What happens after you win The Block, sell the house, have a baby, launch a business and start again? 

In this episode of The Edit, host and Home Beautiful Editor-in-Chief Elle Lovelock sits down with Steph Ottavio, architect, designer, founder of Japandi Estate and one half of beloved The Block duo Steph and Gian. 

Steph opens up about the pressure of renovating on national television, what she and Gian carried from The Block into real life, and how she renovated her own home while pregnant, with a five-month deadline and her mum living across the road. 

But this is also a more personal conversation about the strange quiet that can come after a huge, formative chapter. Steph talks honestly about experiencing “post blues” after The Block, feeling disconnected from purpose, going to therapy, and learning to strip life back to the basics: community, connection, conversation, morning rituals and the little moments that make you feel like yourself again. 

Together, Elle and Steph explore what really makes a home beautiful, from decluttered spaces, layered rugs and 12 skylights to the feeling of walking into a home that has been designed for real family life. 

Moments You'll Hear: 

• Why Steph says her home has to be organised so life can be chaotic  

• What The Block taught her about pressure, outsourcing and working with Gian  

• How Steph renovated while pregnant and moved in before her baby arrived  

• The truth about her “post Block blues” and rebuilding a sense of purpose  

• Why community became the brief for her next home  

• Steph’s take on Japandi style, character within minimalism and why she does not love cold modern homes  

• The clever design ideas inside Steph and Gian’s home, including the Jack and Jill bathroom, 12 skylights and a pool craned in through the neighbours  

• Her rules for shoes, scent, clutter and the design trend she would happily leave behind  

Thank you for listening ❤️ 

Before you leave... 

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Credits: 

Our friend Steph Ottavio 
Host Elle Lovelock 
Edited by Pro Pods 
Producer: Charlie Potter and Thomas Crnkovic 
Consulting Producer: Jessie-Lee Klass 
Head of Vodcasting Rachel Fountain 

Learn More: The Edit is a production of Home Beautiful and Are Media:  

Inside Steph and Gian Ottavio’s stunning home transformation 

Steph and Gian Ottavio’s Home Beautiful Tour on YouTube 

Steph's Instagram

Steph and Gian's Japandi Estate Instagram