I couldn’t be happier…

Hi there and welcome to my first blog in life.

I won’t go on, but I just thought I’d let you know a little more about me - if indeed you want to know!

I promise to keep it punchy.

I worked in senior HR roles for far too many years and well surpassed my own expectations of what I could achieve. I always wondered why I succeeded and when I asked people they more often than not replied something like - “its because you see things other people don’t,… you join dots many of us don’t realise are even there” Not really helpful, but I think I understood what they meant.

I was always able to visualise and feel how things needed to be, in order to work well (and I also became pretty nifty at putting a plan into action). In my HR role this was looking at business structures, organisational culture, putting the right person in the right job, all to get the best out of people and help them and business succeed together. I’ve always had a fascination with (sorry to get a bit jargony) emotional intelligence, personality types and traits and organisational psychology - looking at how people respond to others and the environment around them, be this the physical or cultural environment.

Looking back, I realised I was doing the same thing on myself at home. When thinking about decorating I’d be visualising what I would be spending my time doing in a certain room and the behaviours I wanted it to encourage in order to create the right “mood” from it. For example, the room I would be working and being creative in I chose to be a bright airy space with a tall ceiling. A big space to think big ideas! I decorated it white to encourage clarity of thought and added a mixture of brightly coloured furniture and accents to change my behaviours as I felt I needed. Colleagues would love to come and join me to sit around my large circular table and come up with new ideas and plans. By contrast my lounge was a space of calming greens, neutral creams and subtle pale pinks for me to relax quietly in at the end of the day. A room that gave you a hug.

To summarise what happened over the last 4 years that led to me being happier than ever - I bought a Cockapoo and named him Barnaby (if you know, you know); I moved from my Northamptonshire home to Sutton in Craven, North Yorkshire to be closer to my family in Haworth and Otley; I listened to my inner voice telling me there was another career for me out there and gave up my very well paid but (by now) very uninspiring career and retrained to be better at what I enjoyed doing - creating homes that not only look good, but make you feel cheerful and function brilliantly.

And I couldn’t feel happier!

So here I am, qualified in professional interior design and running an affordable interior design business to help as many people as I can to create a home with rooms that they love to spend time in. So - why not get in touch? As well as talking interior design services, I’m always more than happy to talk, laugh or cry over the antics of a now 4-years-old Poo!

Annie x