A Week or Two
Over the last few weeks I’ve had a few interesting questions about the day to day of working in interior design. I've been lucky enough to get out and be sociable which is something many designers miss if, like me, they work from home. With these conversations at the forefront of my mind I decided to write this blog a few days into my working week, and it’s continued. Disclaimer…I don’t go to design events every week so these are a little more exciting than normal.
Monday
I start every day with a Miracle Morning routine, something I’ve been doing since the start of the year after listening to a podcast with Hal Elrod. Usually this includes 10 minutes of meditation, affirmations and visualisation, journaling, reading something on business or self-development and exercise. At the moment I’m reading ‘Eat that Frog by Brian Tracy’. The short chapters and tasks offer wisdom I’m implementing easily. Typically my exercise of choice is a walk on the coastal path, anything from thirty minutes to an hour and a half. This routine sets me up for the day and I spend the majority of it working from home but in the evening I have a mini-session with a couple who needed help making key decisions to move their new build project forwards. We concentrated on lighting throughout the whole house, flooring in their kitchen, living and dining area, then tile choices and layouts in all bathrooms. We squeezed in time to plan paint colours too.
Tuesday
Today I was on the road to Polurrian by 8am, and binging on episodes of Chill and Prosper with Denise Duffield-Thomas. It was a hive of activity when I arrived as seven bedrooms are currently being refurbished. Since last summer the hotel has been undergoing a thorough transformation and it’s lovely to see guests relaxing and enjoying the amazing views. I always feel lucky to go here for work, and have to stop myself from staring out to sea!
Wednesday
I was on a train heading to London by 7:05am, complete with a jam sandwich. During the journey I was able to catch up with emails, place orders and start preparing for a visit to a hotel in Lincoln. Due to the strikes, and needing to walk, I took a stroll in the direction of Chelsea Harbour. Fortunately I didn’t get lost. Unfortunately though I couldn’t walk all the way…too much luggage! I met my colleague, designer Hugo da Silva, at the Chelsea Harbour Design Centre. He knows his way around, and has an eye for wonderful products, so we reviewed items he’s specified for the hotel in Lincoln. It was great to go into the fabric shops and research voile options and fabrics that could be made into a bedspread. We only had a couple of hours before our onward journey to Lincoln so we prioritised fabric suppliers such as Romo, Svensson and Lizzo. On the train we sketched out some layout ideas for the snug room at the Polurrian. Arriving in Lincoln at 8pm, and still with design on the brain we continued chatting about what we’d seen whilst I inhaled a big bowl of pasta.
Thursday
Today was a key day for gathering information such as carpet volume and measurements, assessing window dressings, pendant heights, meeting a carpenter to discuss built in furniture and bespoke items and continuing preparing to make orders. We also reviewed a selection of antique furniture, ear marking it for specific rooms as part of the refurbishment here.
Friday
A miracle morning with a twist, a walk around the city of Lincoln and admiring the cathedral. We found a sweet cafe local to where we were staying which provided a great base for breakfast and space to review all of the previous days’ research and importantly begin organising these notes and how it informs the procurement process. Hugo and I had an appointment with an antique refurbisher to go through the pieces we’d marked up yesterday, it was a useful discussion to understand what improvements could be made. We walked back into Lincoln ready to head for trains going in opposite directions. As I was only an hour from my family I headed to Derbyshire for a short stay.
Sunday
I don’t normally work on Sunday but I was traveling back to Cornwall and used some of the time to catch up on the emails I’d not kept up with whilst on site. However the rail replacement bus lulled me to sleep…whoops.
Monday
This morning I had to be back home at 8am to set off to Polurrian so it was a quick Miracle Morning to get me started. The drive is ninety minutes, so I tuned in to a few episodes of ‘The Law of Attraction Changed my Life’ by Francesca Amber. I highly recommend this podcast, Amber always makes me laugh and motivates me! On route to Polurrian I needed to make a short stop to pick up a light fitting, and another 5 minute stop for a zoom about Wednesday…(more to come on that). My key task at the hotel today was to snag the paint work and start preparing to fit out the seven bedrooms. After a productive visit I was home in time for a Spring Equinox zoom with Victoria Jackson. Whilst I don’t consider this type of activity work, it inspires and shapes everything I do.
Tuesday
An even earlier start today to make the journey to Polurrian. I listened to ‘Business of Design’, an interesting episode about focus driven productivity. When I arrived at 8:30 I met the removal team who are heroes throughout any fit out. Their mission was to position the freestanding furniture and bring in any parcels ready for unpacking. It's always a day filled with hustle and bustle and very transformative. I spent a lot of time hoovering, so much so that my abs had a workout, I was unpacking boxes (luckily my nails were ready for re-painting), assembling lamps, removing labels from mini fridges…all the very non-glamorous things! It was a new moon this evening, so I saved a little energy to update my vision board.
Wednesday
The Miracle Morning routine started early again as today I needed to channel my positive energy and be ready by 7am. A different kind of ‘ready’ today…hair and makeup kind of ready. Also a bit of jumper drying with a hair dryer. We’ve all been there. Crisis outfit change. My good friend Stephen picked me up at 7am to go to Design Central South West where we had agreed to join Jeff Hayward and Susie Rumbold from Interior Design Business Podcast for an interview on career change. The interview was recorded for their podcast and YouTube channel. I thoroughly enjoyed it, which I wasn’t expecting as admittedly I hadn’t had much time to properly look at all of the questions until we were in the car earlier this morning…at which point I was lost for words. I needn't have worried as it was a very natural, easy conversation. You can listen in May. After the interview it was a relaxing afternoon looking at fabric collections from fantastic suppliers, a few I’d not heard of such as Barbara Osorio. I was on the hunt for a voile option so had some help from Jam at JP G Baker too. Meanwhile curtains were being hung and TV’s being installed at Polurrian so I was checking in regularly with my colleague to find out if everything was going to plan.
Thursday
The final day of fit out, and I needed all the mojo I could get. Definitely had biscoff spread in my porridge. In the car heading South, today's podcast of choice was ‘Is TV good for Interior Design?’, an Interior Design Business Podcast episode. A different perspective listening after spending the morning with Jeff and Susie yesterday. The most non-glamourous task of the day, and my absolute ugly frog in refurbs, is changing bathroom pull cords! Who knew a simple job could be so time consuming, getting those knots out has driven me a little crackers at times. Other necessary and sometimes overlooked tasks of the day, putting light bulbs in, cable ties on wires, triple checking plug points work, getting rid of packaging and fixing up voile curtains. Then for the wonderful bit…choosing the position of artwork, bringing out the cushions and blankets and leaving the room ready for guests to enjoy.
Friday
Post fit out energy levels are a bit all over the place today, so I did have a slower start and joined Hugo for a zoom at 9:30am to review the outstanding specifications for Lincoln. With each of us having a list as long as our arms we got stuck in, I was mostly compiling fabric quantities for upholstered furniture, checking combinations of lights and placing orders for pendants and lamps. It’s really satisfying bringing together the items needed for each bedroom, everything from curtain fabric, fitted and freestanding furniture, cushions even the details such as the lightbulbs. I listened to Helena from Outset Cornwall talk about Goal Setting and it gave me a thirst for getting lots done. Late afternoon I had severe brain fatigue so logged off and made a quick visit to Mevagissey where I helped a client I worked with over a year ago make some decisions about her holiday let. In January 2022 I reviewed the property layout, it was great to return and see it under construction. We also visited a property that I may give some TLC to in the future. It was a nice way to end the working week a few doors down from where we were staying when we decided to move to Cornwall, those views into the harbour eased me into the weekend.
