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Advent Blog – Day 24

Today is the day before Christmas so time to relax and enjoy the results of my efforts....

Advent Blog – Day 23

One of my last jobs is preparing the Christmas Pudding. You might be wondering if this has any relation to a small-ish house....

Advent Blog – Day 22

Today all the guests arrive so it’s now time to make up the beds....

Advent Blog – Day 21

Everyone is arriving soon and the beds are up but we still have some final furniture adjustments....

Advent Blog – Day 20

One of the first things guests do when they arrive is take off coats & shoes. As usual, the hall storage is fine for 4 people but tight for 8....

Advent Blog – Day 19

My next bit of major delegation - assembling the new furniture, but first it has to be carried to the right part of the house. Easier said than done....

Advent Blog – Day 18

The food now needs to be ordered. As it’s the Friday before the last Saturday it seems like a good day to the do some last minute shopping, before the crowds....

Advent Blog – Day 17

Lots of guests means lots of showers and soggy towels. I need to find somewhere for people to hang their damp towels....

Advent Blog – Day 16

Today is the day for the new sofa and armchair to arrive. Even if they’re not being unpacked yet I still need somewhere to put those big boxes....

Advent Blog – Day 15

Doing 3 meals a day for 8 people needs a lot of crockery & cutlery and it all needs to be readily accessible in the kitchen....

Advent Blog – Day 14

All I need to do now is place the order for my parents to buy the meat at the farm shop, then plan how to delegate the tasks when everyone is here....

Advent Blog – Day 13

Advent Blog – Day 12

The tree is done, now to make the rest of the house feel more Festive....

Advent Blog – Day 11

As I have children we have had problems over the years storing the presents, both before and after wrapping so they weren’t seen....

Advent Blog – Day 10

As I have guests for at least 7 days that means a lot of food. Consequently I end up needing lots of freezer space to store food not yet ready to be cooked or various things that I prepare in advance....

Advent Blog – Day 9

One of the jobs that needs doing sooner rather than later is checking over things I might need to buy or borrow....

Advent Blog – Day 8

How to manage when you become the Gift Coordination Centre....

Advent Blog – Day 7

Our house has 3 bedrooms and an office/ spare room. In order to sleep 8 people over Christmas we need to create some extra beds and do some shuffling around....

Advent Blog – Day 6

Sunday - at last we get the room ready and put up the tree....

Advent Blog – Day 5

Getting ready at last to put up the tree - this is the fun part where we get all the baubles out but we also have to make some room for the tree....

Advent Blog – Day 4

Sometimes there are odd jobs that you are prepared to live with but which will become annoying or even embarrassing with guests....

Advent Blog – Day 3

My next step is to work out how to break a big list into more manageable chunks and see when I can possibly get all this done....

Advent Blog – Day 2

The first step is to make a plan as I need to do a lot more than just put up decorations....

Advent Blog – Day 1

Now I’ll be honest, our house serves 4 of us very well, however, it feels Small-ish over the Christmas season as our household doubles with the addition of the Grandparents....

Brilliant with colour palettes, storage solutions etc.…

Philippa has helped me find lots of ideas for making my new flat much more stylish and suited to my lifestyle. She has also saved me A LOT of money - for example I was going to spend thousands on bespoke shelving but she helped me find...

Well worth the money spent…

I used Ace Your Space to get ideas and options for redesigning my warehouse flat after several attempts with other designers in the past. The really good new is that Philippa listens to what you want : ) I received a number of...

A knack to envision the best ways to utilize your small space

For selling my house I knew that I needed to make better use of the space and stage the house to appear more spacious. By simply taking pictures from multiple angles of each room, Philippa was able to send me back a layout for each...

I was impressed by how knowledgeable and thorough she was.

Before using Philippa the thought of speaking with plumbers, electricians etc to change my problematic kitchen all seemed overwhelming. By helping me to understand the options and what questions to ask workmen she has given me the...

Ideal Home Show – Small Space Tips

I visited the Ideal Home Show at Earls court on the lookout for any great space saving products and ideas. Take a look to see what I found....

Philippa helped us to get our projects done in a way that worked for us.

I chose Philippa over the other designers because she seemed the most willing to listen to what we wanted and understood it. I was surprised by the good ideas she suggested that seemed so simple and that tremendously improved the end...

How to do minimal even in a small space

My latest pinterest board shows a small apartment in Camogli, Italy that has been cleverly designed so that the spaces work hard but still look simple....

Feeling squashed? See my tips for small spaces

Take a look at my pages on both Pinterest and Houzz where I collate ideas that I think fit well in more modest sized homes....