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MEET THE TEAM

Teresa Kleeman, Director of Embracing Space Interior Design, Melbourne

Teresa Kleeman

Design member of the Kitchen Bathroom Designers Institute (KBDI)

Teresa-Kleeman-Embracing-Space-Interior-Design-Melbourne-KBDI-Member_2022-Grey

Teresa Kleeman

I must have been about 9 years old, I was at a family Italian wedding and I was drawing all over the paper tablecloth back in those days. My cousin’s wife Natalie watched me as I drew and drew. She asked me – What do you want to be when you grow up and I firmly said Architect. She continued to say “Teresa you want to be an Interior Designer”.

At that stage I had no idea what that even was!!!! From that moment I knew what my passion was – DESIGN.

The way it makes me feel – happy, content and passionate. There is nothing else in this world that my heart & soul would rather do. The greatest reward is creating a dream space for a client and seeing it come to life and knowing that the client is thrilled with the outcome.

At the young age of 21, I qualified in the industry and I persued my dreams. With many years experience since then and many more to come – here I am “Embracing Space.

Teresa

Teresa accepting a KBDI award

Awards

The Kitchen/Bathroom Designers Institute (KBDI), Houzz & the Housing Industry Association (HIA)

Education & Qualifications

We engaged Teresa to help us renovate our 100 year old home in Canterbury and consider ourselves extremely fortunate to have found her.

Teresa is blessed with creative sensibility and capacity to envisage the ultimate outcome. She displays great attention to detail and a remarkable ability to recall them all within an overarching framework that brought cohesion to our project. She gave concrete form to the overall look we wanted to achieve even when we couldn’t quite articulate it ourselves. Furthermore she skilfully negotiated a middle path when Russell and I had different views or reached different decisions.

Given the wide range of styles and purchasing options available, without assistance we would’ve floundered amid the myriad of considerations on offer - right down to the colour of tile grout in the kitchen and bathrooms! We feel very lucky to have met Teresa who, with her wonderful balance of flair and patience, helped us to refine our vision.

At the end of the day, she guided us through a process where we now have a beautiful home that has a consistent sense of aesthetics throughout that both reflects us and our shared tastes, but also gives us scope to put our own individual stamp on final selections that nonetheless fit harmoniously within a fundamental design that seamlessly blends all the elements.

It has been a pleasure to work with Teresa who is a truly delightful and talented person, and I highly recommend her interior design input to anyone seeking such support.
Kay Jones
Canterbury
I am very happy to recommend Teresa Kleeman to anyone contemplating a bathroom renovation. Her bubbly and enthusiastic approach to her work is very warm and genuine.

Communication is the key in any relationship and none more important than when looking after a client, keeping them informed and responding to queries promptly. Teresa listened to my brief and was willing to work with me to achieve the look I was after while offering great advice and a very good eye for colour and detail. She always replied to my emails and calls and nothing was a problem.

I found her to be very honest and professional and I think she is a great asset to any project.
Jan Ward
Armadale
Thank you so very much the dedicated and talented Teresa who helped and guided us step by step to create and bring our townhouses to life, you are not not only an interior but external decorator as well.

Your attention to detail is impeccable, it truly shows in the end result the passion and love you have for creating spaces. Your professionalism and dedication in the whole process from start to end has been comforting knowing you had it all under control and listening to our need and wants to create amazing spaces that flowed and worked with one another.

Look forward to working again with you in the future. We couldn’t thank you enough for bringing our vision to life.
Yianni, Nicholas & Irene
Balwyn
The prospect of bathroom and laundry renovations are daunting, but we had the great fortune to meet Teresa Kleeman. Teresa worked with us to design functional, efficient and stylish spaces. We love the end result. As we all know renovations never ‘run smoothly’, but Teresa kept us up to date on progress, went with the flow and all with a smile on her face.

Following our very successful renovations we had her renovate our 85 year old Mum’s bathroom. Again Teresa did an amazing job under some difficult circumstances. We would highly recommend Teresa for any building or renovation work you are contemplating, without hesitation.
Anne & Adrian Freedman
Sandringham
From our first planning meeting Teresa took care of everything, and made a very complicated process seem ultimately very easy. Teresa was super efficient and organised and had some inspiring ideas. Nothing was ever too much trouble for her and any anxieties I had were dealt with very quickly.

Once the actual work started and Wayne took over everything continued in the same way. Wayne was extremely helpful, fantastic to work with and his easy going, fun personality made the weeks of disruption much easier than expected. He sorted out any issues very quickly and effectively and we really appreciated all his updates and texts keeping us informed on a regular basis. The tradies were also all great, very friendly, polite and helpful. And our bathroom looks amazing. Thank you!!
Liz
Blackrock
Communication with our managers, Teresa and Rob was excellent with any of our questions or concerns being resolved quickly. Richard and I are very pleased with our new bathroom. Our small 1960’s bathroom has been transformed into a well designed, functional and safer room, more suited to the needs of older people.
Richard & Brenda
Bentleigh East
Your knowledge of bathroom design and the myriad of fixtures and fittings was invaluable. I particularly appreciated your willingness to listen patiently and try to understand what I wanted. The end result is a good balance of my thoughts and your interpretation of them.
McKerracher
East Brighton

Giovanni Mauro

Certificate IV in Kitchen and Bathroom Design

Giovanni Mauro

I’m here!  I would have to say Design is part of my DNA, my earliest memory being constantly designing house floorplans with my lego but never fully building up the walls because I wanted to make sure that the space was funtional for the lego family I created it for.


My Italian/Dutch heritage has definitley played a huge part in my passion for not only designing spaces but Homes that are lived in and functional.  The love of creating spaces that evoke a ‘feeling’ when you are in them.


Over the years I have built and created Homes and Gardens that are truly lived in and loved, being a passionate gardener myself I know the importance of marrying up the two so they compliment eachother.


Alongside Interior Design I also run my own AirBnB business which consists of two properties, one in Trentham named Bramasole and the other in the heart of the Melbourne CBD along the Yarra.


I am beyond thrilled and grateful to now also work alongside and collaborate with Teresa at Embracing Space, whom I have such a personal and professional admiration for.

Giovanni