Real homes: my gloomy hallway

The dingy hallway has never reached its potential.

First the shiny lime green highlights, bequeathed by the previous owners got whitewashed – but with such limited light in the area, it just looked grubby, particularly one side of the space – and so efforts have since been focused on that one wall.






The new front door, with glass panels was meant to help. But still the troublesome hall wall

From the archives: Introducing... artist Stephen Wright

This story was originally posted in the summer of 2013. For those of you who missed it, enjoy...

I met the most unusual artist I've met in a long time last week. I love Stephen Wright's work – gorgeous, and often off-beat mosaics and bright, odd prints with a big Mexican vibe.



I'd seen the latter for sale in a shop near me (Brixi in south London's Brixton Market in case you're in this part of

Real Homes: Finally facing my Waterloo

When I was 19, out of work and still living at home, a friend of my mum's said she'd heard about some summer jobs going at Wimbledon, driving tennis players around during the tournament. 

She knew someone involved with the hiring and suggested to my mum that I apply.






Above: the downstairs loo got painted black

Incredibly, none of us considered that this prestigious job would definitely

Same house, different house

About five years ago, there was a brilliant photography exhibition at the Geffrye Museum in London, which depicted different flats in the same, south London tower block. Structurally, they were identical, but decoratively unique.

And a couple of years ago, I wrote about a similar project in the States, focusing on the interiors of the apartments in a housing complex designed by Ludwig Mies van

Moodboarding taste

So I've just been asked to create a few moodboards, own photography only, to illustrate my taste. I can't reveal why just yet (but will shortly) and thought I'd share them.

It was harder than I thought – mainly, I have realised, because I'm in denial about what my taste is. Who'd have thought?









I guess it's like trying to pick your 25 all-time most 'you' Instagram images. Each time I

Another retro trend renaissance: hello pink bathrooms

Pink bathrooms are a trend a-brewing, I'm telling you, and I've been eyeing them longingly for a while. 

I thought it might just be me, but then these much maligned blasts from the past started popping up all over Pinterest. (Though not especially looking like this one, below, even though it's incredible.)



Then I visited the beautifully designed Bill Granger restaurant in Clerkenwell (read

Real homes: an artistic hoarder's creative curation

Emy Gray owns Brixi, a pretty special shop near where I live, in Brixton*. 

We got to know each other because I'm regularly in the shop, frequently loitering and ogling beautiful things I can't justify buying. We're also collaborating on something rather exciting shortly too, more of which at the bottom of this post...



Brixi is more of an art gallery than a shop in some respects; Emy, a

Real homes: am I the hoarder next door?

If ever I needed evidence that I had hoarding issues, my garage is it. 

But during the August break, its purging is just one of many cleansing activities I've got up to. I shudder to relive the ordeal through this "before" photo, below...





This garage was in trouble before I'd even moved in (when you get to the oven picture you'll see why). But over the years, with different configurations

Hacking Annie Sloan

These stools, which have nearly been chucked out several times over the years, have had a radical makeover this weekend. 



But before that, a little back-track about their transformation.





When, recently, I was offered a place on an Annie Sloan painting techniques course by Rigby & Mac, a mini chain of interiors shop local to me in south London, I was intrigued and dubious in equal measure.

Spotlight on... writer and stylist, Joanna Thornhill

I've been meaning to feature Joanna Thornhill's excellent budget-savvy interiors book, Home For Now, ever since it came out, earlier this year. 



Worth the wait, I think: I quizzed Joanna all about the project, her surprising Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen love, her own "home for now" – and rinsed her for lots of clever tips for style on a shoestring. 





The beautifully designed and photographed

Bathroom gets some love (apart from the ugly storage bit)

The bathroom was in need of some love. 

It was looking a little cluttered and untidy around the edges.



















But the real motivation was the paintwork...











Hmmm. So it got a weekend transformation. The paint looks white in these photos, but it's a lovely shade of a white-that's-a-little-bit-green – a Dulux mix. 



I was shocked to discover that B&Q had stopped selling

Real Homes: the Tiny House Movement

I was fascinated to read about the Tiny House Movement last week on the US website, Salon. 

Next week, Ryan Mitchell, one of the community's biggest enthusiasts and a blogger on the topic at thetinylife.com, is publishing a book sharing his tips on how to live small. Here are some of the weeny living spaces featured in it...



And even if you're not familiar with the Movement, if you've watched

Before & After: a dramatic transformation of the downstairs loo

Would anyone ever describe their house or flat as finished? 

Eight years after moving in, I'm finally getting around to painting that bit of bare plaster, tidying up those wonky shelves and changing various unsatisfactory light fittings.





And of course my tastes have changed since I first moved in, so there's a fresh round of updating too. So sometimes it's good to wait a while until you're

Real homes: copycat front door

This door belongs to my friends, Adam and Maggie, an example of their mastery at finding brilliant things for their home for next to nothing.

I went to dinner there at the weekend and asked about their incredible late 70s smoked glass and angular chrome early 80s dining table: £1 on eBay. The story reminded me to take a photo I'd been meaning to take at their house for ages – this one, of their

Hinge sprucing #cheaphometricks

We've just redecorated the bathroom, and you can see from the cracked paint below how badly it was in need – but that's a story for another day. 

Because today I just want to focus on one tiny change we made to the room that cost just a few quid, a bit of effort and – in my opinion – has given our bathroom door a bit of a new, design-y lease of life (plus it's a more positive DIY story than last

Real homes: when DIY goes wrong

It was meant to be a cheap, quick way to give the shower room a spring spruce-up. 

We had a leak in there, and while I was shopping for grout and silicone to fix it, I was dazzled by the grout reviver on sale nearby (everyone else gets excited and over-shops at DIY stores too – right?). A sparkly new bathroom for just a few quid? Yes please. Only things haven't gone quite to plan...





This

Real homes: a designer's £800 total renovation

Bobby Petersen's amazingly thrifty warehouse flat in north London filled me with inspiration when I went to nose around it a few months back.

I was there to write about his place for a piece published in last weekend's Guardian Weekend mag. You can read that here, but here are some bonus pictures of his insanely creative ideas.



The flat was a derelict, one-room warehouse space when Bobby,

Real homes: design envy in the south of France

Today's post is by writer and family travel blogger, Amanda Pollard, who lives in the south of France and has been nosing around this incredible place...



When designers Elisabeth Vidal and Huub Ubbens moved into their Montpellier apartment two years ago it didn’t look like this at all. Uninhabited for five years, it was run down with thick patterned wallpaper everywhere. But they could see the

Spotlight on... Vernon Ward

Here is my bargain of the month. A beautiful Vernon Ward framed print... for just a quid!

I found it in Suffolk countryside, for sale in the on-site shop at an amazing converted barn we stayed in (more of which another time). It's my second print by the same artist.






Vernon Ward lived from 1905-1985 and was a member of the Royal Society of British Artists. Though he was born in London, many

Real homes: inside an Eric Lyons span apartment

I'm a little bit obsessed with the architect Eric Lyons' work. The 1968-built house I live in is my local authority's version of his celebrated (and now listed) 1950s designs for Span Developments.

If you were a fan of the BBC's Great Interior Design Challenge a few months back, you'll have seen the kitchen makeovers the contestants did on the kitchens in a Span development.






The