Australia’s boldest and most daring home renovators return, risking their sanity and savings to reinvent worn, tired spaces and prove that resourcefulness and creativity matter most when tackling a renovation.<\/p>\n
Just one year after setting up her own firm, Ghoniem was named interior designer of the year<\/a> at the 2021 Interior Design Excellence Awards.<\/p>\n And in 2024, she kicked off her TV career co-hosting the inaugural season of Grand Designs Transformations (GDT), a spin-off of the cult design show that follows Australians renovating tired spaces amid the housing and cost-of-living crises.<\/p>\n To top all that off, Ghoniem’s long-time dream of having a child came true last year, and much of her pregnancy is documented on GDT’s second season \u2014 culminating in the appearance of her baby daughter.<\/p>\n It almost feels like an understatement to say the past few years have been transformative for her.<\/p>\n So, we caught up with the inimitable interior designer (who also moonlights as a musician<\/a>) to find out how she got to where she is today, what to expect from the latest season of GDT, and more.<\/p>\n When did you know interior design was for you?<\/p>\n Being creative and coming from a creative family, I wanted to sing and dance. But my dad didn’t love that idea, so kind of forced my hand to go to uni. I studied visual communications in Dubai, because it sounded better than art.<\/p>\n I quickly transferred because I realised I didn’t really want to do anything that made me sit behind a computer my whole life.<\/p>\n Ghoniem (centre) with parents Vicki (right) and Saleh (left) at her high school graduation in 1999. (Supplied)<\/p>\n So, I met with a careers counsellor and went through a bunch of things I loved, [which included] designing furniture and lights and textiles and it all just seemed to fit under that umbrella of interiors.<\/p>\n Then I started studying my second year of uni in America.<\/p>\n What was your journey into the industry from there?<\/p>\n I struggled for the first nine months after I graduated to find a job and I had no money.<\/p>\n So, I lived out of my car for six months in 2004, actually.<\/p>\n I remember driving across the [United States] from the deep south to the west coast with $US600 ($900) from a cash payment [I got from drawing] some gates for a fun fair.<\/p>\n A (very blurry) snap from Ghoniem’s cross-country road trip in the early 2000s. (Supplied)<\/p>\n After getting lost in the Rockies for a minute, I arrived in Portland, Oregon.<\/p>\n One of my first jobs was working as a sales rep in a carpet showroom.<\/p>\n “I still have a $1 note left from that first $600 I received and I’ve always wanted to frame it,” Ghoniem says. (Supplied)<\/p>\n And I remember the day I landed an actual interiors job at a reputable architectural practice, [where my salary was going to be] $US20,000 (~$30,000), and I jumped up and down.<\/p>\n I put a deposit down on an apartment and went to IKEA and bought all the furniture, and I was off.<\/p>\n I worked at various practices in the US for three years and then I went and did some volunteer work for a year, [before] moving back to Sydney. I worked for a hospitality interiors firm and then I started my own practice [in 2020] because I got fired from that job and really wanted to play music, and I couldn’t do that with a full-time job.<\/p>\n That was the start of working for myself.<\/p>\n This is your second season hosting GDT. How are you finding it?<\/p>\n There are lots of [reshoots] \u2014 I don’t love that part of it [laughs].<\/p>\n But I really love seeing what people are up to and I think it brings me down to earth a little bit.<\/p>\n I work in situations and [with] budgets quite different to what the average Australian gets, and I love GDT for its honesty and ability to showcase what real Australians are doing.<\/p>\n In addition to her work in the high-end design space, Ghoniem (centre with her band in Kuwait in 1998) is a singer-songwriter and has performed with the likes of The Conversations. (Supplied)<\/p>\n OK, we’ve got to know \u2014 what’s the biggest budget you’ve ever worked with?<\/p>\n Probably about $40 million.<\/p>\n Are you able to say what that was for?<\/p>\n No, unfortunately.<\/p>\n Fair. What can viewers expect from season two of the show?<\/p>\n Loading Instagram content<\/p>\n A lot of heart.<\/p>\n There’s intergenerational living, bold thinking and not really caring about resale value and just going for it.<\/p>\n There’s really a little bit of something for everyone. It’s varied in scale and budgets; we’ve got something for $10,000 and something for $2.5 million.<\/p>\n What did it feel like to have your pregnancy play out for a national audience this season?<\/p>\n It took me seven years to get pregnant, I didn’t think it was ever really going to happen.<\/p>\n So it’s been kind of cool to see my daughter, Sahara, grow over the expanse of the season, from [me] being six weeks [pregnant] to her being on the show at four months [old].<\/p>\n I still can’t believe she’s actually here. To have that televised and know I can watch it whenever I want and she can watch it one day is pretty cool.<\/p>\n Ghoniem’s baby bump steadily grows over the course of GDT season two. (ABC\/Eureka Productions: Sally Griffiths)<\/p>\n What’s the best thing about working with your fellow GDT host Anthony Burke?<\/p>\n He’s so smart. You could ask him about anything and he could tell you the history of it in a really digestible way.<\/p>\n My days [filming with him] are my favourite because I get to talk about the things I love with a really intelligent human.<\/p>\n What’s the funniest thing you’ve seen him do?<\/p>\n You know those clapper things where people go, “OK, action!”<\/p>\n He does it so well and I do it really badly, and it’s this ongoing joke on set and everyone just thinks I’m a s**t clapper [laughs].<\/p>\n So, he always tries to get me when we’re filming together to do the clapperboard and I’m always refusing because he puts me to shame every single time.<\/p>\n Ghoniem (right) says Anthony Burke (left) “reminds me of things I studied at uni and gets me excited about reading books about things like modernism again”. (Supplied)<\/p>\n What are the most common mistakes made by homeowners on design shows?<\/p>\n Planning. It should take almost as long as the build does.<\/p>\n And a lot of people don’t build in a contingency for their budget, so they say, “I’ve got $600,000” but there’s no “what happens if this happens on site?” So then they’re compromising all their hard work.<\/p>\n That’s something I consistently see, and it’s so sad because it’s often their life savings and you want them to succeed.<\/p>\n What’s your favourite GDT project this season?<\/p>\n Eric and Nicki’s in Fitzroy North.<\/p>\n Eric had a degenerative disease and he saw colour and design as his medicine, and I really loved that.<\/p>\n Eric and Nicki’s Fitzroy North terrace stirred up local controversy for its daring facade. (ABC\/Eureka Productions: Dean Bradley)<\/p>\n He was also just really bold and unapologetic about some of his design decisions and it was a present to him to just go for it. It was a really beautiful story, and some of the details \u2014 not everything \u2014 were really cool, and I really liked the fact they did something different to everyone else.<\/p>\n What do you think defines brilliant interior design?<\/p>\n Originality and authenticity.<\/p>\n Ryan has lived in a passive home for five months. These are the pros and cons<\/a><\/p>\n We check in to see if the hard work was worth it \u2014 and what everyday Australians can take from passive house principles.<\/p>\n There’s a lot of regurgitation of design ideas at the moment. Pinterest is one of the worst things that has ever happened [to interior design], but also one of the best.<\/p>\n It gives you a very quick snapshot of what’s current, but it also makes design a bit lazy and there’s a bit of stealing here and there.<\/p>\n I think a return to books and looking at masters from back in the day needs to be reignited.<\/p>\n Where else do you find inspiration?<\/p>\n Movies, a lot from travel, and walking around and looking at stuff, like building facades and art, as well as all the different makers I know.<\/p>\n Ghoniem (pictured bottom in art class in Kuwait in 1999) was born in the Gulf and grew up living between Kuwait, Saudi and Sydney. (Supplied)<\/p>\n I come from two very different backgrounds, my mum being Aussie and my dad being Egyptian.<\/p>\n [And] I grew up in the Gulf and travelled a lot as a kid, went to six different high schools.<\/p>\n So, I have a global aesthetic \u2026 I can fit in wherever, because I’ve had to, [and] I’m a bit of a sponge.<\/p>\n I love picking up different details and ethnic markers [and] integrating them into my interiors.<\/p>\n What are some interior design trends you hope never come back?<\/p>\n Squiggly mirrors, ball-shaped cushions. Who the hell sits on a ball? Stupid.<\/p>\n Lots of arches \u2026 I don’t know why it’s just gone that way where every opening is an arch. You can’t have 20 of them, it’s just too much, and the idea of traditional arches [are] ruined for me because it’s so hackneyed now.<\/p>\n Feature walls, as well. 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