The Slow Down: Four Tips to Turn Your Home into a Luxurious Escape
- Words by Peppermint
words and interview LAUREN BAXTER photos 28 DEGREES
A hop, skip and a jump back from Byron Bay’s famous beaches, nestled in between beautiful magnolia trees, you’ll find 28 Degrees – a gorgeous, consciously curated guest house designed for slow and steady living.
It opened in 2015 when owner and interior designer Deb Garske was inspired by her youth growing up on Norfolk Island to create a sanctuary that offered true respite from the hustle and bustle of modern life. She remembers whenever she’d return home to Norfolk “getting off the plane, feeling that humidity and heat, and completely unwinding immediately”. It was a feeling she wanted to evoke in others.
“We were always out relaxing – lying under a tree, or at the pool or just catching up with friends and having a cup of tea,” Deb recalls. “I didn’t realise that until I was older and I was building something that I was really trying to draw on all my upbringing. To see what it was that I really loved about my time there.”
Indeed, embracing ‘slow’ can often feel like a privilege in modern life. But 28 Degrees embodies slow living principles to its core – encouraging an internal reset and providing a luxurious centre to unwind, if only for a little while. Plush linen sheets, recycled French Oak floors, private plunge pools, beeswax candles, beach bags from The Dharma Door and a no-television policy all add to the obvious charm (and that list could go on!), but Deb firmly believes that we can all bring elements of slow living into our own homes. Here’s how…
Take a Moment For Yourself
I always start my morning with morning meditation – I don’t even get out of bed. Without that, I don’t think I could function as clearly as I do, and with such grace, because there are so many twists and turns in a day.
Support Your Locals
I also eat as organic as I can. I go to the farmers’ market here to support the farmers. I buy all my meat, eggs, chicken, and blueberries there – really, everything that I can. I really love the idea of supporting your locals and everyone can do that no matter where they are. There’s always a farmers’ market somewhere.
READ MORE: How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint When Decorating
Set the Mood
Bringing slow into your home can also be as easy as setting the mood. Lighting is key – making sure lights are only on in the areas you need them. Dimmers are a great way of creating the atmosphere to slow down and it reminds our brains to calm down for the evening. I always put my beeswax candle on at night and turn off the lights while relaxing before bed.
Smells are also a great way of bringing slow into our homes – I’m sure everyone is aware that beautiful scents can almost always bring you back to a wonderful time. “Stop and smell the roses” is such a great saying. I always pick fresh flowers or buy gorgeous-smelling ones and sit down and really take five minutes to look at their colour and beauty.
Music too is a great way of unwinding while cooking for the family. Often it can just melt the day away. I love playing music that evokes great memories for me so that when I’m cooking for the family it brings the food alive. I love creating dishes from scratch and it helps to unwind from the busy day.
Get some ZZZs
Sleep is so underrated. But if I can’t sleep on some nights, I just make sure I stay in bed. I don’t get up – I just lie there. You also have to have a really good mattress. That’s our number one thing at 28 Degrees, all our rooms have really good beds. We spend the money on that. We spend the money on our pillows and we spend the money on our couches.
I really think that it’s how you start your day and it’s how you end your day that brings that sense of slow into your life.
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TOGETHER WE STITCH RETURNS! 🪡✨
Ditch the dishes. Clear your cutting table. Pop the kettle on. Because Together We Stitch is back from 15 to 22 March for seven joy-filled days of sewing, learning and reveling in the joy of shared community, no matter where you are in the world!
Hosted by Megan from @SewAndTell.Co, this global online sewing event brings thousands of makers together for a week of practical know-how, confidence boosts and those “why didn’t I know this sooner?!” moments.
This year’s line-up is packed with masterclasses and practical inspiration, like:
🪡 Simple knit finishing tricks to make your garments look store-bought by @SewAndTell.Co’s Megan Linley
🪡 Troubleshooting your sewing machine by Jenni Miller from @LetsGetSewingNow
🪡 Hands-on pattern adjustments for sway back from @GinaReneeDesigns
🪡 An interview with Brandon Hayden from @HappilyDressed about building a garment around the fabric you love
🪡 Iron Care 101 by @MicheleMuska
🪡 Kate Boyle from @MindMovementHealth shares posture tips and exercises to help prevent sewing aches and pains
🪡 An easy jeans-to-skirt upcycle project from @LaCreativeMama’s Victoria Martinez Azaro
🪡 DIY custom fabrics and creative craft-room upgrades by Stephanie Young from @So_Stephanie_Says
🪡 Plus choosing prints with intention, making your dream wardrobe a reality, and meeting the creator of Project & Cut, Clinton Blackmore to talk all things PDF pattern future
Together We Stitch is all about expert-led sessions, creative demos, practical tips you can take straight to your sewing table, and a community that celebrates every win along the way. Join live or catch the replays when it suits you.
Head to togetherwestitch.com or hit the link in bio to save your seat. 🪡
#TogetherWeStitch #SewingExpo #SewingInspo #MeMade #SewingCommunity #SewistsOfInstagram
Coffee begins long before your morning cuppa! ☕️
2026 has been declared the International Year of the Woman Farmer, led by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the @UnitedNations. It’s a global spotlight with a practical purpose: to recognise women’s indispensable roles across agrifood systems, and to push for the changes that still haven’t arrived evenly, like equal access to land, finance, training, technology and decision-making.
Into that bigger picture steps Elizabeth Duna, a coffee farmer from Papua New Guinea and the chairwoman of the Keto-Tapasi Progress Association. Elizabeth is also the only female chairperson across the @FairtradeANZ cooperative network in the Pacific, overseeing farmers across the association and helping ensure Fairtrade standards are met.
We had the privilege of chatting to Elizabeth (just in time for International Woman’s Day this Sunday, too!) about what’s been growing and changing within her cooperative, what ‘fair trade’ means to her, and the hopes that manifest in a ‘simple’ bag of coffee beans.
Link in bio ☕️
#FairTrade #FairTradeCoffee #InternationalWomensDay
DIFFICULT ✊🏻✊🏽✊🏿
The collab we needed for International Women`s Day… and every day!
From @DangerousFemales:
"Hands up if you’ve ever been called difficult behind your back, to your face, or by an Australian Prime Minister during a Q&A?
DIFFICULT by Grace Tame, in her own handwriting is… one word: ICONIC!
100% of profits from our tees are donated, 100% of the time. Funds from this @TamePunk tee will go to @BerylWomen_inc, a First Nations led women’s refuge in the ACT.
Kinda ironic, don’t ya think?
Supporting an org in the parliament state with words from a politician for Australia’s longest running and underfunded women’s refuge.
Thank you @TamePunk for being difficult." 🫶🙌
Link in bio to get behind this tee!
#InternationalWomensDay #DangerousFemales #GraceTame #Difficult
NEW PATTERN ALERT 🎉
She’s giving comfort, she’s giving style, she’s giving palate-cleansing sewing. There’s nothing quite like an easy breezy dress that’s not only a dream to wear but a delight to sew, and the NEW Peppermint Myrtle Shift Dress delivers!
Cute, classic and cool with a touch of retro: the Myrtle Shift Dress is a beginner-friendly make with sleek lines and elegant curves. Bust darts are in play for shaping and spacious pockets to hold all your treasures. Top-stitching detail around the neck and armholes invites creative contrast threads and the keyhole loop closure at the back neck begs for a feature button (or a tie closure!).
Myrtle cuts above the knee with options to customise the length. Don’t think she’s reserved for hot weather either: try a heavier-weight fabric to turn your Myrtle into a pinafore-style garment for layering.
For our fabrics we chose two from @Karmme_Apparel – the bold Rottnest Stripes in a lightweight, soft-drape cotton, and the quality linen in the handpainted Mexico Collection. Karmme also stocks darling tassels so we popped a hot pink one on as a closure!
The love child of Imby Langenbach, Karmme Apparel (fittingly pronounced ‘calm’), is a haven of boho apparel sewing patterns alongside complementary fabrics steeped in tradition with modern iterations from Jaipur, India. Hand block-printed and digitally printed soft cottons produced by Indian artisans showcase rich colours and designs from Imby’s travels, perfect for showing off me-made masterpieces.
Our dresses were superbly stitched by our sewing manager @Laura_The_Maker, and modelled magnificently by Shannon @Pins_And_Tonic and Serah @SerahSews. And that perfect pink wall was courtesy of the good folk at @ShareTheDignityAustralia, an organisation that aims to bring dignity to women, girls and those who menstruate who are experiencing homelessness, domestic violence and period poverty.
Get making the Myrtle – the only question is, can you stop at just one?
Link in bio 🪡
Photos: @KelleySheenan
Sewist: @Laura_The_Maker
Patternmaker: @GarmentaApparel
Models: @SerahSews and @Pins_And_Tonic
Fabric: @Karmme_Apparel
#PeppermintMyrtleShiftDress #PeppermintPatterns
Connection 🫶🏻
Such great ideas from @GrowWithColby:
“A common theme I noticed in 2025:
Everyone is craving more connection.
Use these friend nights to make it happen in 2026.
Send this to the people you want to do these with.”
#Connection #Friends #Community
No bull - these pants are the cat`s (or cow`s) pyjamas...
Jenny from @RhubarbSundays:
And they are done! My @PeppermintMagazine #PeppermintFernPleatedPants made using a gorgeous fabric from @IndyBindyFabrics! I absolutely love this fabric! It’s soft and drapes beautifully. And the best thing about it is that, from a distance, it looks like an abstract print and then you look closer and theres a curious bull looking right at you. 🤣🤣 🐄 🐮
Really happy with the end product. They are very comfy! I didn’t make many changes to the pattern. Just a touch more room in the rise and a little bit off the waist. I’ll post some closeups of the details tomorrow when I actually take them off. 🤣 "
Grab the pattern from the link in bio!
#PeppermintPatterns #IMakeMyOwnClothes #ClothesThatFeelLikePyjamas #SewersGonnaSew
