Melissa and her husband, Wade, have two young daughters).
Melissa is incredibly proud of our long-standing Concepts Unlimited Design team, and loves the collaborative approach for each client project, advocating that several designers’ input (as opposed to just one) delivers the most considered and well-rounded design outcome.
Licencee Building Designer
AMY ELDRIDGE
Principal Building Designer & Production Manager
Amy has been with us since 2009 and ensures smooth and comprehensive project ‘flow’. From the very beginning – the initial brief meeting through to obtaining Building Approval – Amy is your lady, hands-on and involved.
A significant part of Amy’s job is problem-solving, thus not surprisingly, she loves a challenge. As a Senior Building Designer Amy enjoys designing traditional homes with modern elements, advocating that the latter will always give something ‘extra’.
As for design rules – Amy advises that everyone should design for themselves but also keep resale in mind, know the limitations of their building site before they begin, and surround themselves with knowledgeable professionals (e.g. us!) to assist.
For the future, Amy predicts that Brisbane will see a continuation in demand for working-from-home and multipurpose spaces.
LISA WILKINSON
Senior Interior Designer
Locator of magical ‘unicorn’ products, storage queen and zero-waste warrior, our Interior Designer Lisa wears many ‘hats’ – and all of them brilliantly creative.
Lisa loves creating with concepts that explore textures and colour – a natural extension of her previous career in paint and wallpaper. Deep moody colours, lighting and artworks (and how they can all tie together) really excite Lisa, as do following trends emerging in Europe – typically indicative of what’s next design-wise in Australian homes.
How clients engage, or seek to engage with their kitchen guides Lisa’s understanding of their style preferences, with her precise and warm communication underpinning every brief.
Lisa’s own styling preference favours ‘transitional’ – a mix between traditional and modern – classic shapes paired with timbers and textures. And when she’s not with clients – you’ll find her at the ballet or at GOMA, enthralled with touring international art collections.
PATTI WOOLNOUGH
Administrator
Patti has been with our Concepts Unlimited Design team for two years, and we (and our clients) are incredibly grateful for her presence and skillset. She enjoys the fast-paced nature of the design work here, how diverse it is – in staff talent, project briefs, and clientele, and that no two days are the same.
The definitive ‘people person’, Patti welcomes and supports clients from initial consultation, right through to assisting with finding a builder, and beyond. She ensures our projects run smoothly and that clients are informed, excited and well looked after.
Patti’s favourite project we’ve designed is Project Welbeck, in Alderley, Brisbane. Her own style favours minimalism (she’s working very hard at it) and she also enjoys coastal design and interiors.
BRENDAN LARSEN
Senior Technical Drafter / Building Designer
Brendan has been with our design team since 2006, with component modelling and all-things ‘Revit’ his specialities.
He is a considered and deliberate operator, and astoundingly creative (and swift!) at technical custom componentry.
Brendan’s role and skill set see him draft initial concepts, bring sketches to life, right through to producing the ‘nitty gritty’ inclusions within detailed drawings.
Brendan loves a chuckle, considers himself a jack of all trades, master of a few, a lifelong learner and a proficient problem solver.
An invaluable member of our Concepts Unlimited Design team.
KARLI BRASS
Senior Building Designer
Karli joins our design team with a penchant for ‘enoughness’ and sustainability, focusing on essential elements designed well, ensuring the best outcomes and lifestyle for her clients and the environment.
Karli spends her time getting to know her clients first, meeting them in their current home, observing how the family lives, their needs, and their likes and dislikes, and then on the site of the proposed project, to guide her design for their future home.
As to what she admires, purely from an aesthetic perspective, Karli has enjoyed following the plight of the ‘Lamb House’ at Kangaroo Point, and other historical homes in and around Brisbane. The design detail, both internally and externally in these buildings, the intricate fretwork, beautiful timber stairwells, wrought iron, gable details and chimney stacks, reflect the true quality of craftsmanship and materials of the era. Karli feels in awe as she watches them restored to their former glory.
MARNEY LINDSAY
Senior Interior Designer
A multi-disciplinary artist, Marney is an Interior Designer who is passionate about designing for physical, and especially psychological health. Marney is so invested in the topic, along with a Bachelor of Interior Architecture she also has a Bachelor of Art & Design (Honours) in which she researched and contributed to the academic and real-world movement of ‘healthy architecture’. To put a finer point on it – research shows that people who work and live within spaces designed for holistic health are happier, healthier and more productive!
Marney describes her decorating style as ‘Edited Eclectic’ – she loves to curate spaces with new and ‘found’ pieces, which all work together to tell a client’s personalstory. Marney’s fine arts background sees her revel in assisting clients with their artwork selections. She also helps our clients to really visualize their new homes bycreating realistic rendered images and producing the Studio’s unique virtual reality experience where clients can (virtually) walk around inside their new home!
JOSH CLARKE
Building Designer
Josh is our newest Building Designer, bringing enthusiasm and design brilliance in spades. His focus is to design residential spaces that align with clients’ lifestyles and provide an adaptive built environment that can change with them throughout their lives. I.e. Future proofing design.
Josh describes his own home as a mixture of his partner’s desire to have it look like a showroom, and Josh’s requirement of space for his latest hobby.
On the weekends you’ll find Josh road-tripping, making/creating something, or planning both.
With a keen passion for all things ‘green’, Josh wants to see ‘green walls’ and roofs utilising greywater, made mandatory for all new high-rise construction projects. We’re with him too!
JOSH COLLIER
Building Designer
We welcome Josh as one of our new Building Designers, and as someone who has held a passion and nous for design since his high school days. Josh worked in construction in his ‘teens to gain exposure to design, which led to his eventual study in architecture. Following his Bachelor’s graduation (he is now completing his Masters), Josh had the fortune to contribute to various large-scale projects and finds it incredibly rewarding to see his designs built, and used by people every day.
Josh favours simplicity and uncomplicated design and views ‘structure’, as a design component, appealing in any application. He views green spaces and the use of vegetation as more than just trends, and predicts that the latter will consistently appear in smaller residential projects well into the future.
SAM MASON
Building Designer
We are thrilled to welcome Sam to CUDesign as he inches closer towards completing his Bachelor of Architecture.
Sam designs with ‘everyday’ life in mind, i.e. how a family will truly use, move through and occupy a room. Site orientation is equally important to Sam, and he hopes ‘passive design’ will soon become everyone’s number one priority.
On a quiet weekend, you’ll find Sam at the beach or exploring a hinterland waterfall with his partner and their dog, followed by a Netflix binge with a great meal. (He’s speaking our language!)
Sam favours minimalist design with natural timbers throughout. Welcome, Sam!
HAYLEY WISEMAN
Office Support and Client Concierge
We welcome Hayley to our team with much excitement and peace in the knowledge that our clients (and our staff) are in diligent and kind hands. Beaming with positivity, first-class communication skills and incredible attention to detail – Hayley is here to make everything seamless. The perfect support for when you’re taking on the incredible task of building your dream home.
Hayley resides in a beautiful old Queenslander that retains many original traditional features. With two young boys, an energetic dog, and a cat, the importance of comfort, space and storage are paramount to keeping her home calm and tidy. With that said, Hayley very much enjoys acquiring furniture pieces – a mix of natural materials and tones, and vibrant colour pops for her children. Project Sixth is Hayley’s absolute favourite – with much of that styling reflected in her own home.
GEMMA MASON
Interior Designer
Gemma is a planner – relishing in the planning side of a bathroom layout, or in the designing of a new kitchen – especially given they’re so personal, with how people move around the space. Gemma favours traditional features, such as mouldings, cornicing and Victorian encaustic tiling.
Nat Berkus is her Interior Design ‘hero’, given his creativity with colour, and knowledge of combining textures with materials, and, pairing furniture with existing traditional features.
If given an unlimited budget, Gemma would add a wrap-around deck to her own house, and an entry portico, as she feels such features would really ‘finish off’ her home.
ALEX HAYES
Interior Designer
Alex joins our team with a love of interiors, given the impact good design can have on our physical and emotional well-being. She favours thinking outside the box and away from current trends, whilst also prioritising lighting that works in harmony with our circadian rhythms, for improved sleep, energy levels and overall health. Alex also notes that herringbone patterns and curves will always add a timeless and visual interest to a space.
Alex is very fortunate to be living in her grandparents’ home, which they built in the 1970s, however, the original brown floral carpet and pink kitchen and bathroom are no longer. Instead, Alex has shared that she’s updated the space with modern design elements and many house plants.
DOUGLAS MAINA
Interior Designer
We are thrilled to welcome Douglas Maina to our interiors team. Effervescent with a beautifully trained eye, Douglas is thrilled to look after our discerning clients’ furniture and styling selections.
His career highlights include being able to work on houses in New Zealand, which saw him battle logistics but “was absolutely worth it” and overall — the ‘cliche’ but ‘truth’ of being paid to do what he absolutely loves.
An invitation to Douglas’ home will see you enveloped by his playful yet functional aesthetic. He describes his style as a mix of African influences and maximalism meets Beyonce — all intentionally referencing his culture and personality. What you won’t find are bright downlights — ambient lighting always, is his preference. Douglas loves hearing about how different people live, and tailoring homes to their lifestyle.
FREDDIE
Office Mascot
Freddie is a French Bulldog and the practice’s ‘hype guy’, welcoming clients and getting them excited about their design project. He is also a wonderful entertainer, and comforter for little people who aren’t as excited about design meetings as their parents are.
If Freddie had his time again he’d come back as Imelda Marcos’ dog, and is a strong advocate for abolishing external dog kennels, calling them an ‘unnecessary’ eye-sore.
He is also passionate about decreasing the height of stair risers.
