Aside from just how exciting it is to have the house featured, mostly I just feel so unbelievably proud of my Mum.  A woman who’s absolute passion is her home, who is so unbelievably talented at styling and designing, but has a complete lack of self confidence or belief in herself and this, I hope is finally testament to her talents.  She was convinced that they would come in to the house, take one look in the flesh and then decide it wasn’t right for them after all.   But alas, they loved it, as I knew they would! (Especially since they’d already seen rather detailed pictures!).

Amelia and I have learnt everything we know about design and interiors from our Mum and all of the vignettes and styling are her handiwork.  We realise this kind of eclectic look isn’t for everyone, but it’s the ‘Audenza look’ as Katie, the journalist who wrote the piece says.  It’s a very individual style, which is reflected in our choice of products on the site and a look that we’re pleased to find others like as well.

Huge thank you to Homes and Antiques magazine for featuring our home, in particular Katie Hallett, who wrote the piece, as well as Rachel Whiting who photographed the shots.  They both did a fantastic job of making our home look lovely.

We’d love to know what you think…

Hollie x

Photography: Rachel Whiting

Our Home in Homes and Antiques Magazine by Hollie Brooks

The news that our house was going into the January issue, then of course meant that we had to get the house looking Christmassy.  So, by the time Christmas rolls around, we will have done Christmas 3 times already this year!  Homes and Antiques wanted to have some wrapped presents in the shot too, so Amelia and I got a little crafty with this and made a festive woodland scene to decorate the side of the box.  We will be doing a post on this, to tell you how we did it, but suffice to say, it’s a fiddly job!

So, as you can imagine, we have had a busy week preparing for it, we have only just re painted the sitting room, so everything had to be completely re arranged, re hung and re styled, not to mention the fact that my mum washed what seemed like every item of soft furnishing, kitchenware, ornament and surface!  It did at least encourage us to get a lot sorted- all those little jobs like pictures that have been sat waiting to be hung for months are now finally done.  In fact, we didn’t end up going to bed until 3am the night before! Partly owing to the fact that we have a lot on with the business at the moment in the run up to (dare I say it) Christmas and partly because all three of us are a bunch of perfectionists!

Homes and Antiques is undoubtedly one of our favourite magazines, so it was perfect for us that they chose to feature our house and one that I think is actually a good fit for the mag as well.  We were never going to be featured in a minimalist, contemporary and fuss free mag were we!  Our home is full, (literally bursting at the seams) with antiques, quirky ornaments, one off handmade items and plenty of colour, which we realise is not to everyone’s taste, but it’s just the ultimate compliment for us that a magazine like Homes and Antiques to want to feature it.  All of the styling, decorating and interior design is the work of my very talented mother and I hope that seeing her home, her absolute pride and joy, being featured in a magazine will give her confidence a much needed and well deserved boost.

We can’t wait to see the feature- they did also photograph the 3 of us, so do keep an eye out for us in the January issue!

Hollie x

By Hollie Brooks