Interiors

I used to say that we have had the same, four original arm chairs for the past ten years! I bought the first pair separately in a Swiss brocante in Nyon. Everyone was buying modern decor and I found by chance, a male and a female Louis XVI chair at different sellers. I got them cheaply and spent more having them refurbished but love them still. They are still in good shape in spite of two cats using the arms as a scratching post! Fast forward several years, we still have two of them. What Is It For? Is

Cushions I don't want to count the number of cushion covers in the past that I have bought, used and sometimes sold. Cushions or throw pillows as some call them, are a great accessory in any space particularly if you are renting. They can add colour, texture and pattern to change the look and feel of furniture and a room. Remember the colour code, 60% the main colour, 30% secondary colour and 10% a touch or shade to add. If you are feeling brave, you can add a fourth colour to offer additional colour or texture. For example, I

The first thing I look for when buying a place is a sense of light and air which usually comes from the windows. Curtains and blinds are often an investment so you need to choose wisely for each room for length, pattern, texture and practicality. Blinds I am a blinds person - curtains to me are often fussy, dusty and old-fashioned. However, I have seen some mistakes when selecting the right blind. First, work out how much light you want in and want to block out and if you want pattern or plain. Pay as much as you can

I am a bit embarrassed to say that over the past 30 years, I have bought and sold too many sofas and chairs due to size, fit and often colour or style. As we learnt, choose a sofa that has the right back for the support you want, don't get swayed by sales, and measure carefully if moving.     Sofas we have known and loved: Floral sofa-bed in a tiny Australian cottage in case of visitors and grey modular lounge in the living area; A big mistake of two lemon coloured Habitat sofas - we didn't sit on

We bought the apartment partially because it had a big balcony surrounded by silver birch trees giving the effect of a treehouse. The balcony was like an extra room and can be a restful place to read and relax. It was also great for cocktails! The main balcony needed major work as it was fifteen years old with wooden boards that were rotten. We were unable to paint the wrought iron as it was a whole building process so we did the best we could. We also had two small balconies which we didn't really used but still decorated.

We chose to use the office area for the main bedroom. It was larger and faced the balcony with lovely dappled sun pouring in during the warmer months. We ripped up the old carpet to discover concrete, we filled in hundreds of small pin pricks where photos had been displayed and had an interesting panel of glass that looks in to the spare room! 8 Key decorating tips: Don't be afraid of large furniture in a small space, if the room is small, it is small - so make it have a presence Try to add a wow factor

The lounge, the living room - whatever it is called, is the central meeting place of the house. It is an area to express your style. This lounge space has a lovely light and blends in to an open kitchen area. It is small but works with the way we live. Colour First The Berlin lounge area was cluttered and tired looking - see this photo! We decided to completely renovate and strip the area of all clutter. We used the 60/30/10% ratios and chose the colours of 60% white with blue and cafe latte tones to offer a

It is strange the tradition of having another bedroom, when if you tally up the amount of times it is used, it may not be needed! However, we had a bed and furniture to put somewhere. Our second bedroom is also in the Feng Shui sector of travel and helpful people and we wanted to incorporate the metal elements and colours of grey and silver. Key decorating tips: Don't be afraid of large furniture in a small space, if the room is small, it is small - so make it have a presence Try to add a wow factor

Someone once told me, if you can't afford to renovate the bathroom and kitchen, don't buy the place. These two rooms are the most costly to change as they involve electricity, plumbing and other labour costs. When considering renovating the bathroom, look around to see what you can live with or keep to reduce the budget. Unfortunately, our Berlin bathroom was strangely laid out, had poor cabinets and a classic European tiny bath/shower unit. We decided to renovate the whole lot.   Budget Some key advice we received was to reduce the number of tiles where we could, try

People who love to eat are always the best people - Julia Child I love to cook but I am not the chef of the house. I am lucky that my husband has taken on that role with a passion for food and all kitchen gadgets. I will never be skinny but I enjoy my food! In each place we have lived the kitchen has been a core feature and according to Feng Shui principles, it is one of the big three areas - the bedroom and bathroom being the other two. Check out my Feng Shui section for