So, I've been a little quiet on the blog front, mostly due to summer holidays. I decided back in July that trying to launch my online interiors business, write a blog and look after 3 small children (with no school and no childcare) was a recipe for frustration and bad parenting. So I officially took the summer off. Having worked full time for a big corporate for the past 15 years, the idea of granting myself 6 weeks off should sound appealing! In reality I've found it really difficult to stop thinking about all the things I still have to do before I can get Hide & Seek launched. I've also had too much time to wonder why I ever thought this was a good idea and stress that no one will ever like anything.

But now it's back to school and I'm back to business - the best antidote to fear is action (oh dear, I've gone a bit amateur-psychologist there). Anyway, it's time to stop worrying and start doing! The last 3 weeks have flown by. I've been phenomenally busy making and ordering products, photographing stock, working out shipping and logistics (ergh), writing web copy and generally figuring out how I want the website to look and feel. Trying to make sure that everything conforms to the image I have in my head is surprisingly hard. But I'm nearly there, the website is almost ready, just a few more photos to take and a few more tweaks to make (will I ever stop saying that I wonder?) In the meantime, I thought I'd give you a little sneak peak behind the scenes on my latest photo-shoot for the new website with the wonderful Carole Poirot. We were trying to get some more lifestyle shots of all the cowhide cushions, cowhide rugs, hand-knitted cushions, vintage textiles and brass accessories.  (My styling assistant needs a little more training though - she just wanted to eat the props). So back to the title of this post, my top tips for choosing an interior stylist are to
a) make sure they are an adult and
b) check they're not hungry!