Working with Maria from Studio Black Interiors has been one of the most joyful, stress-free and all-round amazing experiences! She is also ‘superhuman’ responsive and really took the time to make sure everything was what I imagined but BETTER. There is so much to love and I can’t wait to see it all come together.

Maria is an absolute star! Extremely knowledgeable and provides amazing customer service. She listened to me, provided excellent advice and was very efficient. It was such a relief to have Maria onboard, I really trusted her advice and could not be happier with the results. Maria really gave me confidence and made the building process a lot less stressful. Highly recommend.

Maria assisted us with furniture selections for our new home. She quickly understood what we were looking for and pulled together a range of relevant selections. Maria was pleasant to work with and couldn’t be more helpful. Her assistance made the process so much simpler and we got an outcome that we love but never would have selected on our own. Highly recommend. Thanks Maria!

We worked with an architect to design our dream home and were presented with a set of drawings. We quickly realised to create the dream home we needed someone who had flair, vision, experience and talent and after a lot of research we discovered Maria.

To engage her in our project was the best decision we made. Our journey which had started in chaos and indecision suddenly became structured, visionary and coherent. Maria listened to our needs and likes and dislikes and was able to transfer vague ideas into a firm concepts and design. Her attention to detail was exemplary, nothing was too big or too small and she would not settle until we were happy with the look and the result. We cannot recommend Maria highly enough as she has allowed us to realise our dreams and made the journey exciting and enjoyable.

We used Maria for our knockdown rebuild project, one which started 3 years before we turned soil. We were living overseas throughout 80% of the project so it was critical to us that we had someone that understood our vision and was keen to be closely involved in realising it. Maria was perfect from the outset – collaborative, willing to get involved in the tiny details when required or step back if it was a part of the project we wanted to drive ourselves. She teamed beautifully with our builder, CJC Constructions who has recommended her for many of his other project simply for her ease to work with. Maria works very methodically using clear communication, robust documentation and a flexible personal style to put her clients at ease and inspire confidence. I have recommended her through word of mouth to many others and all of them reflect the same feedback. Thank you Maria and Studio Black Interiors.

Maria is a thorough professional. A person like Maria is a must to have in your team when you are building your dream house. Aided by her background she has a deep and clear understanding of building a house. What’s special about Maria is she has a natural eye for detail and the capability to visualize things vividly and quickly in her mind, at the same time she is down to earth, helping the client in their time of need. I had many times rushed to her with options to select from (not initially in the scope), she never hesitated to answer back. Don’t be surprised if your house shows up on the cover page of a magazine. Unlike many other Interiors, she can make things look great within your budget in a very short span of time. She has a wide area of expertise including preparing a light plan which was very detailed and appreciated by my electrician.

In building our dream house every aspect of design needed to be perfect and consistent, that is where Maria came in and nailed it! Maria made the process so easy in working with us to make our vision come to life. Her passion and excitement shines through in every appointment, email, phone call and message – you can tell that she is as excited as her clients in every decision and detail. The professional relationship and regard between Maria and our builders, REP Building made the build so smooth and effortless. I highly recommend Studio Black for any interior design advice no matter how big or small.

Working with Maria was a dream. We had a bunch of ideas of things we liked but didn’t know how, or if, they could all come together. Maria combined our rambles with her wealth of industry experience and created a design that was exactly what we wanted. My friend commented that Maria had captured our style exactly. Maria got the balance right between accepting our non negotiables and offering suggestions that pushed our boundaries. Maria also got the balance right on what products/choices to make to save money and where we could go for a higher end product to elevate the overall design. Maria is really easy to work with and we definitely recommend choosing Studio Black Interiors.

It is my real pleasure to recommend Maria Cerne from Studio Black Interiors. Maria has guided me through a major renovation of my house and I couldn’t be happier with the result. Right from our initial design consultation, I found Maria was able to interpret my sometimes vague ideas into solid recommendations for my home. She is collaborative, patient, reliable and generous with her time. Maria’s communication style is clear and I appreciated the thorough documentation of all interior and exterior choices. Maria put me in contact with REP Building who took on the project. The professional regard and relationship between Studio Black and REP Building helped make the renovation go without a hitch. Thank you Maria – my house is calm, inviting and beautiful. It feels like home.

Studio Black Interiors have done an excellent job in curating an elegant and stylish design for our new build. The attention to detail and the use of high-quality materials truly elevates the space. I am so impressed by the cohesive colour scheme, and the thoughtful consideration of each room. Maria has saved us countless hours and much decision-making anxiety with her practical advice and guidance. Overall, I would highly recommend Maria to anyone looking to create a sophisticated and inviting space.

It was an absolute pleasure working with Maria on our bathroom and laundry renovations.  From the first time we met with Maria, we knew almost instantly that her vision, knowledge and expertise was exactly what we wanted and needed.  Throughout our engagement, which was disrupted with COVID and lockdowns, Maria was extremely professional and was always very responsive to the many emails, calls and texts both during the design phase as well as the building phase.  Without Maria, we doubt our vision and renovation goals would have been achieved.

I had no idea on where to start, let alone what to do with the internal makeover needed for my entry hall, library, formal lounge, dining, family room and master bedroom. Maria was referred by a colleague so I went with it. From the first contact, through to the end of the project, Maria was so professional, yet personable and always involved with amazing attention to detail. She listened, she planned, she tailored the design and was able to come up with a new, modern, fresh yet practical redesign which just matched the brief. Could not be happier. Value for money, professional presentation and plans and great communication throughout the process. Would unreservedly recommend Maria and Studio Black Interiors.

After meeting Maria from Studio Black Interiors for the first time I knew we where on the same page! Her attention to detail ability to source products and collaborate with our builder, REP Building, in achieving the look we wanted was so appreciated. She is energetic hard working and very knowledgeable and up to date with today’s trends. We would highly recommend Studio Black Interiors for any project, whether it be a renovation or new home build! Trust me you will be in safe hands.

Our builder recommended we engage Maria from Studio Black to help turn our vision into reality. It was one of the best decisions we made. Dealing with Maria was a breeze and a delight. Her professionalism, patience, ability to listen (and understand my requests and drawings), along with her sense of style and attention to detail, made this whole process so much easier and enjoyable. She was always so prompt to reply to emails and return my calls, which made me feel she was genuinely as invested in this project as we were. Would thoroughly recommend!

My partner and I are in the process of building our new (forever) home – we are quite experienced in life and have lived in various homes over the years, so we are well conversed with what works for us and what does not.  However, we just felt we needed a little more advice to get our home from being nearly perfect (as per our initial thoughts) to being absolutely perfect – so we engaged Maria to assist us.  Maria opened our eyes to a number of aspects that we had never entertained in our interior design.  Maria was a joy to work with – she listened to our needs, understood our style of home and was unbelievably accommodating – nothing was ever a problem.  One of the many (and there are indeed many) qualities of Maria’s expertise is that she is not aligned to one style.  No matter what your particular style is, Maria’s recommendations can lead you down a different (and substantially improved) pathway with respect to your designs.  I do not think there is anything she does not know when it comes to design, colours, textures etc.  As for lighting and power points, Maria pointed out so many things that we overlooked in our considerations regarding number of power points and where to put them, positioning of lights etc.  Maria’s professionalism, expertise and patience is exemplary.  There was not a question or an issue that Maria could not solve – it is quite overwhelming the depth of her knowledge and contacts.  We certainly would not be where we are today (having our final home being perfect) if it was not for Maria’s assistance and guidance.  If you think winning the lottery may be life changing, trust me – you haven’t met Maria yet! 

I initially called Maria because I loved her design style on social media. However, once she visited my home and we started talking about renovation ideas, favourite looks and designers I knew she was the one for my project. Her brief for our 3 bedroom 80’s style townhouse was to open it up for more light and modernise with a neutral palette to complement our artwork. Her initial floor plan concept was beautiful and included everything on our wish list. From there the kitchen and bathroom designs fell easily into place and choosing the fixtures and finishes was a breeze. Maria made every step fun and enjoyable. My husband and I have built homes before and none of it was ever fun and enjoyable. As well as being incredibly creative, Maria is a treasure to work with and totally professional with all her communications and presentations. I can’t wait to live in the space she has created.

My husband hired Maria after purchasing a home that needed a gut renovation. I was completely overwhelmed by the process of selection, worried that I would make costly mistakes that I would then have to live with. For a small cost of the overall renovation, Maria took control of the process assisting with the interior and exterior selections ensuring no mistakes were made. In addition to this, Maria gave us hints and tips along the way that were outside of the scope of work we had contracted her for. We absolutely loved working with Maria and we love everything she has chosen for us. I’m looking forward to engaging Maria again as soon as we move in to assist with our furniture selections.

Maria, a huge thank you for all the advice and help you gave me with the interior design, layout and choosing furniture for my house.  Maria, I sincerely cannot thank you enough and I wish you every success for the future.  I look at everything in my home and I am grateful that Robert Paragalli from REP Building recommended you to me.  You’re a great team.

What a joy it was to work with Maria from Studio Black Interiors. I’ve been following Maria online for quite some time before I got in touch with her. From the get go she was incredible to work with. Maria was amazingly responsive with emails, she really took the time to understand what our needs were for our renovation and factored in our longer term plans for the house. She has an amazing eye for detail and she just made the whole process super easy. We knew we were in safe hands. We had recently purchased a new house and we were keen to get a number of changes made to the house before we moved in (open up passage ways, new floors/carpets, new lights, new window furnishings, house painted throughout). The issue was we had a very short time frame, we were undecided on builder and other suppliers, had never undertaken a renovation before…. and we were keen to move in before Christmas! Maria worked her magic. She met me onsite straight away, talked through the various options and stages, she organised a number of supplier appointments at very short notice so I could choose finishes with her. She even put us in touch with our builder who we ended up using to take on our project. Our builder Dean Papas from Papas Projects was a brilliant recommendation who completed it in two weeks and we moved in two days before Christmas! We will definitely be working with both Maria and Dean again for the master suite extension and kitchen/bathrooms/laundry renovations we have planned. We had heard so many horror stories of disaster renovations but absolutely not the case here – delivered on time, absolutely beautiful and to an exceptional standard. We couldn’t be more pleased with how it all turned out. Thank you Maria!

We hired Maria to help us with the look and feel of our new home. As a family with three young children, we didn’t have the time or energy to trawl through thousands of shades of whites! We needed an expert to help us fast-track our selections – to guide us through the process, point us towards beautiful options that were in our budget, and steer us away from things that we didn’t need to bother with. And at less than 1/2 per cent of the cost of our new build, it was a tiny investment in making sure we got our new home right.

Maria pulled our ideas together into a beautiful vision. She spotted the themes in our random collection of Pinterest pins and created a mood board which nailed what we were looking for in our new home. She worked pragmatically, meeting us at home and even on the weekend. In one hour we chose all our external selections. There were no arguments between my husband and I – Maria’s organised approach and keen eye for design helped us make choices that we were both really happy with. In four hours, we chose all our internal fixtures – appliances, tiles, carpets, the lot. And in another two hours, the internal finishes were done – cabinetry for the kitchen, laundry and foyer, and all the interior paint colours. Done. New home chosen.

Maria documented our choices for our builder and proactively made suggestions which ensured we got the most important elements of our new home right – feature lighting, for instance, was one thing that Maria gently prompted us to turn our minds to.

Our new home will be better, by an order of magnitude, due to Maria’s help. We’ve enjoyed the process, love our selections, and can’t wait to be in our new home.

From the beginning Maria was on our wavelength. Being keen skiers and lovers of lodge life, Maria embraced our ideas to incorporate rocky mountains and antler accents. She sourced materials that ensured a warm and inviting home, that did not sacrifice on style. She took away all the stress of having so many decisions to make by collating a short-list of finishes such as tiles, carpets and lighting. She was always so organised and collated all the details, down to the door handles, in what was referred to as the “bible”. 🙂 We were delighted to see the cohesiveness of brass, rock and wood unfold and come together. It was an absolute pleasure working with Maria, and if we are crazy enough to move and build again, we will certainly be calling on her expertise! Thanks again Maria!

We engaged in Maria from Studio Black Interiors to help us with the interior and exterior design for our upcoming renovation and extension. I’m so glad we went down this path as Maria made the whole process stress free for us. Maria’s professionalism, eye for detail, and knowledge of products was above and beyond our expectations. We would highly recommend Maria to anyone in need of an Interior designer and would absolutely use her services again.

I was daunted at the prospect of furnishing and decorating and my new home. Maria put together a gorgeous cohesive portfolio of ideas for me. She is a joy to work with and always kind, generous and responsive. I haven’t seen the final product yet as we are a work in progress but I highly recommend Maria for her excellent eye, her listening and advice skills, and her warmth and humor. Thank you Maria.

From the start of my renovation project I had Maria involved and it was the best decision I made. After our initial chat she understood my needs and we never looked back. The options Maria presented throughout the process made picking and choosing my new home so simple and easy. I was able to use my time and effort in other area’s, knowing that the interior design aspects were well taken care of. Most importantly, during all my questions, emails and concerns, Maria always handled things with ease and with a smile. I wouldn’t choose anyone else if I had to do it all again. Thanks Maria!

We cannot thank Maria enough for her expertise in our recent renovation. She created a beautiful colour palette that delivered on both brief and budget, which completely exceeded our expectations and has completely transformed our home. We also really appreciated her ongoing support and advice, always going above and beyond to assist us with her detailed knowledge and superb communication skills. Thank you Maria!

Maria was amazing! I could not recommend Studio Black Interiors highly enough. Maria provided excellent solutions and designs that meet our budget and preferences. She is very knowledgeable and professional. My wife and I cannot wait to see the house finished! I would recommend Maria to anyone and I hope I can work with her again in the future.

I highly recommend Maria as her attention to detail, reliability, hard work and passion for what she does are second to none. Maria is pleasantly approachable which makes it very easy for us to express our building work through her design and styling. We look forward to working with Maria on our future projects.

Looking through the Studio Black Interior’s Instagram page gave me confidence that Maria would be able to bring a modern and fresh styling approach to my home. The results speak for themselves! I would absolutely recommend Studio Black Interiors.

I was planning a refresh of my house including new carpets, paint, curtains, blinds and furniture. I needed someone to help me select everything. My daughter found Maria at Studio Black for me so I invited her to quote. She is very approachable, has great ideas, and is very professional. We discussed what I required, I shared some ideas I liked on Pinterest and then Maria went away and whipped up a mood board and we went from there. Maria was great at bringing to life my requirements. She came with me to shops to pick up exactly what I needed. It was money well spent to have Maria work with me on this project. I would happily work with her again and highly recommend her services.

I was planning a kitchen renovation – a new kitchen rather than a makeover. I wanted ideas for a different layout, plus colours and materials. I didn’t know who to get help from. I found Studio Black Interiors on the Houzz website. Maria came to my home within a couple of days after we spoke by email. She was professional, cheerful, enthusiastic and made me feel very relaxed – like I had a friend over to give me advice. She was very quickly able to ‘see’ a different layout which she measured up and then roughly drew up on paper for me. Maria had lots of samples for cupboards and the bench top. She compared colour tones with the newly renovated bathroom area to ensure the colours were complementary. At my request, Maria also gave advice on lounge room curtain colours. All this in one and a half hours! I really enjoyed the time with her and her advice was very useful and helped me to ‘see’ the possibilities.

I engaged Maria as a sounding board for our upcoming renovations. I didn’t need a full interior design service that would be a decent financial investment. Creating a beautiful home is an emotional time and Maria was perfect for the job. Reasonably priced and most certainly a great eye for colour and finishes, she gave me the reassurance I needed for the choices I had made, plus some extra ideas to make it really special. Maria was worth the investment to move forward with confidence. Thanks Maria

My wife and I hired Studio Black Interiors to help furnish a new house that we’d recently moved into and are extremely happy with the result. Our brief was to furnish living, dining and outdoor areas from scratch and to help my wife and find an aesthetic that was contemporary, but in keeping with our 1950’s timber cottage home. At every step of the process, Maria was helpful and professional. Her documentation of furniture options, colours and finishes helped to simplify what seemed like an overwhelming number of choices, and made the process simple and stress free. Maria is also a great communicator – she was always at the other end of the phone or email and happy to answer any queries that we had, no matter how big or small.

We absolutely loved Maria’s suggestions and it was clear that she had really taken the time to understand our lifestyle, preferences and budget. We were also really impressed by her extensive knowledge of local and interstate suppliers – it provided us with a much greater range of options to consider and opened our eyes to products that we would not otherwise have thought of.

We could not be happier with the overall look that Maria has helped us achieve. For the first time, we have a home with a coherent and stylish look, with the whole project coming in on time and on budget. We would certainly engage Studio Black Interiors again and would not hesitate to recommend Maria.

A renovation is a significant investment so you want to make sure you get the planning right. That’s why Maria’s unique service is invaluable and exactly what I needed.

Maria assessed the plans that I’d had drawn up and offered excellent advice to make sure the finished product would work both functionally and aesthetically.

The choices are endless when it comes to selecting finishes and I wish I’d consulted Maria earlier. She’s very passionate, knowledgeable and goes above and beyond. I am very thankful for her advice and guidance.

We engaged Maria Cerne of Studio Black Interiors to advise us on the renovation of two bathrooms and a powder room.

Maria’s service was exceptional. She was unfailingly patient and gracious, as well as being knowledgeable, diligent and thorough.

She produced a comprehensive briefing pack, which included a photo mood board, prices for fixtures and fittings, floor plan layouts and detailed budgets. These were extremely helpful for us in our decision-making processes.

Maria sourced and selected many product samples for us to view, saving us a great deal of time and effort.

Her budgeting expertise was invaluable, and she assisted us in fine-tuning the budget for the project.

Maria has a very friendly and supportive manner, and she is a delight to work with. Nothing was too much trouble for her, and we felt fully supported by her at all times.

We would highly recommend her to anyone seeking a professional interior design consultant to advise and work with them on any renovation project, large or small.

Maria at Studio Black Interiors has done an amazing job at designing our new one bedroom serviced apartment format as part of renovations in one of our CBD apartment buildings.

She has a great eye for practical yet modern and clean looking designs down to the smallest detail. We look forward to working with her again.

We really enjoyed working with Maria, she was very friendly and a great designer. She listened carefully to what we wanted, and suggested really great ideas that suited our styles and preferences. Maria made it so easy for us, saving us so much time but still keeping us involved. She completed the work much more quickly than expected, and it was great value for money. Would definitely recommend Studio Black Interiors!

A big thank you for all the hard work you did on styling our lounge room. You turned our boring, drab front room into a space we all love to spend time in. You have such an amazing talent!

The moment you walked through my door, I could see you were going to be a team leader. I am so thrilled you attended our styling retreat, as your passion, determination, and sheer hard work shone bright. It is clear to me that you are a focused, talented stylist with a super bright future, and your business brain will hold you in good stead. I particularly enjoyed your contributions to our discussions around unique selling propositions for not only yourself, but for other team members present. It showed maturity, industry prowess and a high level of authenticity and integrity.

You were brilliant in action on day 2 on our set, and I think the learning curve was a big one for you. But I know you will apply all of it and more, so for that reason it would be my pleasure to ever referee for you on any future design based work, as I believe you have what it takes to go the distance. Wishing you all the very best Maria, and again, thanks for your effort and invaluable contributions.