ALEX’S HOME HACKS

■ Never be dictated to by trends; buy what you love.

■ Collect functional things that are also decorative. It’s about not keeping things for best but using them all the time to treat yourself.

■ Frame things that bring you joy, such as great invitations for parties you loved and ticket stubs and hang them in unexpected places. I love seeing these in friends’ homes.

■ Re-upholstering a beloved piece of furniture or something you found on ebay is a fun, easy way to make something feel that it’s your own.

■ You can’t have enough low lighting from floor lights, table lamps and candles. See what works by turning all the lights off, switch them on one by one and then move them around.

‘More Than Just A House: At Home With Collectors And Creators’ by Alex Eagle (Rizzoli) is out 20 October