I'm with Jo DP, I wouldn't let her within a beagle's gowl (as my mother would have said) of any home of mine either. It would depend where I was living, I'm rather taken with Abigail Ahern at the moment but more for her quirky side than her addiction to VERY dark interiors. If I had the higher ceilings and huge windows that I long for we might be able to work together without arguing too much but I have to draw the line at an entire house painted black :D Or maybe Tricia Guild who has managed to consistently produce interiors that I drool over for more than a decade now but again I think some of that is down to the stunning homes she works with. To be honest I have such strong, and varied, opinions about design that I would be a nightmare client and would probably drive most well known designers to drink and I certainly wouldn't trust the judgement of some celebrity, they'd probably drive me to drink....

Oh you're too sweet! I've been thinking about my biggest challenges so I could pick one. A lot of them were actually practical or build related things - stuff that I didn't consider or couldn't foresee during my renovation and that I will do differently next time. What I'm finding surprisingly challenging now that I'm furnishing my home is: balance of colours and materials. I've been obsessing over interiors for as long as I can remember, and in my head I knew exactly what I wanted my home to look like. There is not one item of furniture that I purchased in a haphazard manner, I thought about function and style, I considered how it would tie in with the rest of the room, I created visuals...and still, now that it's all there, carefully arranged, it doesn't look like I wanted it to. Colour is a big aspect of it: what is the right amount of colour to inject so it doesn't look bland but still coherent? I like bright and white so I stick to neutrals for permanent items and bring in colour with decorative items that don't cost the world and can be moved and played with (that's with the exception of a brown chesterfield sofa that I've had for years and can't part with, an a black fireplace that must have been tiled by a blind person). Same goes for materials - I guess with an all white backdrop you can introduce materials more generously (?) but there is probably still something like a healthy medium. Is it ok to mix brass, steel, glass, fur, linen, marble...or is there a magic number to stick to? I have attached a photo of the living room I'm working on, as an example. I'll either remove the rattan chair or cover it with a sheepskin, the grey sofa will be reupholstered in a lighter fabric and the art over the mantle will be replaced with a mirror or a more toned-down canvas. Maybe these changes will solve my problem. But bottom line is, I was going for an urban industrial look and now feel that the room has got a granny touch, it's too girly. Anyway, materials and colour. I bet you're sorry now that you asked ;) x

White and brick is a classic and you really can't go wrong with it. But it does look a bit old and faded. Try looking up companies that do brick cleaning and sand blasting and perhaps reponting in a colour. (they mix the colour to match the bricks or another colour. The thin lines, when viewed from far, can alter the perceived colour of the bricks.- For example if you wanted a ';yellow brick house' but you 're stuck with brown, repointing in yellow will pick up the yellow tones in the brown brick and it will be yellow. Same goes for the other colours found in the brick. examine which colours are present in your current brick closely. Use a magnifying glass if you have to! You will be amazed and all the colours present in there. Then sandblast and have fun. Do this before you change the windows, as sand blasting can be damaging to the upvc, and then repoint after replacing windows. Depending on the colour the walls come out- Ask for samples on a north and south walls- then choose a black frame (for example with black poinitng) or white with the lighter colours. After a decade or two, then I would look at rendering, but for the moment, try the conservative route since the rendered look can't easily be reversed

Depends on what you mean. Having an excellent Graduate Design Specialist on your team is just great. However, such specialists know their own worth. My colleague's daughter is studying to be a designer. She paints as much as she has never done before now. But beyond that, there are many precise subjects that you need to know well. Sometimes she fails and takes help from WriteMyAssignment.com. She does this so that she has enough time to sleep per day. Sometimes it seems to me that an academic program for a designer is as rich as that of a medical university. Yes exactly. I hope the girl gets a great start after graduation.