How has Lockdown Life been for you so far?  One month on from the country shutting down and we’ve all had to get used to doing things differently.  Working from home, schools closed, queueing just to get into the supermarket and lots of time simply At Home. I’ve always run my business from home, so […]

Top tips to make your interiors budget go further We all have a budget when it comes to creating our dream home, whether we’re building brand new or renovating.  Because even those people with extremely generous bank balances, have limits as to what they’re prepared to spend on their interior design project.  So the question […]

When you’re undertaking a major refurbishment, or building a new house, there are, quite literally, thousands of decisions to be made.  Everything from what’s going to go on the roof – slate? zinc? fibreglass? sedum? – down to colour of the grout between the tiles and the design of the skirting boards.  And every decision […]

About to do a building project?  Thinking of putting your furniture in storage?  If so, then read on! Drive into any major town in the UK, and before long you’ll see a big shed with “STORAGE” written large across it’s often yellow walls.  “Great!” you think, “we can put all our stuff in there while […]

So today, Monday 15 January 2018, is this year’s “Blue Monday”, as originally coined by a travel company in 2005.  They decided that the third Monday in January was the most depressing day of the year thanks to the combination of being disheartened with New Year’s resolutions having already been abandoned, gloomy winter weather and feeling […]

I absolutely love the challenge of making the best possible use of space. Maybe it partly comes from having spent months at a time living on a boat, where every inch counts! So when in January this year I was presented with a single storey cottage, that had grown like higgeldy, I relished the space […]

In theory, one of the advantages of self employment if you’re running a business that doesn’t require you to “man the shop” at specified hours, is the ability to pick and choose the times at which you work. Of course, I can only talk to suppliers between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday, but much […]

At the recent London Design Week at the Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, one of the simplest displays was one of the most interesting.  Lighting company, Porta Romana www.portaromana.com had set up a series of identical lamp bases with identical light bulbs in them.  All the lampshades were the same size and shape.  So the only […]

You’ve planned your building project, accepted the quotes and the builders are about to start.  But have you sorted out the more “domestic” side of coping with the disruption once the work starts?  I’ve lived through several renovations and built a new house from scratch, so here are my top five tips for preparing for […]

“Oh look” said Graham, “that’s a painting of St Mawes!”  As we sail into the pretty harbour there on most summer weekends, we recognised the scene immediately.  But we were nowhere near home, just across the water from St Mawes in Cornwall; we were standing in central London! I love living in Cornwall, though contrary […]