A Considered Space

Hi! Today I’m introducing a new series called Home Work – an unstructured Q&A with interior designers and creative people whose taste I admire. We talk about home, inspiration, and their personal approach to decorating and design.

Earlier this year, I had therapy every week for six months. I’d tried CBT a few years ago but I’d never had traditional therapy, because this is England and we’re too embarrassed and self-deprecating to talk about our feelings. We prefer to wallow in private, then have a nervy-B while joking about being fine. Our weekly tête-à-tête was courtesy of the NHS, so after 24 fascinating but finite sessions, the drawbridge to help was pulled up and I was alone with my thoughts again.

Hi hi, I’m just back from Copenhagen (for the second time in seven weeks – I’m obsessed), so this month’s Window Shopping edit includes a few pieces I noticed while I was there. If you recognise my groovy green header above, it’s because Window Shopping was previously a sub-section in my All Things Considered round-ups.

I’m rarely a woman of few words, but I do like to diversify now and again, so here’s a post full of excellent holiday home interiors, with minimal waffle from me. My pal Charlotte told me about Viu Empordà in Spain, and you might know their name already (they have 43k Instagram followers, so it’s not a secret), but just in case… It’s a curated collection of holiday homes for design lovers, scattered around the Empordà region, above Barcelona.

Hello! I’m not going to hold you hostage with one of my 500-word intros as this post is about the contents of my Instagram saved folder (i.e. a window into my brain). It’s truly not that deep, but I will say that I’m always intentional with the things I share here, so I’ve included a caption to explain why I saved each image. Enjoy the below buffet of aesthetically pleasing things – it’s a mixed bag, featuring photography, homeware, and even baking.

Friends have been asking about our apprently-not-impending move ever since the asbestos exposure incident in our flat, followed by two farcical months without hot water. It’s embarrassing that we haven’t ditched our flat of six years yet, considering I’ve been gently threatening to move for four of them, but also, the question is relatively short, and the answer is long. Why haven’t we moved yet?

Subscribe below – it only takes an email address and it’s free! Or consider becoming a paid subscriber, which supports my work here gives you access to everything. A question I’m asked every time I share a photo of my flat. It’s so likely that when The Rug appears in the background of an Instagram story, I have my answer ready to paste into a DM. Who knew a multicoloured striped flatweave would whip up such enthusiasm? For the record, it’s from Rug Vista.

Hi hello, hope you all had a good weekend! After wanting to go to Toad bakery in Camberwell for so long, we finally tried it yesterday morning and it was good. The porchetta honey butter swirl was a total knockout, and I’d cycle there and queue all over again to eat another one. We’ve finally had our heads turned by Limebike over the past six months.

This is a long one: I’d recommend opening it in your browser so it doesn’t get cut off before the end (on desktop it’s even better as the images are bigger).

Hi hello! I keep attempting to write postcard-sized emails, brief enough to read while the kettle boils. Personally, I love a bite-sized newsletter – an amuse-bouche while I wait for the tube – but brevity was never my strong suit. This isn’t a Substack-specific affliction. If someone asks how my journey was, I can take 10 minutes to answer, including a reenactment.