The trials of being a (self-employed) interior stylist.

Following a conversation with a client yesterday that felt like a personal attack, I felt taken for granted, taken advantage of and to top if off I got officially dumped by them. Like all of my projects, I had invested a lot of time, energy and emotion in it and felt totally destroyed by the words I was hearing from the other end of the phone line. So today I'm taking stock, reconsidering a few things and want to make a point. 

The Home Restyler ethos is all about affordable interior styling. I do everything I can to help clients create beautiful homes that work for them, that reflect their personalities and their lifestyles. I search tirelessly to source the perfect items for them and am always striving to find the best price I can. Whilst I am passionate about interiors and styling and live and breathe my work, I also need to earn a living and would very much appreciate it if that were respected. I'm not in it to make my millions, far from it, I just need to earn my crust. 

So today, in support of my fellow peers, friends who are freelance and run their own businesses and anyone else that would like to join in my cause, this is the point I would like to make:

via http://sweepmeup.tumblr.com

I hope that for any of you reading this, you will agree with the point I'm trying to communicate. We as individuals have our worth and we should all respect one another.

Thank you x

www.homerestyler.co.uk 

Inspiring ways to display your art & photographs

Sitting here ordering tiles for a client and eating a somewhat tasteless yogurt (well it is fat free, what's the point, next time it's full fat - full flavour baby!) got me in the summer mood. Why you might wonder, because the yogurt is coconut flavoured, you know that smell that whisks you off to the land of hot sun, white sandy beaches, fresh fruit juices, ice-creams and tropically warm seawater...mmm. Feeling all smiley and summery I thought I'd open the suitcase I shoved last years summer clothes in and get a load of washing going...and you know what happened? It started to hail. Yes hail. And don't let me forget to mention the gale force wind that is currently blowing out there. Heating on - check. Big hoodie on - check. Cup of tea - check. What the?!?

I digress. Someone recently asked me for some suggestions for displaying art around the home. None of this hang three frames on the same level in a row malarkey, no way... so to give ideas and inspiration I created a Pinterest board to accumulate fab ideas that can be shared with one and all. Hopefully it will turn the way we think about hanging art on its head. Loads of people have such unique and quirky ways of showing off photos and artwork so why not get creative too and see which of the ideas you'd love to try out in your own home. 

Uniform. Black frames. Colourful.

Trouser hanger hung prints.

All sorts of wonderful

Have you already got your own groovy gallery you're proud of and would like to share? Is so, we'd love to see it so send me a photo to katey@homerestyler.co.uk and I'll post them on the blog.

For loads more inspiration check out the Home Restyler 'Framing Art' board. Happy hanging!

www.homerestyler.co.uk

About time. The border is back. Hurrah!

Roundabout three and a half years ago, when we were in the midst of doing up our last house, I searched high and low for a funky, bright, statement border to add zing to my hall, stairs and landing. To give you the full story, it wasn't only because I yearned for something totally different to liven up this part of the house but also because I wanted to disguise an irreparably damaged wall surface thanks to a grotesque old dado, which we removed but couldn't afford to have the whole area replastered.

Well, you guessed it, I had no luck. I looked everywhere for something affordably modern and funky but all I found were hideous outmoded, cheap looking floral borders that formed unsightly rows in front of wallpapers in the likes of B&Q among other hardware stores. Instead I opted to leave all of the walls bare, except for the 4m high wall half way up the stairs, which I made a feature of with various sized fabric covered and embellished embroidery hoops.

Imagine my delight all this time later, when not only did I find one but only a couple of weeks later, two different new ranges of borders. Woo hoo. Ok, so it's not entirely helpful that I currently live in a rented cottage but I will definitely be using one if not more of these fab finds....

Jane Cumberbatch's Pure Style quince border

my kind of mustard

rose petal border

love hot pink

Jane Cumberbatch has brought back the border much to my delight and boy has she got the colour and style right. I just love them. The range consists of eight different colours and cost £30 per 10m roll. Boom!

I heard whispers that Earth Inke might launch a border or two as well, fingers crossed *smile*

www.homerestyler.co.uk