Anita Bocquee

 

CONTACT

 

EMAIL
ANITA@RASPBERRYDOORS.COM.AU

 

PHONE
0457 887 444

Get Anita’s free guide to renovating and styling to create a 5-star holiday rental
HI, I’M ANITA!

I am an interior designer who is passionate about beautiful interior design that adds maximum value to your investment. I was that creative kid whose parents didn’t want them doing Graphic Design or Arts at university (“you’ll never make money from that”) so instead I did a Bachelor of Commerce. Without any real intent, I then landed myself a job as a Chartered Accountant. I soon discovered that the life of a Chartered Accountant didn’t make me jump happily out of bed in the morning, so as soon as I could went travelling and ending up living and working in London.

 

Working in Finance in London in the 90’s allowed me to travel all over the world, photographing and being inspired by so many beautiful people, places and cultures. When it was time to return home to Brisbane, I really struggled with the ‘what next?’. I ended up trying to bring some creativity to various Finance Manager roles, with projects that redesigned systems and processes, whilst in the background running various creative ‘hobby’ business to give me something to genuinely be excited about. I designed whole of business and finance systems, and ran multi-million dollar projects, and I felt sad that I had less and less time for my kids, let alone being creative. All through this period of ‘corporate insanity’ my photography kept me sane.

……

Around 2010, there were some major defining moments in my life when I had to finally accepted that being good at a job I didn’t love wasn’t enough. With the support of my wonderful new partner (now husband) it was time to design myself a new creative life that I could be passionate about.

I had honestly not thought about being an Interior Designer but I loved property renovations, photography and being creative (at school my ‘dream job’ was as a Graphic Designer, but I don’t remember Interior Design even being an option). I was intending to set up my photography business full time, focussed on styling and interiors photography, but was pulled into a couple of renovation projects with my builder husband. As I was happily creating spaces with wow that I couldn’t wait to photograph, I suddenly realised that I’d found the perfect job. I could genuinely be excited about getting up every morning and splash colour and pattern around, research the history of different styles to honour them in modern renovations, and using inspiration from travel to inject soul into spaces. I designed a major Queenslander renovation whilst studying Interior Design (it went on to win Instant Hotel shown on Channel 7 and Netflix).

For my first few years as an Interior Designer, I was lucky enough to get lots of experience on various projects my husband was building: Queenslander renovations, dream family homes and for-profit investments. My business brain kicked in again and I decided to study again, this time I gained my real estate licence. It made me look at design options more strategically, ensuring that I designed with a holistic approach that considered the property market, targeting profiled buyers and saleability. I took some risks with a couple of developments, determined to target the high end of the market with a beautiful designer home, rather than the middle of the market with a ‘cookie cutter’ neutral home. The risk paid off and both homes were sold quickly with record results. When my husband decided to take a different direction with his building business, I decided that it was time to focus on building my own business, Raspberry Doors.

I’ve been grateful to be able to help such amazing clients with their own passion projects. With clients reinforcing my unique value that comes from mixing my passion for creating beautiful homes with my extensive business and property experience, I’ve stopped wishing that I’d taken this creative path earlier. I know that every experience I’ve had, and every opportunity that I’ve taken, has shaped my ability to add creative and financial value to your project, and I genuinely can’t wait to start!