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  • Early spring styling with Georg Jensen's 'Bloom Botanica' collection | These Four Walls blog

    Early spring styling with Georg Jensen’s ‘Bloom Botanica’ collection

    February 12, 2020February 12, 2020

    [Advertisement – this is a paid collaboration with Georg Jensen, but as always words and opinions are my own] I love living somewhere with distinct seasons, and I always relish…

  • The spring-summer 2020 collection from Northern | These Four Walls blog

    The spring-summer 2020 collection from Northern

    February 3, 2020January 31, 2020

    Happy Monday everyone! I’m currently on my way to Stockholm for the city’s annual Furniture Fair – always a great opportunity to soak up lots of Nordic design inspiration. It…

  • The spring-summer 2020 collection from Menu | These Four Walls blog

    The spring-summer 2020 collection from Menu

    January 28, 2020

    Details of new-season interiors collections are coming thick and fast, and I have another beauty to share with you today – this time from Menu. Not only is it brimming…

  • The spring-summer 2020 collection from Ferm Living | These Four Walls blog

    The spring-summer 2020 collection from Ferm Living

    January 21, 2020January 20, 2020

    Today I’m sharing more new-season interiors news, this time from a brand whose launches I always look forward to seeing: Ferm Living. Over the past few years the Danish company…

  • Home tour - a beautiful period apartment in Edinburgh | These Four Walls blog

    Home tour | A beautiful period apartment in Edinburgh

    January 20, 2020January 17, 2020

    It’s time for my first home tour of 2020 and today’s is particularly special, as it features a property that I was lucky enough to visit and photograph in person….

  • The Hvidt & Mølgaard collection from &Tradition | These Four Walls blog

    The Hvidt & Mølgaard collection from &Tradition

    January 16, 2020January 10, 2020

    I love it when long-lost design classics are brought back to life, so I was very excited to hear that &tradition is relaunching a range of beautiful furniture first created…

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One of the things I love most about our house is t One of the things I love most about our house is the natural light, but it does have one downside. We face directly east-west, so in summer there's always strong light coming from one direction or another - and some rooms like the main bedroom shown here are dual-aspect, so they get it all day long. It's starting to cause UV damage to furniture and surfaces, even with the curtains closed for much of the day. I think we're going to have to look at adding UV-reducing film to the windows, while we save up to get them replaced properly. If you've used it yourself and have any thoughts on whether it actually makes a difference then I'd love to know!

The photograph on the wall, by the way, is one of my own images that I had printed out and framed. It was taken nearby, on a foggy morning not longer after we moved in, and it's one of my favourites. 

#cottagerenovation #neutralbedroom #naturallight #rusticminimalism #cottageinterior
This is the question we get asked whenever we say This is the question we get asked whenever we say we've downsized. We've also had some weird comments from people who assume that just because we've moved to a smaller house, we must be struggling financially. 

I hate the way the size of your home has somehow become a marker of success, and bigger isn't always better. I can understand people searching for more space if they have a growing family, but we don't. Instead, we made a conscious decision to reduce our mortgage, free up some budget for renovations, and give ourselves some breathing room for the future. 

So no, we won't be extending our little cottage. We don't want or need a bigger house just for the sake of it, and to be honest we consider ourselves lucky to own anywhere at all, given how difficult it is to buy a property nowadays. It would only mean more to clean, anyway! 

Here's to everyone else making the most of the home they have, no matter what its size or their circumstances. 

#cottagerenovation #cotswoldscottage #smallhome #cottagelife #downsizing
A few snippets from Bath, London and home during a A few snippets from Bath, London and home during a burning-hot July, some taken on my phone, others on my big camera. It's been a busy month, but a good one. I'm looking forward to a slightly slower August, and hopefully some rain for the parched landscape. 

#summermood #bathuk #cotswolds #summerlight #cornersofmyworld
[AD - PR products tagged] The view that makes me h [AD - PR products tagged] The view that makes me happy every time I come in through the front door (until I get to the bottom of the stairs, which is where the extent of our cottage renovation currently stops!). 

#diningroomdesign #cottagerenovation #rusticminimalism #neutralhomedecor #simplehomestyle
Back in May I spent three fantastic days exploring Back in May I spent three fantastic days exploring Bergen with my friend Becky, and I've finally got around to putting together a city guide. 

Norway's second-largest city and one-time capital is known as the ‘gateway to the fjords’, and many people fly in and head straight back out again on a cruise. But it’s a place that’s well worth exploring, either as part of a wider itinerary or as a destination in its own right. Sandwiched between mountains and sea, it's a wonderful mix of history, culture and scenery, with a Unesco-listed Hanseatic harbourside, plenty of art galleries, a thriving food scene, and pretty wooden houses that creep up the slopes of its famous seven hills. 

Here are my top 12 things to see and do in Bergen, including restaurants, viewpoints, museums and more. Save this post for your future travels, and find my full Bergen guide on the blog. 

#visitbergen #visitnorway #travelblogger #travelphotography #divineworldplaces

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