Biography
I trained at Winchester School of Art and gained a BA in Textile Design. After college, I began my career selling fashion textiles.
Then in 1993, I established my own interior design business, specialising in corporate and domestic interiors.
Commissions
One of my first commissions was designing a retail concession and establishing a corporate identity for Oliver Sweeney within Harvey Nichols. They liked what I did so much that I ended up working exclusively for the store, creating all of the lift facades, cash desks and visual displays.
Since then I have worked throughout Europe for designers such as Richmond International, Hirsch Dedner Associates, Andrew Winch and Reymond Langton. For the latter, I created architectural artworks for two of the company’s super yachts.
I designed architectural artworks for the Sandy Lane Hotel in Barbados, and the Queen's Tennis Club, Parker Pens, Citibank and Rabo Bank, to name a few. I also love to paint and my commissions include corporate artworks for the Curzon Cinema Group.
On TV
My list of television appearances includes Home Front and Real Rooms, both for the BBC, and Renovation Street for Carlton. I was also the interiors expert on Channel 5's Britain’s Worst DIY-er as well as presenting on UKTV Style's Our House (Series 1 and 2). I appeared in my own series for Discovery entitled Babies’ Rooms, designed a house for GMTV and appeared in regular design slots on Sky interactive and This Morning.
On stage
One other thing I love to do is take part in exhibitions and live demonstrations, I’ve given in-store talks for John Lewis in conjunction with Ideal Home magazine, Home live and am also a celebrity presenter at the BBC Good Homes Show at the NEC in Birmingham and most recently a part of a prestigous design panel at the 2008 London Design Week.
In print
In the print media, I contribute to a whole range of interiors magazines and currently have a regular, weekly slot in The Sunday Times, answering readers’ design queries.
I’ve published five books: Decorative Paper (Conran Octopus), Decorative Crafts (Collins & Brown), Makeover Magic (Cima), and New Ways With Paint (Cico books) and my latest book – Children’s rooms (Cico books) published in May 08.
On top of all this, I haven’t forgotten my first love – I still run an interior design company, with some of my most recent commissions being featured in the Evening Standard and on ITV1’s The Homes and Property Show.