Who Am I? | Caffeine and Style

Hello! I am Shakira Van Vugt.

I am a property + interior stylist/designer. I am located in Melbourne on the Mornington Peninsula. I have grown up here and love it here!

So first off lets clear up the elephant in the room guys! I was born a good seven years before anyone had heard of the blonde, hip shaking singer from across the globe, no, I am not named after that Shakira!

Skip a few years later to me, freshly graduated from high school, 18 years old, skipping out on a scholarship to university to do the retail management slog, spending my days doing work that wasn’t exactly creatively fulfilling, dreaming about the amazing holidays and places I could be seeing but not having the time or money to do it.

I, not so soon, realised I hated what I was doing so I quit. Just like that. Took a massive plunge and went to back to university to study a Diploma of Visual Merchandising + Styling... and from there a Diploma of Interior Design + Decoration - WIN WIN WIN! I loved it. I had found the things I loved doing, styling, designing. Creativity is something I had always loved. I was always drawing, designing and creating things as a child - so it finally clicked that this is where I should be.

I decided to give my life the ol’ ‘stuff it’ approach, and quit my job to see if I could make a go of the freelance/self-employment thing and I have not looked back since.

I’ve worked with a whole handful of retail and homewares companies to learn the things I now know about styling and design. As a freelancer I spent time working with many property styling companies and stylists, soaking in as much as I could. I even went back to RMIT in Melbourne to teach a few workshops about Styling and Design. (I know, crazyyyyy, I felt so chuffed about it.)

This brings me to where I am today, ready to help you and styling interiors.

SO what NOW...

STYLING + DESIGNING HOMES IS WHAT I DO!!

I LOVE IT, AND I LOVE USING MY SKILLS TO HELP PEOPLE SELL THEIR HOME OR CREATE THEIR DREAM HOME!

Work with me

"We staged our investment townhouse with Shakira and it looked amazing! She was so easy to work with. She emailed me a proposal, then we made some minor changes to fit our budget, which she was more than happy to do, and then within a few weeks she was in, and, in less than a day, the house was done. She was so accommodating in working with our short time frame, making sure the staging was done in time for us to get photos and get the property on the market.
Less than four weeks later we had a sale. Staging a home is such a worthwhile investment, and Shakira made it so easy for us."

- Emily, Frankston.