Interior architecture that gives every room its logic

The service suits major renovations, new homes and rooms that still need built-in decisions. It can stand alone or become the first stage of full service interior design.

Key takeaways

What the service includes

• Room plans shaped around movement and furniture.
• Wall views, ceiling plans and the lighting intent.
• Kitchen, bathroom, laundry and custom joinery design.
• Stone, hardware and fixed finish sets.
• 3D views, with a full-scale VR walkthrough on request.
• Clear drawings, details and lists for the builder.

Planning before decoration

A room can look good and still feel wrong, and the cause may be a tight path, a door swing, poor storage or weak light. We test each of those in plan and in 3D. The furniture plan guides where power and light go, the joinery guides the wall, and we settle each material join before a trade reaches the site.

For wet areas, see kitchen, bathroom and laundry design. For an existing home, or a project run alongside an architect, see renovation and new-build interiors.

Designer or architect: who do you actually need?

The two roles overlap less than people expect. An architect is responsible for the building: the envelope, the structure, the roof, the council approval, compliance. An interior designer is responsible for how the inside works and how it feels once you are standing in it. On a new build you generally need both, and the question is not which one but when each starts.

The mistake that costs money is bringing the interior designer in after the plans are approved. By then the ceiling heights are set, the windows are placed, the services are routed and the kitchen is a rectangle someone drew to fill a gap. Every interior decision after that is a workaround.

For a renovation the balance shifts. If you are not moving structure, an interior designer can lead the whole project and bring in an engineer or a building designer for the parts that need certification. On a full home in a prestige street, the usual arrangement is architect for the building, interior designer from the earliest concept, and the two working off the same plan rather than passing it back and forth.

Interior architect, interior designer, decorator

Interior architecture is the fixed layer: walls, ceilings, openings, lighting, joinery, stone. It is decided before the trades arrive and it is expensive to change afterwards.

A decorator works with what is already built, choosing furniture, textiles, art and styling. That is a real skill and a different one. The confusion matters because a decorator cannot fix a room whose proportions are wrong, and no amount of furniture rescues a badly planned kitchen.

Luxxe Interiors works in the first layer and the last. The studio is based on the Gold Coast and takes interior architecture across South East Queensland and interstate.

Frequently asked questions

Discuss your interior architecture project or return to all interior design services.