Do you remember the emergency table?

Do you still have one?

Do you know what I’m talking about?

I’m talking about Christmas Day when the whole family gathers to celebrate and of course, the usual 4-seater dining table isn’t going to fit everyone around it.

So out comes the emergency table, tacked on to the end of the 4-seater and reserved exclusively for wallpapering (because it’s a pasting table) or large family events.

BYOC (Bring Your Own Chair) is also encouraged.

It was chaotic, but it was fun, wasn’t it?

I bet you’ve heard it all before…

‘Your interiors should have lots of texture’ - and rightly so, it adds interest and warmth and makes it feel less like a clinic and more like a home.

And so out come the cushions and the blankets and it’s lovely and cosy. But adding texture is more than that.

Here’s 3 ways to do it, without spending a penny…

What I’m acutely aware of is that in another 6 months or so, all the interior design bloggers, tik tok accounts, and home magazines are going to tell you what trends to leave behind in 2022 and what is hot for 2023.

How fantastic! Just give me a minute then to get up to date…

We’ve all been at home a long time now, and working from home has become the new normal. Some of you will be back into the office part time but still working from home too, whilst some of us have set up or expanded businesses and side hustles. For some, the kitchen table still reigns supreme and for others, that under-used, over-filled back bedroom has been given a new title - The Home Office.

As I sit here, writing this with a strong cup of Yorkshire tea and a recently opened packet of Jaffa Cakes, I find myself in the very lucky position of being able to work from my own home office. Whilst the Jaffa cakes won’t even make it to the end of this blog post, the feeling of satisfaction in having a designated space will last long after I’ve closed the door on my working day. Literally - shut the laptop down, close the office door, run away screaming.

It hasn’t always been this way though, in fact, I spent most of the pandemic working from my sofa. I also moved house at this time and so my new back bedroom became what was effectively a storage facility for months on end.

Eventually, I decided enough was enough. My lower back was crying out for a proper chair and the “room of doom” back bedroom was slowly becoming less storage and more landfill.

So I got to work on designing myself a brand new home office. By watching Emily in Paris.