Interiors

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

Christmas for me, offers mixed emotions, poignant memories of childhood and a sense of having lost something and then there are the decorations. A traditional winter Christmas needs lights, colour, magic and a touch of snow. A Southern hemisphere Christmas is all about the beach, summer holidays, a sense of a fizz in the air. Both make sense at each time of the year.

When we moved to Berlin we bought a lovely renovated apartment in a classic old German mansion near stunning lakes. It was beautiful, spacious but lonely. I had worked from home the last couple of years and that was a whole new experience - if you don't have an office to go to, you need to be outside with noise, people, activity and life. After over two years, we decided to move to a more active area. We assumed that we would end up in a similar apartment with high ceilings and classical features within a German style apartment

The lounge is the last part of the tiny French apartment that we needed to decorate. It had the kitchen to one side and a lovely restored stone wall on the other. A key focus was to take advantage of the natural light from the two windows overlooking a traditional French square. We needed to ensure that the colours connected while managing Feng Shui principles. There was a corner in the Relationship sector that needed 'extending' using the practice of a small mirror stating that this wall extended. I love the combination of French and Asian decor mixed with

Ah, the kitchen, the heart of the home or as in Frejus, one side of the living area! It was a key attraction to buying the one-bedroom shoebox in France. It was a simple strip of cupboards and according to the Feng Shui map it was in the Family, Health area and also in the corner for the Wealth sector which needed balancing. It was Small We have had big kitchens and small ones, classic enclosed and open planned kitchens. This was a strip. Some key rules for small kitchens from my experience: Keep it simple - stick with

An interior designer once said, if the bathroom and kitchen are not liveable, walk away even if that garden is amazing! We were thrilled that the bathroom was completely renovated, plumbing, tiles and all. All we needed to do was to add finishing touches.     Accessories The bathroom is in the Career sector for Feng Shui and needed more black and white added. We bought Zara accessories in white to give a hotel look. White fluffy towels and candles were placed, a Japanese bowl, silver ornaments that had been sitting in a cupboard offer a gentle touch and

I am going to start with the bedroom first as that had the most challenges. Challenges It was a small room and we weren't sure about the bed size and how to have bed side tables. Measuring was important down to the last centimetre. A strange step platform also existed in the far top left corner that we didn't have a clue how to manage. This is where the wardrobe would go. After much thought, we selected adjustable feet for the wardrobe and it worked but we do need to add a piece of wood to stabilise it at the

Our Space, Our Place It seems like a century ago with this post as we have since sold the studio but fun to read what we did! We finally arrived having driven over a couple of days in a massive rental car with lots of household stuff. We had carefully planned each room, using Feng Shui rules where we can, including managing some challenges. Our apartment was a tiny one-bedroom place on the first floor of an old French apartment building. We had furnished the kitchen/lounge area, the bathroom and the bedroom which you will see in later posts.

Light the Way Lights, lanterns, candles, all can add a wow factor to a room purely by altering the shape, shadows and colour. Whenever I have bought a place, my first request is lots of light as it gives a sense of space and height. Our shoebox 25th floor New York apartment had tall ceilings being a renovated building, which instantly lit the room in natural light making the major room appear larger. Our Berlin apartment was like a tree house with soft dappled sunshine even in the winter. I try not to have curtains being a fan of