Julia Green shares her loves (and hates) on My Reno Rules

Interior designer Julia Green is excited to be a judge on the new reality TV show My Reno Rules.

She likes the concept — four couples are paired off to each decorate two houses. She likes the twist — the houses are given away to home viewers. And she likes her fellow judges — Neale Whitaker and Simon Cohen.

But it would be a little boring if she liked everything.

“There were certainly moments that were very polarising, and that will make for incredible television,” Green tells PLAY.

“There were a couple of moments in the show where I looked at a certain space and I was absolutely floored — and not in a good way.

“There were a couple that were really concerning, and I’m not afraid to say what I think. So I was certainly not shy in putting that opinion out there.

“But also, on the flip of that, there were other rooms that were so impeccably decorated . . . that I couldn’t understand how novice renovators could actually pull that off. There were moments of, ‘What the hell have they done here?’, through to, ‘Oh my God, this is like a professional fit-out’.”

Green is a respected interior designer and the founder of Greenhouse Interiors. It was her job to cast her discerning design eye over the work of the four teams of interior decorating contestants who renovated two run-down 1970s houses in the Melbourne suburb of Bulleen, room by room, vying for a cash prize of $100,000.

She says she jumped at the chance to take part.

“I was really excited, because there are so many home reno shows, and this was just one, finally, that had such a twist,” she says. “There were the competition itself, in terms of people within the one home competing against each other for the same (cash) win. And then, of course, the public — it being up for grabs to get a set of keys in their hand and own a house. It has such a spicy little twist there that I was really excited by it.”

Green is known for her use of artwork and colour in her designs, and says she encouraged the contestants to be bold in their design choices.

“I wanted to see people design with courage, and that didn’t mean it had to be necessarily every colour of the rainbow. I just wanted to see people branch outside of just beige, because beige is safe. It’s never going to clash with anything. It’s just a fallback for everybody, and I think it’s lazy,” she says. “ I wanted to see people work hard to create really layered and textured interiors that made people feel something when they walk through the doors.

“And I’m pretty happy to say that most of them really embrace that challenge.”

She said Australians in general were beginning to move away from boring beige in their homes, and for those thinking of redecorating, Green’s hot tip for the colour we’re going to see more of is in fact, green.

“People have moved completely into a warm and earthy palette,” she says. “Now it’s almost assumed you wouldn’t paint your house white, thank God! We’ve seen a full tide turn. We’re seeing a lot of greens and pinks, and I don’t mean bright greens, I mean the dirtier side of green, like a khaki or a beautiful forest green, reminiscent of what you would see outside. I feel like people are really trying to cocoon their interiors with colours that reflect what’s happening outside.”

At the end of the series there will be a live show in which the renovated houses — which were bought for the show by tech billionaire Adrian Portelli — will be given away to two lucky Australian families.

“The keys will be handed over and they’ll literally be given and gifted a house that night,” Green says.

She says the fact the houses were set to be given away to Australian families was at the front of the minds of the people working on the show. They were keen to make sure the houses not only looked great, but were inviting family homes.

“It’s the biggest television giveaway in history. And it’s not just getting a house, it’s actually getting a home,” Green says. “Because there’s a lot of love and layers and soul and hard work and tears put into each of these spaces, because they’re created as family homes right from the start.”

My Reno Rules is on at 7.30pm, Tuesdays on Seven and 7plus