I transformed that old shed into the “best baby house”/teenage den in the world! When I think back on it, we had such fun having, little tea parties, fashion shows, song contests, we thought we were the bee’s knees, you could say an original social hub without the “media”.

My mother, Rita, was great, an Inspiration to many and way ahead of time with her own interior and entertaining style. Anyway, thankfully for me she allowed and encouraged me to express my 7-year-old creative side, and hey, I sure took advantage of that freedom!

I created furniture pieces from things I found in the yard. I used wild and very vibrant paint colours, with more on my hands than anything else and definitely not the norm in colour schemes. I can remember It so clearly, I had purple furniture, a green floor with a red fireplace and, surprisingly, I kept the walls white, and I remember so well a gloriously bright yellow front door. I painted everything with gloss paint. To this day, every time I open a tin of gloss paint it brings me right back to happy, happy days in that shed.

Moving on a few years, my love of style took a huge leap forward during a visit to Harrod’s of London when I was 19. They were selling bows for Christmas trees, I had never seen anything like them, they were just stunning. I was a broke teenager though, so I decided to make them myself and sell them in the local market. What could possibly go wrong? I thought … such a laugh now when I look back!

Let’s just say the people of my hometown were not just as ready for my vision and style as I was because I sold none! But even back then I was nothing if not persistent. On the way home in my boyfriend’s car feeling dejected and deflated I spotted a household shop that had their windows dressed for Christmas, I ran into the shop, asked for the manager and sold him the lot, of course at a reduced price but he ordered another 12 dozen packs of 5. I was on a high for days, in fact, for years after. And so was born my motto “don’t ever give up.”

I love to challenge the creative side of my brain. No matter what the brief, an interior space, or a hospitality event, it’s the challenge of that brief that sets my creativity wheels in motion. But to me creativity on its own is not enough, it only works when it’s mixed with a healthy dose of curiosity. My job is not to recreate a magazine look or give you what *I* think will work, it is about me making what you want work in your space. It’s about working with clients to really, really understand their actual wants and needs, how they are going to use a space or the experience they want to create in their event. When I am with clients I have to be nosey, to get their heads. In doing so, I know that I can then deliver that enormous little word “WOW” when they walk into their newly refurbished space.