Where we love is home, home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Since I was a little girl I have been motivated by the connection I felt with my immediate surroundings. Growing up, my mum always made all our curtains, cushions and quilts, and so I always felt that a home was built with love, because it was these elements that made our house a home. My home environment is still the most important element in my life, along with my children, husband and Chihuahuas, of course! I appreciate the need for flow and functionality in a home, and the dramatic effect this has on our mood and general outlook. My own home, a small cottage built originally for farm workers, is a mix of pattern and styles, with cottage vibes and a heavy Gen X reminiscent influence from my childhood. So, I appreciate and identify with a lot of looks within interiors, and enjoy the process of amalgamating eclectic styles to bring peoples’ homes to life and take them to the next level.
Whether it be nature or nurture, this overriding drive to create comforting spaces, in which I could reflect my personality, has never wavered.
I’ve been fortunate enough over the years to have worked for people who deeply inspired me. Whilst studying in Winchester, I discovered a local lifestyle shop, The Hambledon, finding myself always drawn through its doors, I eventually applyied for work there, perhaps in order to escape my tatty student dwellings, and soak up the good vibes. My happy years spent here, fuelled and also refined my love for home design. When I met my husband, and moved to South London, I again, gravitated to another of my Meccas for interior inspiration, the Designers Guild flagship store in Chelsea. It was working here, my interest in the use of colour, texture and form within interior spaces was massively intensified.
In 2006 my first child, Delphina, was born. So it was whilst ensconced and breastfeeding on an Ikea sofa in Camberwell, in my own private baby bubble, I began my online vintage homewares store and hire service. The aim, to provide a little income, but mostly as a creative outlet and an excuse to escape regularly to car boots and markets.
These were the paths that led me to where I am now, designing and styling, along with writing editorial for interiors publications. I’ve enjoyed styling events, creating mood boards for single rooms, to whole houses, London apartments and Hampshire new builds. I’ve built up a trusted network of tradesmen and other designers with whom there is mutual creative support. My goal is to help my client’s own style to emerge, not to always follow trends, but to integrate what they have, with what they perhaps didn’t know they wanted yet! I strongly believe financial status shouldn’t determine style, and that everyone deserves a sanctuary in which to be inspired and to inspire others, no matter the size of the property or the budget.