At home

Interiors made easy.

You don't need a renovation. You need three lamps, a colour you love, and the courage to move the sofa.

Cream armchair with Tiffany blue cushion, brass lamp and arched window

Light.

Three sources, three heights. Overhead, mid (lamp), low (candle). Never a single ceiling bulb.

Layers.

Stone, wood, linen, ceramic, a little metal. Texture does the work colour can't.

Quiet.

One brave colour per room. Let the rest be cream, oat, and shadow.

Story.

Every shelf needs a book, an object you love, and breathing room. Stop before it feels finished.

House palette

The colours my home is built on.

Cream paper

Tiffany

Soft ink

Antique gold

Blush linen

Bookshelf in 10 min

Pull everything off. Group by colour or height. Add one object that doesn't belong. Done.

The 60-30-10 rule

60% main neutral, 30% secondary, 10% accent. Tiffany blue is almost always my 10%.

Buy art, not décor

One framed print you love beats ten things from a homeware aisle. Promise.

A note to the Hamptons

Where it started — clean, fresh, understated.

I fell hard for the Hamptons — that quiet, sun-bleached confidence. Clean lines, fresh air, understated beauty. So I designed the way I'd seen it: white furniture with French extravagance. A little chandelier drama. A little coastal cool.

My favourite paint was literally French Chartreuse — beautiful, neutral, the kind of green that whispers instead of shouts. Carved white mirrors, ornate frames, blue linen chairs at a long dining table. It was elegant and it was me, for a long time.

Hamptons-inspired dining area with sage walls, carved white mirrors and blue dining chairs — Dining — French Chartreuse + carved mirrors

Before & after · the entrance wall

Soft French, then edgy New York.

This is the same corner of the house, before and after. The before was very soft and very French — striped walls, gentle sage, blue-and-white ginger jars, and the white Biggie Best set of drawers. The drawers have stayed (they earn their place), but everything around them changed: inky depth, slate, and the gold hanging shades that now set the tone for the whole house. Both are beautiful. I prefer the new one — it makes a statement.

Before — sage striped wall with white console drawers, ginger jar and framed prints in the soft French scheme — Before — soft & French
Sage-and-cream stripes, damask curtains, blue-and-white porcelain, and the white Biggie Best drawers. Pretty, polite, and lovely in its own quiet way. (Photographed on a rainy November Sunday, on my way to church.)

After — inky walls, slate floor and gold hanging pendant shades in the New York scheme — After — New York edge
Deep inky walls, slate underfoot, and the gold hanging shades doing all the talking. Same bones, same drawers, entirely new attitude.

A note to New York

Now I design with New York on my mind.

I adore New York. The vibrancy. The colour. The attitude. So me. I always imagined myself working for Anna Wintour at Vogue — strutting down the street to work with a Starbucks cappuccino in hand. (These days I'm a honey-nut latte girl, but the fantasy still walks.)

I've redesigned my home with Sarah Jessica Parkerand Manhattan on my mind. Inky walls. Hammered brass pendants. A statement wheel chandelier instead of a polite one. Slate underfoot. The aesthetic moved from understated to unmistakable.

New York inspired kitchen with inky accent wall, hammered brass pendants and slate floor — An ode to New York

New York bold — interior designing

The transformation, in three frames.

Bold doesn't mean loud. It means committed. Dark cabinetry, a pebble-mosaic backsplash, an industrial wheel chandelier hung from an ornate ceiling rose — the contrast is the whole point. A wall painted near-black behind a Big Ben clock. Brass where you'd expect chrome. This is how I do bold.

Industrial wheel chandelier above a dark kitchen with pebble mosaic backsplash — The wheel chandelier
Industrial bones, Edison bulbs, the unexpected hero of the kitchen.

Kitchen view with ornate plaster ceiling rose framing the industrial chandelier — High meets hard
A French plaster ceiling rose holding up an industrial fixture. That's the whole philosophy in one ceiling.

Inky black fireplace wall with oversized Big Ben Roman numeral clock — The black wall
Inky paint, an oversized Roman-numeral clock, a reclaimed mantel. Drama, served quietly.

"Bold is a decision. Make it once, then commit to it in every room."

A house tour

Opulent and modern — the juxtaposition I live for.

Slate floors and crystal chandeliers. Caravaggio and a ring light. Inky walls and a bowl of oranges. The whole house is a conversation between things that shouldn't work together — and somehow do.

Before — soft & French

White furniture with French extravagance, sage-and-cream stripes, damask curtains, blue-and-white porcelain, and polite chandeliers. Pretty, gentle, and lived-in for a long time.

After — edgy New York

Inky walls, slate floors, hammered brass, and gold hanging shades that now set the tone for the whole house. Same bones, entirely new attitude — bold, committed, and unmistakably me.

Freestanding claw-foot bath under a crystal chandelier with a jungle view — The bath
Claw-foot tub, crystal drop chandelier, a wall of tree ferns through the window. You can feel the tranquility before you've even run the water.

Pink and taupe bedroom with tufted blue chaise, arched gold mirrors and crystal chandelier — Pink and brown bedroom
Blush linen, warm taupe walls, arched brass mirrors, a tufted blue chesterfield at the foot of the bed. Feminine without apology.

Reading room with Caravaggio Conversion of Saul, Winged Victory print and blue armchairs — The reading room
Caravaggio's *Conversion of Saul* beside the *Winged Victory of Samothrace*. Blue slipcovered armchairs, a table of books that never quite gets tidied. My happy place.

Living space with wood-burning stove, blush pink velvet chair, mirrored console and chandelier — Fire and blush
Cast iron wood-burner, mirrored console, a pink velvet chair and a linen ottoman big enough for four dogs. Cosy is a design choice.

Sage green wall with tall windows, white console of plants and inky fireplace with Big Ben clock — Sage, slate, Big Ben
Sage green against inky black, a slate mantel, wooden pet-name boxes lined up like little soldiers. The London clock keeps the time I wish I was on.

White wine rack cabinet under a crystal chandelier framed by teal and inky walls — The bar corner
A cottage bar cabinet under a chandelier, framed by teal and near-black walls. Nothing fancy — just ready for a Sunday.

Green is a neutral

Plants everywhere — they off-set the walls.

Philodendrons on every console. A giant one on the kitchen counter beside the eggs and the diffuser. Orchids in blue-and-white ginger jars. The green does something to the inky walls and the sage that no paint colour ever could.

Rule of thumb: one big statement plant per room, and small trailing ones anywhere a surface looks too tidy.

Kitchen counter with giant philodendron, cake dome, aroma diffuser and a basket of brown eggs — Kitchen — philodendron, farm eggs, diffuser

When life gives you lemons

Two lemon trees, and a Kathy Hilton trick.

Large glass bowl of fresh lemons and limes on a granite counter with philodendron and Labrador in the background — The harvest — with Benjamin supervising

Turns out I have two lemon trees. Two! An absolute abundance — bowls of lemons on every counter, in every glass dish, wedged into water jugs.

Here's the tip: drop whole fresh lemons into a clear vase with your cut flowers. The flowers last for weeks. I saw Kathy Hilton do it on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills — a lunch at her house, clear vases, whole lemons at the bottom, blooms on top. I don't know the science; something the lemons release keeps the water fresh. But I know how it looks — sun-yellow against green stems, and it lasts.

Try it once. You'll never arrange flowers the naked way again.

Bowl of oranges on granite island with carved wooden tray, Big Ben clock and inky fireplace behind — A clockwork orange — same trick, citrus swapped

Fresh flowers & green plumes

Transform a room with living things.

A pink South African queen protea in a white vase on a bedroom nightstand — The queen protea — South Africa's national flower

Today, in my bedroom, I have the queen protea — South Africa's national flower. I love the white ones too, but honestly, they cost your entire salary for one month and they perish so quickly. Unrealistic. The pink queen is just as regal and a little kinder on the budget.

I am obsessed with greenery. Big leaves, small leaves, trailing leaves, sculptural leaves. Plants in different sizes and textures, in pots of different colours — it creates light and shade, a sensory and visual contrast that makes your eye travel from one side of the room to the other.

Everyone thinks colour is where it's at, but no — the simplicity of green plumes makes a visual kaleidoscope. There is so much beauty in just green leaves.

Add as many as you can for as long as you can. I keep adding once a month. It is tremendously beautiful and texturally dynamic.

Scent of home

Make the house smell like something you love.

The art of a great scent in your house — I love a musky, earthen note, but you do you. Make the home yours. Make it smell like something that feels like you.

I used to get my diffuser oils from @home; these days it's Woolworths. I have two diffusers going all day, quietly working in the background like good lighting.

I carry the same palette into perfume and deodorant — musky, earthen, grown-up. Anything that smells like overblown candy? Hard pass.

The bulldog trick

Stretford and Churchill don't stop marking — bulldogs will be bulldogs. My helper now adds Citronella oil to the cleaning water and, thank God, it's working. The house stays fresh and the boys get the message.

Meet my babies

The current lineup.

A home isn't a home without paws on the couch. These four make the noise, the mess, and most of the joy.

Churchill the English bulldog asleep on a cushion — Churchill
aka Napoleon Pig
Small in stature, vast in opinion. Runs the house from a velvet cushion.

Stretford the bulldog sprawled across a green armchair, tongue out — Stretford
named for the Stretford End
Manchester United through and through. Sleeps like he's just played 90 minutes.

Sarah Jessica the Jack Russell with her plush shark — Sarah Jessica
festival energy, full time
Manhattan energy in a Jack Russell suit. The shark is non-negotiable.

Ntombi carrying Sarah Jessica the white Jack Russell on a sunny Johannesburg pavement — Sarah Jessica & Ntombi
my whole life
Ntombi carrying Sarah Jessica home in the winter sun. These two are my whole life.

Benjamin the Labrador resting his head on a pillow — Benjamin Franklin
forever barking
Soft eyes, loud mouth, golden soul. Will alert you to leaves, wind, and the postman's ghost.

Churchill and Stretford napping together in winter