High Street homeware heroes (in association with Next)

**Shelving**, **Side table**, **Table lamp**, all Next. Photographs: Christopher O’Donnell

Next for me, is one of those places I just find everything: fashion, clothes for Peggy and more recently, interiors. I get so many compliments on our mirror in our living room and everyone assumes it is way more expensive than it is. So when Next asked if I would do my own ‘The Frugality Edit’, shot in my home and office and shared on their site (and even in a few stores!), I jumped at the chance.

**Side table**, **Table lamp,** **Alphabet candle**, **Cushion**, all Next.

There’s nothing I love more than editing through a range and picking out the best pieces and styling in a set-up, it’s what I used to do for 10 years on magazines and what I love about my job. I just never thought one day it would be for interiors!

So anyway, I’m rambling…here is my favourite new corner of our living room. We have been talking about putting shelves up here for ages, there were still boxes of unpacked books in the loft and this corner was becoming a bit of a dumping ground for ironing piles. I knew I wanted to make it feel more ‘full’, cosy and inviting and all these pieces do just that. The comfy chair means I can sit and read at night, or even just flick through my favourite magazine with a mug of mulled cider (I’m feeling Christmassy already, can you tell?!) in my hand.

The shelving unit sticks to our industrial style and it lets the books and ‘objets d’art’ do the talking – cool lighting, candles and plants. I work in media, therefore I love organising and styling shelves and probably spent a bit *too* long making these look Instagrammable, but I love how they can show your personality! The trick is to work with different heights and shapes, I don’t like shelves to look too ‘formulaic’.

**Mini belly basket**, **Green candle**, **Lamp**, all Next.

We used the same school of thinking with our office space, we moved in over the summer and it was a cool space with exposed brickwork but still lacked character. Welcome to The Frugality HQ:

**Shelving unit**, **Rug**, **Coffee table**, **Velvet chair**, all Next.

The jute rug immediately added a more ‘homely’ feel to the space and the velvet chairs (in this season’s colour, of course!) offset the minimal clean lines of the shelving. A trick to styling a room is to keep to a colour palette of three – I love the combo of black, white and green and have vowed to incorporate more plants into our workspace – apparently they reduce stress and increase productivity, what’s not to love?!

We wanted to create an office space that didn’t feel too corporate, just because it was a place of work, doesn’t necessarily mean it has to ‘look’ like a workplace. Yes, there are desks, but there is also a space for meetings – I’ve always wanted an office I could immediately feel proud and inspired by and I have to say: this is it.