Happy New Year everyone...if it's not too late to say that. I hope everyone's having a good start to the year. Mine has started busily with several new interior design projects to get stuck into (yay!) and a tax return to submit (not so yay).

But I thought I'd start my blog year by having a quick look back at 2017. It's always good to stop and take stock every once in a while, so I've been looking at which posts were most read. I'm aiming for 100 posts this year (an average of 2 per week). It's not as often as some bloggers post, but then again, I am trying to run a design business too (and spend some time with my family!) Any one of those things could easily take more hours than I have, so it's time to focus in on the topics you liked most and do more like those! I'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback, but for now, here are the top 5:

# 1. Dine in Design – Bacaro, Roman Road  

Image: Carole Poirot

First up was my Dine in design post, where I visited Bacaro, a modern Italian restaurant on Roman Road. This was part of a post series I launched to look at restaurant design, which is always a great source of interior inspiration. Plus it gave me a good excuse to eat out in East London's coolest restaurants! I'll definitely be doing more of the same this year, so stay tuned. It probably helped that these posts feature well in search engine results for restaurant reviews, but they also resulted in new sign-ups to the blog, so I guess that means that you liked them! My review of Bombetta in Snaresbrook was also one of my most read posts.

# 2.  7 biggest lighting mistakes and how to avoid them

Image source: John Cullen Lighting

The number 2 spot goes to my post on the 7 biggest lighting mistakes and how to avoid them. I guess this is pretty self-explanatory – we all like to learn from mistakes (and even better if they were made by other people!) So I will aim to expand upon the theme in this year's posts and share some more interior design advice – mistakes to avoid and rules to follow (and break, we don't like too many rules!)

# 3.  Our comfy outdoor seating area: the big reveal!

Image: Carole Poirot

Our comfy outdoor seating area: the big reveal was the 3rd most read post of 2017.

This is the post where I showed you the results of our garden patio makeover, which had taken many months of planning and a lot of effort, so I'm glad you liked the results. I completely understand why these 'reveal' posts are a winner – who doesn't like a good before and after? But whilst I'd love to do posts like this every month, in reality it is difficult to do so many reveals. I can't afford to do my own house up constantly (although hopefully there will be some home DIYs this year). When I'm working on client projects, whilst they usually agree to photography at the beginning, some change their minds and I have to respect their privacy. Then there are the clients who complete 80% of the job but stop there, usually because they are happy enough by that point, or they decide to wait before spending any more cash. Unfortunately this often means that the rooms aren't quite good enough/finished enough to photograph well (and photography can be hugely expensive – so it really has to be worth it!) Anyway, I will try for more of these posts!

# 4.  6 of the best tan leather sofas on the high street

 It's so easy to get lost in the wealth of interior design options available that I'm always pleased to read a post that narrows down sources! So I will do my best to share more of these in the coming year.

# 5.  How to be your own interior designer!

Image: Jon Holloway

And finally, in 5th place, was the post on my recent interior design workshop in East London – How to be your own interior designer! I guess the post title worked well for SEO (not something I tend to pay enough attention to usually, as I generally write about what I'm working on or is at the top of my mind!) But I really enjoyed hosting this workshop at Phlox Books in Leyton and can't wait to do the next one (click here to book your ticket).  That first workshop was a bit of an experiment, but it was a great evening with a group of lovely like-minded ladies (gents are welcome too), a few drinks and plenty of interior design inspiration and chat!  I'll be running the next interior design workshop, again in East London, from 7-10pm on February 1st. Full details here if you're interested in signing up!

So there you have it, my top posts of 2017. It's definitely food for thought and I hope to offer more of what you enjoyed reading this year! I'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions on what you'd like to see more of on the blog this year. Comments welcome!