Mary O'Brien

If your vacation home is up to scratch, there’s a luxury exchange club that lets you swap times with other owners.

After purchasing the property in one of her favourite towns, Gale and her partner Shaun Hampson decided to share their holiday retreat with others. Dollywood, as it’s known, is a renovated modernist 1940s bungalow with attitude.

Gone are the days of leaden scones and overflowing cream; afternoon tea has had a facelift.

Melburnians are lining up for top-notch bread at local artisan bakeries that champion a fresh approach.

In this unexpected setting, artists, sculptors and fashion designers are rubbing shoulders with welders, boilermakers and mechanics. Slowly, over the years, the road has evolved into an artistic hub.

Saved by community action, a 1964 town hall that contains a wealth of memories for locals has been rescued and reimagined to architectural acclaim – and is now ready to serve a new generation.

Forget the smashed-avo stereotype, millennials are a much more serious generation than they’re given credit for.

Check in to a hotel designed by Bill Bensley, the master behind the dreamiest destinations.

Landscape designer Paul Bangay is the green thumb with a golden touch.

The best ideas often come when you least expect them. Garden designers Ross Uebergang and Yousuke Yamaguchi were enjoying a few drinks in a Nagasaki bar when they started chatting. Yousuke scribbled a few designs on a serviette and a year later, the results of their brainstorming – an Australian-Japanese unity garden – will appear at the Melbourne Flower and Garden show.

The best ideas often come when you least expect them. Garden designers Ross Uebergang and Yousuke Yamaguchi were enjoying a few drinks in a Nagasaki bar when they started chatting. Yousuke scribbled a few designs on a serviette and a year later, the results of their brainstorming – an Australian-Japanese unity garden – will appear at the Melbourne Flower and Garden show.

The architect was inspired by the basic elements of human existence – a cave, fire and the sea.

Curator Jane O’Neill’s style veers between nostalgia and decluttering.

After decades of being told to live in glass boxes with stark interiors, there’s hope for those who love colour, fabrics and fun.

She’s on a mission to show us how fragile our landscape is.

History, culture, books and cute cafes – the Southern Highlands is where Sydney’s elite traditionally seeks to escape the madding crowds. For those who like the dream of owning a historic mansion and a swathe of rolling emerald countryside, the region is top of the list.

Hollywood has been an inspiration to home owners in many ways over the years.