DESIGN AND DETAIL

Diana McInnes's many lives as a stylist, graphic designer, ski instructor and avid collector inform her alpine home.

- SIOBHAN O'BRIEN

Blow-to-the-solar-plexus views pan over a luminous Lake Jindabyne and up to the Snowy Mountains range beyond. A mature, tree-filled garden is golden honeycomb in autumn and rose-scented in spring. Elegant Europeaninspired rooms filled with furs, antlers and old ski paraphernalia line the walls, juxtaposed with a feminine oddity or arrangement of flowers.

This is the home of Diana McInnes, business owner, mother and bon vivant. Diana has a distinct style that spills from what she wears, how she lives and what she sells in her much-loved retail store, Design & Detail. It is located in the old shopping centre in East Jindabyne, set among cafés, restaurants and ski-hire outlets. But it's about much more than your usual shopping fare.

"The store features a carefully chosen assortment of new and vintage items, some familiar, others more left of centre," Diana shares. "I sell everyday classics that will not date but will mellow and improve with age and are destined to become favourites. It is an ever-evolving collection and one that is always interesting."

It's in this eclectic and fascinating space that Diana spends much of her working week. Either that or she is on the road sourcing new and unusual finds for her business.