Hi everyone !

Hope you all muddled on through what was for most of us a pretty unpredictable Christmas this year. Ours was every changing with intial plans of going home to Australia abandoned back in October, then our new plan for my husband Paul’s family to get together up north in Lancashire abandoned with the South East moving into Tier 4 just before Christmas. So ours, like a lot of yours, was very quiet this year - lots of What’s apping to friends and family in Oz and London, a drink or 3 and a Christmas night screening of The Holiday… Christmas 2020 done.

So today being New Years Eve, it’s got me thinking… what do I want 2021 to be ?

Better than 2020 that’s for sure! Although, there were good things about 2020… launching Island Home was one of them! I’ve also got to spend more time with our teenage kids than I think would have been the case had it been a “normal” year which has been a blessing (although they might feel differently about that! ) We started our largest renovation project yet on our lovely house, and I have been able to truly be engaged in that process which I think again, had I been more occupied with normal life, may not have been the case either. I have made it routine to speak to my parents daily via What’s app - something that had never been the case prior to 2020. Working from home has meant that my daily routine has involved walking Sophie part way to school while walking Milo every morning to keep my sanity. Once I have dropped her to friends part way, I usually use this time to ring them and have a chat. I think there are a few other dog walkers around where I live, that have started talking about a crazy Aussie lady who meanders about with a bright red dog - talking loudly into a Facetime call to equally loud Australians on the other end! ( my husband Paul always thinks we are shouting at each other … but really … we are just loud!)

So to 2021! Before Christmas break our amazing builders turned a massive corner and our house went from demolition site to resembling the room that it is to become. I can’t tell you how excited I am about what January has in store for the renovation. The painting will start, the flooring is climatizing as I write and should go in pretty soon, followed by our kitchen! I get to start on the fun stuff of deciding on paint colours, furnishings, wall art, lighting, all the elements that are going to bring this room together and turn it into what we really want it to be - the hub of our home, where we as a family enjoy each others company - and where we get to spend time with our friends !! ( yes friends, inside, with a drink in their hands, not on a walk… novel concept I know!).

So, here’s to new beginnings, to a 2021 where we are able to socialise and celebrate and be together again. Where we can greet friends and family with a hug and a kiss when we see them. To a new start, a fresh new look for our house and yours, to new, positive beginnings.

Happy New Year everyone, its likely to be a quiet one for all of us … but that’s ok… we have so much to look forward to !

Sending you all the biggest virtual hug from me… THANK YOU, for all your support, wonderful messages, and lovely phone calls. I am so lucky to have such wonderful customers and friends.

I look forward to a brilliant year with Island Home and sharing our adventures in home design and life in general with you all. x