MASTER STROKE
Tash Sefton, one half of stylish digital duo They All Hate Us, uses her ample artistic talents to decorate her personal space and the family home.
Her ability to look great in a pair of jeans, own every handbag that has ever mattered and her great love for her bestie (and denim-shorts poster girl) Elle Ferguson are well-documented, but Tash Sefton has plenty of other talents that she’s been hiding.
Together, Sefton and Ferguson have been slowly transforming their much-loved blog, They All Hate Us, into an online store. They’ve also recently launched their own fashion brand, Girl Gang, which they design themselves out of the office they share in Sefton’s new home in leafy Mosman, in Sydney’s north.
When the former fashion buyer went hunting for paintings for her new 12-foot-high walls, she found herself getting outpriced by the things she liked. So she did what any creative, talented juggernaut would do – she started painting her own. “My sister Hayley is a landscape architect and
extremely creative. We talked about it one day and had lots of ideas, so we just started,” Sefton explains. “We wanted everyone to be able to afford original art for their homes instead of reproduced prints that are everywhere.” (You can find their current collection at seftonsegedin.com.)
Sefton’s eye for blending colours is most apparent in the light-soaked space she works out of on days she’s not shooting. “There is such a nice feeling to the studio. I love being surrounded by books and paintings while I work,” she says of the room that doubles as her place to paint. “It’s nice to be working in a space that’s not a traditional office.”
A love of the sea (she grew up on Sydney’s northern beaches) is clear in the pieces Sefton has collected for the family sanctuary, which she shares with husband Mark and sons Jay, 10, and Mac, four. Blond timbers, woven pendant lights and lots of pictures of the ocean adorn the walls of the living areas of the home. “I love Danish design for its simplicity, but I also love layers. I’d describe it as ‘controlled chaos’ – not one vase but five, not a few books but an entire wall,” she says.
After years of influencing how we dress, it seems it’s our four walls that are next. “My house and Elle’s are almost the same – we just have different colour schemes. We love the ethos of ‘more is more’. We both love things that are hippie with a classic twist.” That’s a girl gang we’d like to join.
Take a “more is more” approach to art and let your walls express your personality. A rich colour palette and combination of textures allows a space to look eclectic without being cluttered. Layers of blue pay homage to a love of the sea in a subtle way.