Gemma and Navin Mahabeer, a sales manager and relocation consultant, live here with their children Arlo, three and Mabel, one. A five-bed detached 1930s house in Buckinghamshire. Bought in 2018 for £750,000, now worth around £1.2m.

Freshen up your bedroom for spring with a pretty arrangement of houseplants hung vertically in a row. Make your own wall hanging using an old wooden shelf, adding a hook for each planter. Make use of wasted space at the end of a run of wardrobes by

Create a zone of colour around a room’s main focus. Indulge yourself with a shade you love (but wouldn’t want on all four walls…) Using spot colour is a great way to define two connected-but-separate spaces – signal the divide with an accent colour.

SERVES 4 READY IN 25 mins • 300g frozen petits pois • 1tbsp pine nuts • 4tbsp creme fraiche or natural yogurt • Zest and juice of 1 lemon • Few sprigs of fresh mint • 2tbsp sunflower oil • 4 salmon fillets, seasoned • Steamed new potatoes and pea sh

‘Many modern acrylic paints are made from plastic with chemicals added to make them stick to walls and dry quickly,’ says Emma Bulmer, director at Edward Bulmer. ‘Their manufacturing process is also carbon intensive, and waste acrylic paint needs to

Confession time: I’m an impulsive decorator. I start a project with great intentions to take my time to plan and research the best buys and solutions before jumping in, but many years (and a few properties) down the line, I’m ready to accept that’s n

“Every room needs a focal point and what better way to  make a statement than with a super-sized headboard? It screams design confidence and offers the feel of a trendy boutique hotel. Don’t rule it out, even if you have low ceilings, just take a rec

WHERE TO BUY : 1 Bloomingville Leonie mirror, £55, Sweetpea & Willow 2 Macario turquoise vase, £35, Curious Egg 3 Brights Velvet Geo cushion, £25, Next 4 Whitney wall lamp, £55, Made 5 Sophia Scallop occasional chair, £99, Homebase 6 Libellula Dragon

Add a couple of handfuls of grit to a tureen and mix in compost to about 5cm from the rim of the pot. Place bulbs on the surface of the compost, spacing about 5cm apart, with the pointed end facing upwards, or insert plants down to the white part of

This shaggy, Moroccan style may have been a big hit in the 1970s, but it’s certainly having another moment. George Home has introduced three new designs to its spring collection and, although it’s the rug du jour, the monochrome combo, simple pattern

IKEA From drawers to kitchen units, it opens up the possibilities for affordable storage. MADE It meets our no-fuss aesthetic – we love the collection of design-led planters. ALICE IN SCANDILAND For the selection of prints from Fine Little Day and

Bronwyn four-seater scatter back sofa in Woodland Moss, £1,559; Nordic coffee table, £299; Nordic lamp table, £249; Heath mirror, £129; Camden collection bolster cushion, £59; Luxe cushions in Truffle and Mink are similar, £24 each, all Furniture Vil

Comforting neutral colours and cosy textures, such as aged leather, wood and brick, make this room feel warm and welcoming. With all the furniture faced inward, it’s designed for chatting. BUY THE KEY PIECES Try the Clara sofa, £379.97, Furniture123

Three years ago Rosie Money-Coutts left a fast-paced job in central London to set up her own company (papr.com). When the dust had settled and her business was thriving, she finally had the time and budget to do something with her large, previously u

SERVES 12 READY IN 1HR INGREDIENTS • 150g unsalted butter • 100g black treacle • 100g golden syrup • 275g self-raising flour • 2tsp ground mixed spice • 2tsp ground cinnamon • 2 eggs, beaten • 3 medium ripe pears, peeled cored and sliced • 3 balls o

Holly Pennington, a primary school teacher, lives here with her husband Matt, an assistant headteacher, and their two children, Ted, four, and Rose, two A four-bedroom detached self-build in North Devon, completed in 2019 The build cost was appro

Emma Kruger lives here with her husband Stefan. They are both retired and have two daughters who have both left home, but visit often. A four-bedroom detached new-build house in the small town of Franschhoek in the Western Cape of South Africa.

‘We created a media room with a wall of storage to house books, the TV and a sound system. We painted it in Farrow & Ball’s Down Pipe to maintain a cohesive scheme downstairs and added sleek brass handles.’ BUY THE KEY PIECES Lisbon sofa, £899, Dwel

‘Throughout the design process, I kept gravitating back to a timeless white look for the kitchen. Its simplicity makes the open-plan space feel airy and uncluttered,’ says Holly. BUY THE KEY PIECES The DSW-style dining chair in Light Grey, £39, Cult

Rubbing shoulders with neighbouring Suffolk, this unspoilt patch of north Essex countryside, Constable Country, is so-called after the artist John Constable who lived among the rolling fields and water meadows. And these bucolic landscapes that have

1 Litanie mirror, £70, La Redoute 2 Lyra pendant, £240, Indigenous 3 Heidi serving set, £30, Anthropologie 4 Spalted elm vase, £60, Ash & Plumb 5 Wooden trinket box, £12, Dunelm 6 Ray wooden and stone jar, from £20, Kagu Interiors 7 The Face wood dec

Turn hardback books with stunning covers into wall art by installing a column of simple, low-cost picture ledges. Paint the shelves to match your wall so the covers really stand out. Add further interest with a couple of framed prints or bud vases in