KEEPING INSPIRED

What will keep you inspired over the next few weeks in lockdown? Whilst our shop doors are closed, we are going to focus on making plans to future proof us. Whether we open next month or in Spring, we will utilise the time to create something exciting and interesting for us and for you.

Image / Studio McGee

I have binged watched ‘Dream Home Makeover’ on Netflix over Christmas and New Year. The story of Syd and Shea McGee is an inspiring one. Shea is a self taught interior designer and in just five years has an interior design business, Studio McGee, a shop, an online business McGee & Co and now their own TV show.

Image / Studio McGee

They’ve also written a book about their journey which I'm half way through, ‘Make Life Beautiful’. Would you read one about mine?

Another book I bought recently is ‘Morning Noon Night’ by Soho House. They mix vintage and new amazingly well in their restaurants and boutique hotels.

Image / Soho House

The Foreword by founder Nick Jones reads ...

“I can’t quite believe it, but SOHO HOUSE & CO turned 21 this year. Our first book, ‘Eat Drink Nap’, detailed the values we have held since the day we opened our door. Since it was published, we’ve built Farmhouse on 100 acres of Oxfordshire countryside, transformed a former belt factory in Chicago, reimagined a 140 year old palazzo in Istanbul, restored the shell of a listed Georgian building in Soho and launched our collection of homeware, called Soho Home. And there’s much more to come.” I'm in awe!

Our USP has always been mixing vintage with new and not spending the earth on achieving a stylish and beautiful home. An inexpensive sideboard painted in a delicious colour, dressed with beautiful lamps, vintage paintings, unusual objects, scented candles, it doesn’t take much to change the look and feel of a room.

I've got so many books like this. Reading about ordinary people who worked hard and have achieved their dream whatever it may be. I’m a little way towards mine, but there’s so much more to come.

So whatever it is that inspires you, stay focussed on it. We may have a few deviations along the way, but we'll get there one day.