August & September Consultations: Where Did Those Two Months Go?

I seem to have completely missed August’s consultation round-up. And September’s.

In my defence, there was the summer break, the kids’ holiday jungle and, unusually for August, we were really busy. We’re incredibly grateful for it.

Then mid-September arrived and apparently it isn’t only the children who go back to school. The adults came back with their own rather long home to-do lists and things ramped up very quickly.

Something else lovely has been happening too.

Over August and September we’ve had a flurry of clients return who we first worked with seven, eight, even ten years ago.

I can’t tell you how much these meetings touch me. We’ve changed enormously as a studio since then. I’ve changed. They’ve changed. Children have arrived and grown up, careers have evolved, priorities have shifted and the homes we designed all those years ago now need to work for a completely different stage of life.

The fact that they come back and want to work with us again is never something I take for granted.

I also love hearing what’s happened in the intervening years. I learn so much from our clients and their life experiences. Perhaps that’s one of the unexpected privileges of doing this job for as long as I have.

Anyway, before I get too sentimental...

Here are a few of the two-hour consultations we’ve been doing.

Palmers Green

Returning clients, now expecting their second child.

This was really about working out what needs to happen now and what can quite happily wait.

We looked at reconfiguring the bedrooms to accommodate a new baby and toddler, created a priority list and worked through paint colours and homewares for the new children’s room.

There will probably be a much bigger project further down the line, but not everything needs doing before a baby arrives. Sometimes the sensible design advice is actually to do less, live with things for a while and come back to it when everyone has slept.

Stoke Newington

Firstly, the most beautiful home.

The client had previously worked with another interior designer but came to us looking for a different point of view as their family prepares for its next chapter.

We obviously talked about interiors: the best single beds, colour schemes, storage and how the rooms might evolve as the children grow.

But we also talked about motherhood, children at different stages, consistency and creating spaces that feel safe and settled.

This is the bit of my job that is almost impossible to put on a fee proposal.

People invite you into their homes and inevitably into their lives. There is very little that surprises or shocks me these days and absolutely no judgement. Usually we both end up sharing experiences and learning something from each other.

Interior therapy, basically. For both parties.

Kentish Town, Highgate & Islington

We've also had several clients book a second two-hour consultation as their projects have progressed.

I really like these.

The first meeting gives them the direction. They go away, do the work, collect samples, speak to builders, fall down several internet rabbit holes and then come back when they need to cement the decisions.

It's a chance to make sure everything still joins up, resolve the things they're unsure about and, crucially, catch expensive mistakes before somebody orders or installs them.

Sometimes two hours at the right point in a project is all that's needed to get things moving again.

Spitalfields

And then there was Spitalfields.

A couple expecting their first baby, living in a rented property in one of my favourite parts of London.

I visit a lot of beautiful homes. This one completely stopped me in my tracks.

I actually had to apologise because I spent the first ten minutes staring at everything. Every corner had something interesting in it. The property had been designed and curated by a lighting designer and a very well-known antiques dealer and, my goodness, it showed.

I haven't stopped thinking about it since.

Once I'd finally pulled myself together, we talked about preparing for their first baby. My general advice: you need far less than everyone tells you. Don't believe the hype.

We looked at how to make room for a baby without losing everything that already made the home feel like them, incorporating their existing artwork and furniture rather than suddenly turning the place into a baby showroom.

And somewhere between all of that we ended up discussing the merits of raising children in the city versus moving to the suburbs.

They were speaking to the converted.

As a Born & Bred Londoner, I still think we're extraordinarily lucky to live here.

This month's observation...

Looking back at these consultations, I don't think the common thread was really interiors at all.

It was change.

New babies, growing children, returning clients, new stages of family life. The house that worked brilliantly seven years ago isn't necessarily the house you need today.

And perhaps that's why I'm so touched when old clients come back.

We aren't starting again. We're simply picking up the conversation where we left off.