Simply, it’s a one-stop home, office and garden design store

Interior design.

Interior design.

Balcony and courtyard design.

Balcony and courtyard design.

Landscape design, build and maintain.

Landscape design, build and maintain.

Living Simply owner GRAHAM HOLBROOK says the boutique retail store in Pialligo offers full interior and exterior design services, including property styling, landscape consultation, design build and maintenance services. 

LIVING Simply has evolved and expanded over the past 30 years from a commercial, indoor, plant-hire company to today’s comprehensive selection of indoor-outdoor decorator and feature plants, decor pots, water features and garden furniture.

Graham says he’s proud to have designers Robert Kimpton and Gary Ertl on his team, providing clients with their combined expertise of more than 60 years in landscaping and interior design. 

“In terms of the garden and landscaping, Living Simply is a one-stop shop. There’s not much we can’t handle,” says Robert, who is in charge of design, maintenance and horticultural consulting. 

Having studied horticulture at Melbourne University, Robert says he has designed and built more than 75 gardens in Victoria, before relocating to Canberra in 2020. 

“I offer landscape design as well as a consulting service in which I can come out to people’s gardens and answer questions and help solve the issues they might be facing in their gardens,” he says. 

“Some of these issues might be drainage or choosing the right plants for a hedge. I provide a comprehensive report to the client,” he says. 

Robert says that aside from the lifestyle benefits of enjoying a beautiful garden, there are tangible financial benefits, too. 

“Studies have been undertaken that show that the garden of a property can be valued as providing up to 10 per cent of the total property value. So it’s important for my work to secure people’s investment,” he says. 

Interior and exterior designer Gary Ertl moved to Canberra this year, and brings a wealth of experience from Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and London. 

Gary says that his professional focus at Living Simply is on the interiors, either at home or the office, including plant hire as well as smaller and more intimate spaces such as balconies and courtyards. 

“A lot of my role is the problem-solving aspect of the space. I’m always looking at how I can evolve a space into something beautiful,” he says. 

“Even in the cold Canberra winter, we greatly value the outdoor space and we need to see the outdoors as important in a home as a kitchen,” he says. 

Gary says that over his 35 years in design, his ethos is to stay within the client’s budget and to design efficiently. He says he loves working with his clients to create their vision.

“My job is to get the client’s vision on track,” says Gary. 

Graham says that at the heart of everything he and the team offer at Living Simply is the appreciation and respect for “biophilia”, which is defined as an emotional and physical connection between humans and nature. 

“Combining state-of-the-art interior design, landscape design and advanced horticulture practices, Living Simply meets the biophilic needs that are essential to human wellbeing and connection,” says Graham. 

Living Simply, 10 Beltana Road, Pialligo. Call 6249 1552 or visit livingsimply.com.au