Stay far away from the colour putty, it might be fashionable for exteriors right now, but no amount of green foliage in your garden can change the effect. Putty is bleak, very bleak. It can make your house look like a Satanist’s lair.





Cork is for wine bottles and does not look great on floors.

Parquet flooring on the other hand is exquisite and no longer reproduced. You can hire a team to ‘dig up’ your parquet and then sell it for a fortune.

Bite the bullet and ask for ‘human’ advice, the kind you don’t have to pay for. Ask your friends opinions on what item they would remove from your home if they had the choice. If, the blue vase comes up trumps every time, ditch it!

When buying blinds for your windows choose your manufacturer very carefully – some blinds are down right ugly, don’t open, and some even fall down when you pull the string. Do not be deceived, all blinds do not work the way they should. Make sure you get a proper fitter and choose a range that when you pull the string something good happens.

There is a reason why everyone has a stainless-steel sink. Porcelain sinks leak and show me one without a chip in it.

Do not overdress the dining room table. Magazines, flowers, bowls, candlesticks… they are everywhere in décor magazines that span the globe. Don’t ever underestimate the calming effect of a clean surface.

A cheap frame will make any painting look cheap. You cannot cut corners when it comes to art. Hanging a painting is an art. Balance, perspective, scale – it needs to be done by a professional. A husband with a piece of string and a bag of nails is not going to do the trick.

Beware of people that over-cushion on their sofas. They are definitely hiding something.

Painting a small room a light colour will not enhance its size, no matter how much you believe in optical illusion. The only thing that would have changed is the colour.

Some people still believe that mirrors create space. It’s a very 80’s concept and you can’t move around your house without seeing your face staring back at you. In terms of feng shui, the over use of mirrors would probably get the thumbs down, and be termed ‘psychologically unsettling’.

The words ‘upmarket’ and ‘low maintenance’ on products are alarm bell ringers. It’s either going to be ugly or it’s not going to work.

Do not go into a hardware store and ask for white paint. Many a tear has been shed over this faux pas. There are many shades of white as any paint company brochure will reveal to you.

If you buy something Italian, make sure that you know an Italian who can fix it when something goes wrong.