Hi, I’m Nicolene Mausenbaum – interior designer, founder of Dezyna Interiors, and the person behind Work + Life by Design.

I’ve been designing spaces professionally for 26 years. In that time I’ve worked on everything from residential homes to corporate offices, retail interiors to commercial spaces – across South Africa, the UK, Australia and beyond. I’m a listed Professional Senior Interior Designer with the IID (The African Institute of the Interior Design Professionals), and I completed my National Diploma in Interior Design at Technikon Witwatersrand back in 1999.

But here’s what those 26 years actually taught me – the most beautifully designed space means nothing if it doesn’t work for the life being lived in it.

I started noticing it more and more with entrepreneurs working from home. Talented, capable people running real businesses from spaces that were quietly working against them. No boundary between work and rest. No zone for focused thinking. Zoom backdrops that apologised for themselves before the call even started. And no amount of a new desk or a ring light was fixing the real problem.

That’s what Work + Life by Design is about. Not aesthetics for the sake of aesthetics. Not productivity hacks dressed up as design advice. Just honest, practical thinking about how the design of your home directly affects the way you work, the way you rest, and the life you’re actually trying to build.

My work has been featured in Stylist, Ideal Home and Preneur World Magazine, where I write about the intersection of design, everyday life and sustainable entrepreneurship.

If you’re ready to find out what your space is doing to you – and what to do about it – the free quiz is the best place to start.