Marie Romeo is an interior decorator who runs a homewares store in Gisborne, Victoria.

She spent her early childhood in the inner city suburb of North Melbourne with her large extended Italian family. From a young age she would often visit Display Homes on Saturday afternoons and marvel at the apparent sophistication and boldness of the 1970’s decorative schemes. Through her teens she would periodically ‘stage’ her bedroom as if it were to be photographed for an Interiors magazine but often the only person to appreciate the full effect was her unimpressed younger sister.

A gap year spent studying Italian at the University of Florence and visiting relatives in the Abruzzo region awakened her appreciation for an Italian aesthetic. Having given up a teaching career she and her husband Dominic began working in hospitality. Marie became an Interior Designer as their passion for restoring heritage properties became a new career – the heritage renovation consultancy – www.belholme.com.au.

Dominic Romeo served on the council of the National Trust of Australia (Vic) and was a Member of the National Trust Finance Committee, Conservation Committee from 2005-2015.

Dominic graduated with a BA in Business from Victoria University and a BA in Fine Art Photography from the Australian College of Photography & Communication, Melbourne.

Like Marie, Dominic is a child of Italian migrants and grew up in St Albans in the western suburbs of Melbourne.

Dominic is a collector of early settlement and Depression era furniture and today operates a store specialising in rustic Australian furniture called Stalking Cat. See www.stalkingcat.com.au He is a serious ‘serial renovator’ and is passionate about preserving our heritage by restoring older homes as well as unearthing the social history clues that lie dormant in any home.

Marie and Dominic’s book, The Constant Renovators: Restoring Grandeur is published by Melbourne University Publishing.