It happens all the time; you decorate your pad, furnish it to the hilt, put in blood, sweat and tears… then you stand back and think what’s wrong. What look liked the perfect accessory/sofa/rug in the magazine just doesn’t work in your pad. You’re left knackered, heartbroken and wondering where you went wrong! Interior design does takes skill and knowledge, but I’m not trying to put you off honest. As designers we don’t just see something and then plonk it down in situ, you have to take into consideration scale, colour, lighting yadda yadda yadda. The same goes with finding stuff for my store I don’t just buy any old thing – everything is considered, pondered over and worked up into our overall look.

I find that one thing where people often go wrong is with varying heights in a space, particularly in living rooms. To counterbalance all those long low lines of sofas, coffee tables etc., you need  tall verticals, supersized accessories, large art and mirrors and low-hanging pendants. For some reason this seems to scare everyone, but trust me – it’s essential!

The number one tip I can give you is look at your interior like a cityscape. You must have a combo of different heights to create an interesting “skyline” in your space. If everything is the same level it will be the most boring room on the planet. You don’t want too many small things going on, in the same way you don’t want too many big things. You want a balance. Mix up proportion and scale by all means but always make sure the eye has a place to land. Utilise your wall space – hang pictures higher, make shelves taller, bring the eye up to the ceiling ans swooping back down again… and you’ve nailed it!