Image: Clair Strong Interior Design Last week I began the mammoth task of sharing my favourite garden furniture designers and brands. In that blog post I featured some great pieces of furniture by IKEA, John Lewis and twentytwentyone. This week, I’m all about accents and accessories. Lighting For those long summer evenings spent chatting with…

Image: Clair Strong Interior Design In my role as an interior designer, I rarely have the opportunity to style outdoor spaces. But I do think it’s important to give as much thought to the design of the garden as you would the design of the home. With summer on its way, now’s the time to…

Image source: Ferm Living Minimalist, functional and effortlessly cool – Danish design is back. There’s been a surge in popularity for the pared-back aesthetic that threw Denmark into the design limelight back in the 1950s and 60s. Then it was the iconic furniture designs of Hans Wegner and Arne Jacobsen that captivated the world stage,…

Image: Clair Strong Interior Design A great deal of my job as an interior designer is financial management. I am always tied to a budget and many of my clients hire me because they know I can save them money. Not necessarily by securing large discounts or finding cheaper alternatives (although that does happen) but…

Image copyright Clair Strong Interior Design Just when I think it’s starting to thaw out a bit here, another cold snap arrives. Still, it looks as though spring is (slowly) on her way so I’m itching to get cleaning, decluttering and updating. During the colder months my home seems to fill up – we’re indoors…

Image copyright Clair Strong Interior Design More and more of us are bringing our work home. Working from home is lovely; you’ve got all your creature comforts, no office politics, tea and coffee on tap and you can be closer to your family. But to make it work you need a productive and organised office…

Image copyright Clair Strong Interior Design We’ve been really lucky with the weather this year; it was warm and dry until late October. In fact, with the weather starting to turn a few days ago, it’s only just feeling like autumn! During autumn and winter I become a bit anti-social; staying at home with a…

Sir Terence Conran has enjoyed a long, accolade-full career as a modern interior designer, furniture designer, restaurateur, retailer and writer. His early work was pivotal in bringing good design to the public consciousness and Conran is now an inspiration to designers around the world. His career began in the 1950s. He left his studies at…

British textile designer Lucienne Day, with her signature geometric designs and splashes of colour, is a huge source of inspiration for me when I approach a new interior design commission. She had a profound effect on pattern design during the 1950s and 60s and her influence is still seen in today’s modern room designs. Andrew…