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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)
  • BEST OF HOUZZ 2025 AU - Design & Service
  • BEST OF HOUZZ 2024 AU - Design & Service
  • BEST OF HOUZZ 2023 AU - Design & Service
  • BEST OF HOUZZ 2022 AU - Design & Service
  • BEST OF HOUZZ 2021 AU - Design & Service
  • 2020 KBDI + KBQ WINNER - Peoples Choice Award for Bathroom Design
  • 2020 KBDI FINALIST - Large Bathroom Design
  • 2020 KBDI FINALIST - Small Bathroom Design
  • 2016 KBDI WINNER – Bathroom designer of the year (VIC)
  • 2016 KBDI WINNER – Small Bathroom Design
  • 2015 HIA WINNER – Renovated Bathroom $30-50K
  • 2015 HIA WINNER – Eastern Victoria Kitchen Design
  • 2015 HIA RUNNER UP – Eastern Victoria Bathroom Design
  • 2015 HIA FINALIST – Laundry Design
  • 2015 HIA FINALIST – Renovated Kitchen up to $50K
  • 2013 HIA RUNNER UP – Renovated Kitchen up to $40K
  • 2013 KBDI FINALIST – Outstanding Student of the Year – “Certificate IV in the Design of Kitchens, Bathrooms and Interior Spaces” (While working full time for Smarter Bathrooms and Kitchens in 2012, I completed a 1-year course with Designer Training – specialising in Kitchen Design)
  • 2013 KBDI FINALIST – Small Kitchen Design
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Winner 2025

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Winner 2025

2024-Best-of-Houzz-Design

Winner 2024

best-of-houzz-design

Winner 2024

best-of-houzz-design

Winner 2023

best-of-houzz-service

Winner 2023

Houzz-best-of-design-2022

Winner 2022

Houzz-best-service-2022

Winner 2022

Houzz-Influencer-2021-Embracing-Space

Houzz Influencer

Houzz-best-of-design-2021

Winner 2021

Teresa-Kleeman-Embracing-Space-KBDI-Peoples-Choice-Award-Winner-2020

Winner 2020

Houzz-Best-Service-2020-Embracing-Space-Interior-Design-Melbourne

Winner 2020

Houzz-Best-Design-2020-Embracing-Space-Interior-Design-Melbourne

Winner 2020

Houzz-best-of-design-2019

Winner 2019

House-best-of-service-2019.

Winner 2019

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Houzz Favourite

Recommended-on-Houzz

Recommended 2016

KBDi-Awards-Winner-2016-Embracing-Space-Teresa-Kleeman

Winner 2016

Education & Qualifications

  • 2012 – Completed “Certificate IV in the Design of Kitchens, Bathrooms and Interior Spaces” with Designer Training
  • 2010 – Completed “Certificate IV in Retail Management” Part Time with Pow Wow Training Pty Ltd
  • 2006 – Completed 2 years Full Time study of “Diploma of Interior Design & Decoration” at RMIT University
  • 2003 – Completed 1 year Part Time study of “Advanced Diploma of Interior Design” at Polytechnic Faculty of Art & Architecture
  • 2002 – Short Course Certificates Completed: Interior Design & Decoration at Chisholm Tafe & Interior Architecture at Monash University
  • 2002 – Completed Year 12
  • 2000 – 2 Weeks Work Experience with Interior Designer – Shira Ash

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

“Teresa transformed our modest dark bathroom into an amazingly beautiful space. She totally understood our vision, and created a design palette which was sophisticated, urban and cutting edge as well as within budget. Teresa was a pleasure to work with throughout and went above and beyond her brief.”

Elly Brooksby

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

“Teresa was instrumental to our renovations which covered multiple bathrooms, powder rooms and our laundry. She quickly recognised our style and taste and designed an exceptional customised solution.”

Dimitra Fourtzis

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

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

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