EDITOR’S LETTER
Claim two free tickets to the Homebuilding & Renovating Show in London on 24 - 26 September at london.homebuildingshow.co.uk/living-etc-inventory
I just finished reading Rodham, Curtis Sittenfeld’s 2020 novel imagining an alternate reality in which Hillary Clinton never married Bill. It was a fascinating concept, brilliantly done, a ‘what if’ taken to utopian levels made all the more depressing by the actual outcome of the 2016 election, and has had me pondering my own Sliding Doors-style moments. Decorating, you see, is full of them – of choices you could have made and learning to live with the ones you did (not sure if I mentioned I’m still living through a refurb?!).
One of the oft-repeated pieces of advice I get from designers is to not worry too much about paint colour choices. You can always redo them, they cry. And they’re right. So stylist Hannah Franklin’s shoot, outlining bold new palettes for autumn/winter on page 120, is there for the confident to use with flair, safe in the knowledge they’re not making too many lasting commitments and can update should the mood strike them in a time not too far away.
Yet other decisions are troublingly less easy to rectify. Take flooring, for example. It’s – probably – something you’ll only do once, and so spending as much as you can afford on good quality floors is the best tip I can offer from my own recent experience. Sure, we’ll be sitting on makeshift dining chairs around an old table for the foreseeable future, but we know our parquet will last into the next generation. Similarly, kitchens and bathrooms feel like commitments, so our 64-page supplement, free with this magazine, should help you there – it’s full of expert insight on style and practicalities. My advice for the kitchen, having just finished my own? Quibble about every bit of drawer space – you’ll need every inch – and, if you’re getting a Belfast or butler sink, also install one of those pull-out rinse tap attachments to help with keeping it clean. I so nearly didn’t, and am so glad I did.
Lastly, unlike Hillary in Sittenfeld’s novel, I have just got married and changed my surname, in case you noticed the difference, above. So here’s to a new style season and lots of new beginnings.