Treasure trove

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A love of all things unique and individual led Prue Trollope to open a homewares store that she hopes will make people rethink the way they decorate their abodes.

Remember exploring around grandma’s house as a child? Hours could be spent admiring all of her delightfully fascinating ‘things’ – dainty decorative objects, pretty embroidered cushions, glass cabinets full of fine floral crockery, barely a white wall for all the eclectic paintings. Each item was on display not to conform to a particular decorating style, nor to emulate the pages from a magazine, but simply because she loved them and it brought her pleasure to be surrounded by her lifetime of collected treasures. It is the most personal and individual style of decorating there is.

In recent years though, the trends have changed quite dramatically and the shift towards minimalism with its fuss-free, restrained and ‘bare’ style has enjoyed long-lasting popularity. In the world of minimalism, too many decorative objects are simply seen as needless ‘clutter’ that only distract from the overall style.

But on the corner of a quiet, leafy backstreet in Balmain, Sydney, in a white-washed warehouse which is literally packed to the rafters with unusual homewares of every description, sits owner and anti-minimalist, Prue Trollope. For this self-confessed hoarder, the concept of minimalism goes against the very idea of what a home should be, and she is hoping her new store will encourage a shift back to that charmingly individual and eclectic style of decorating.

“Everything is so minimal nowadays,” says Prue. “You open magazines and it’s all chocolate-brown couches and everything is sleek with only the bare minimum on show. It does look good, but I don’t know how people live like that. Where do they put all their stuff?” she says with the sort of laugh that indicates she would have more than her fair share of ‘stuff’ to conceal. “I like to be surrounded by the things I love,” she adds. “I’d have everything in this shop in my house if I could, simply because that’s what I enjoy looking at.”

Prue’s self-named store is at the very opposite end of the minimalist spectrum; a style increasingly referred to as ‘maximalist’. It’s the charming rebel of the decorating family where anything goes, and the more influences, styles, patterns and prints, the merrier. Old mixes with new, sleek blends with baroque and traditional sits with modern. It is less about creating an overall style for your home and more about filling it with personality – your personality.

You need only peer through the windows of Prue’s delightfully jam-packed treasure trove to understand what she means; you’ll spot a glamorous leopard-print ottoman, dainty rosebud-printed quilts, vintage red and white polka dot bathing costumes, blue and white ceramic Chinese stools, and bold floral paintings all working together in eclectic harmony. “I honestly think the key to maximalism is simply buying things you love,” explains Prue. “I have no colour schemes or anything like that in my house – or here in my shop – but it all works together, even though it probably shouldn’t. I don’t think you should decorate for anyone else but yourself, so if it suits your lifestyle and you love it, then I think it can work together.”

And that’s exactly her criteria when sourcing items for her shop – she stocks it with the most unusual and unique items she can find, and only the things she absolutely loves. Every hand-picked item in her store is described with equal exuberance. The green canvas sneakers she stocks are her “favourite sneakers in the whole world”; the European waffle weave white towels “are just gorgeous to use and impossible to find”; and when she picks up an enormous decorative white porcelain rosebud she exclaims with childlike delight: “I mean, look at this – isn’t that just gorgeous? Who wouldn’t want one of those in their house?”

Words: Laura Venuto. Photography: Andrew Lehmann. Hair & make-up: Kate Lee