IN A ROOM WITH SOPHIE MARSHALL

In a Room is a conversation series where we ask our friends to share their favourite domestic spaces. For this edition we’re joined by Sophie Marshall, founder of GENTLE HABITS.

Gentle Habits is a salty, down-to-earth, community-focused Australian business producing a range of lifestyle projects that inspire positive outcomes. Beginning life as 'This is Incense' — a range of thoughtful and high quality incense products — Gentle Habits has grown into a project that now includes perfume, skincare, homewares, and even swimming gear, all with the connective desire to slow life down and introduce mindful rituals to daily life.

In Sophie's own words: "we are about finding moments of stillness, joy, movement, love, motivation and self-reflection. Rather than give you advice, we believe you have the answers within yourself. We create tools to prompt you to explore your daily rituals, rhythms and Gentle Habits. Whether they set the mood for your day ahead or are used to wind-down after a long day at work. We hope to help you create rituals to unlock the capacity to feel present, grounded and captivated by the everyday".

Here Sophie invites us into her private world, a northern NSW refuge where she runs her business and creates her own sense of peace, wellbeing, and creativity.

Sophie Marshall, founder of Gentle Habits

Which room are you in today? 

Currently I am in my open plan kitchen/living room with my laptop and burning Grounded Incense with a coffee. As I work remotely from home, also with my husband, I am constantly moving around my house with my laptop to escape the kids, but this room sees a lot of use throughout the year with the running of our business. 

Which room is the most active in your house?

Our open plan kitchen/living room definitely gets the most action, especially at the moment with my two boys currently home for summer holidays. Living in Yamba in Northern NSW, we have a range of family and friends visiting us, so what is usually a working zone becomes a gathering place of shared meals and is by far our most social part of the house. The 5m micro cement benchtop sees a lot of use this time of year and we even have our DJ decks are set up in the area!  

Which room gets the least amount of use?

The designated TV room — which makes me happy.

Which is your work-from-home room of choice?

We have an open plan office set upstairs to separate our living and working areas however I do find myself frequently working at the kitchen bench. I always work best in a calm space — we live in a rural area near the beach so the sounds of birds, cicadas, and the boats on the lake created a peaceful environment to create and work.

Inside the family home of Sophie Marshall

A room from Further Hotel, Bali

What defines a great room?

A great room is a room that inspires and makes you feel.  Looking after my mental health is also extended to my environment and I always feel my best version of myself if I am in uncluttered and asthetically calm spaces.  

What is your favourite type of room?

A room that gives me a full sensory experience — different textures, minimal objects, considered tones, an open plan filled with light but most importantly layered with a scent and sound. A room like this helps nurture a creative process.

What is your all time favourite room?

I fell in love with the Further Hotel in Bali ... the colours, the music, the whole vibe.