HOME & HORT

I first came across Katie Wood’s ( Katie 'come down to the' Woods) colourful Instagram account back in 2018. Both of us became accidental content creators, so we had a lot in common. Since then I’ve avidly followed her through three home renovations, through all the highs and the lows, worked together on brand campaigns, and we are now firm friends.

I can’t stop looking at it. I keep popping into the garden just to stand and stare. This makes me very happy. I did a baby lamb skip earlier today. Years of planning and dreaming up ideas for how to make our already pretty old barn the best it can be without ruining it are finally taking shape. What do you think? I’m writing this on Friday afternoon after watching each panel of glass carefully being positioned.

Welcome to Home & Hort. If you love a mix of interiors, gardening, DIY, lifestyle posts, vintage finds, the seasons, and like a good old chat and a giggle every now again, then you’re in the right place.

This will be my tenth laundry room design and I’m really looking forward to it. I’m keeping it really simple as it’s a small space, much smaller than the above render would have you believe. It will be on the ground floor, not upstairs as seems very popular now. To me that only works if all your bedrooms are upstairs and you wash and tumble dry everything ready to go straight back into drawers, easy, but there is a price. I’m secretly hoping I’m not the only one that doesn’t tumble dry everything.

Welcome to Home & Hort. If you love a mix of interiors, gardening, DIY, lifestyle posts, vintage finds, the seasons, and like a good old chat and a giggle every now again, then you’re in the right place. My failure is hidden by the big happy sunny borders you see before you. However, there is true photographic evidence of the floral shambles later in this post.

Welcome to H&H, or Home & Hort, to use its full rather highfalutin title. If you love a mix of interiors, gardening, DIY, lifestyle, vintage finds, seasonal decor, and like a good old chat and a giggle, then you’re in the right place. This is a FREE post, 3/4 of them are for the brilliant people who pay for gas. Join our gang and keep H&H alive and kicking! And just like that it’s September, back to school, and autumn is blowing its way into our lives.

This is a FREE post, but HOME & HORT is only possible because of all the people who pay for the gas to keep us rolling. To receive new posts, support my work, and help me fund my eye-wateringly expensive renovation, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

The frames are black, they just have protective film on at the moment. In 28 years of renovating and restoring period homes I’ve dealt with almost every possible problem that could arise. As soon as you start taking a building to pieces and working with strangers you’re going to uncover unpleasant surprises, it comes with the territory. If you become a serial renovator like me, then you soon get used to it and take it in your stride.

If you want someone to thank or blame for the lack of rain over the past four months look no further than yours truly. For eighteen weeks (should have been ten) our barn has been covered in four and a half flights of scaffold, plastic wrap and a tin roof to protect it from the typical British washout summer at a cost of £15,000. Of course, it hasn’t rained once in that time, and we’ve had the hottest, driest summer on record. You couldn’t make it up.

Hello new view from the living room! This was going to be a paid post, as 90% of them are, but I’ve decided in the spirit of the summer holiday to make it FREE for all. If you’d like to be able to read all of my posts, then do sign up here. If you read any guide to building and renovating it will tell you to design and plant your garden after you’ve finished with the house. In fact, most gardening manuals would say the same thing. It makes perfect sense.