9. If you want to change your world...

with Interiors Designer Hannah Ashe

“I spent too long trying to please people when I was younger, and have finally come to the realisation that we are all individuals and have different ways of doing things. Each is valid and what makes us interesting.”

Hannah Ashe

Hi all,

Happy Sunday to you. I hope these words are meeting you in a cosy space.

So this exchange was super fun!! Let me tell you more…

Hannah Ashe

and I got together for my Big Dreams and Quiet Ambition series to have a little interiors chat all about our upstairs room with a view of the sea. I’ve shared our zoom chat with you below…

Upstairs in our ex miners cottage in Northumberland, UK is a studio we built with a view of the sea. We use it for work but we don’t use as much as we’d like.

We renovated the house house a year or so after moving in so this is us 6 years in.

Some folks we met when we first moved here had three generations of family in the village questioned why we would choose to leave the city. What could we possibly see in a life here in a coal smoke filled village by the sea.

One answer really - charm and permission! The permission we’d been waiting for to live wholeheartedly away from comparison.

Making a house a home

I feel so at home here AND I’m always called to declutter and change things. To nest (I guess).

When we first bought the cottage I didn’t think we’d stay. I was desperately unhappy and lonely. Then it became the house that healed us step by step as we created a family home for us all within in it’s 100 year old stone walls.

We made memories here. We’ve started to out grow the space now but there are always options. I’ll be updating my paid members this month on the change of course and how the vision I held so excitedly crumbled into a big muddy heap.

In our chat, Hannah helped me problem solve and came up with some GORGEOUS (and oh so practical) ideas to help me breathe NEW life into the ocean view room.

I can’t wait to get started on the change up and I’ll do a follow up for you and show you the changes too…maybe in January?! There’s actually been a theme of interiors and expansive thinking this month.

My husband

David Venus

and I (and the kids) were on BBC’s Escape to the Country.

It’s this episode if you fancy a watch. 🙉 I have only seen an iPhone recording - I’m too embarrassed to put it on the big telly but I’ve had lots of nice messages about us and our home.

QUESTION - How do you deal with praise and exposure if you’re writing here on Substack or online? Does it make you cringe? Is it hard to receive? Any vulnerability hangovers? I’m genuinely so interested. The exposure therapy of being appreciated online is a plot twist right?

I’m so excited for this post and don’t feel nervous at all…I guess sometimes the exposure is a create catalyst for new vibrance and ideas.

Our cottage, 2019

My Big Dreams and Quiet Ambition section here on Substack celebrates your soul whispers, the doing the work behind the scenes, the small, magical parts of growth.

If you’d like to apply to write a guest post for me for this series please fill out the google form questions at your leisure.

I have spots from May next year. I publish mid month every single month. I’ll be in touch via email to expand on your answers and see what magic we can cook up together!!

Big Dreams and Quiet Ambition #9

Meet Hannah!

Hi, I’m Hannah, I’m 38 and I consider myself to be a multi-hyphenate.

I live in London with my husband, and I write about my work as an interior designer, part-time music teacher, career change, creativity, London living, the joys of occasional solitude, my love of France and whatever else is on my mind.

Tell us about who you are outside of your work?

I am an introvert, and I have to have a little time every day for some solitude.

That would most likely be going for a walk or run and listening to an audiobook. I love everything by Ann Patchett at the moment, and adored her latest book ‘Tom Lake’.

I love to spend time pottering in my small garden, walks in the countryside with my husband and also spending time with my sister and baby niece.

I'm childfree, but I love being an Auntie and spending time with my nieces and nephew.

How are you currently spending your days? 

I left a very busy, full-time teaching job at the beginning of July, and since then I have been regrouping. I’m building my interior design business alongside writing, making a podcast and working part-time as a music teacher. 

I'm spending a lot of time at home (I love my home); writing, planning, creating and thinking.

I've got some wonderful Interior Design clients at the moment and I am relishing the opportunity to get to know them and help them to make their spaces work better for them and their families. 

What does living the Big Dream mean to you and do you feel like you are?

I don't think I am there yet, but for me living the Big Dream would include moving out of London to somewhere very rural with space for us to grow our own veg and to walk in the countryside every day.

I always imagine that we will have a dog when this move happens; one that likes to lie on a rug by the fire. Of course, this house would be a renovation project, or even a house that we design and build from scratch (that’s a very BIG dream!).

Part of making that Big Dream a reality is in building my freelance work to the point that I can give up my teaching job completely and have flexibility in where we are located. 

Describe a day in the life... 

I'm an early riser, usually awake at around 6am. I like a cup of tea to start the day and then to get started on some creative work first thing. I'm learning that it's best to tackle the most difficult task of the day first, but I can't honestly say that I always do this! After a couple of hours of work at my desk, I will go for a walk or a run and then come back and work some more. I'll have lunch with my husband, who also works from home. We love to cook, so even weekday lunches will be something interesting.Maybe some veggie noodles or a toasted sandwich made with homemade bread.

In the afternoon, I will crack on with more work and try to stay focused until around 5 or 6pm.

Depending on how busy I am, I might return to my desk after dinner, but otherwise we might go to the cinema or head into London to see a concert in the evening. We're lucky to live on the outskirts of London so I try to make the most of the opportunities on offer.

Describe a "perfect" Sunday... 

I like to wake up around 7am on a Sunday, pop downstairs to make tea and return to bed to read my favourite Sunday morning Substack newsletters that appear in my inbox. All before my husband wakes up.

Then, a leisurely breakfast together before packing up a picnic and driving south to Sussex or Kent for a long walk on the downs. On the journey there we will listen to an album picked from Robert Dimery's book '1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'.

We've been working our way through these albums using a random number generator. It's a great way to choose music to listen to and discover artists we don't know about or re-discover old classics.

We’ve listened to around 150 albums so far over the past three or four years, so this is a long-term project and I plan to write a piece about this very soon!

After the walk, we will find a farm shop to pick up some delicious veg or locally produced meat to bring home and cook for dinner. After dinner, we would watch an episode of 'Engrenages' (a French crime drama series) and for me it would be bed by 10pm, ready for a bright and early start on Monday morning.

Photo by M Mitchell on Unsplash

What's a piece of advice you would share with your younger self or for someone who is at the start of thinking about their vision for the future?

Don't be a sheep. It's important to go with your gut and carve out the life that works for you.

I spent too long trying to please people when I was younger, and have finally come to the realisation that we are all individuals and have different ways of doing things. Each is valid and what makes us interesting.

Watch our video interview where I awkwardly show Hannah round our (messy) lived in studio with a view of the sea….

If you want MORE beautiful home inspo here are some peeks at Hannah’s instagram…

chez_hanny

A post shared by @chez_hanny

chez_hanny

A post shared by @chez_hanny

chez_hanny

A post shared by @chez_hanny

Thanks again to Hannah for meeting with me and guest posting…you can follow her here on Substack or head to her website… or instagram. to connect and swoon over lovely interiors. Hannah works with clients in the UK so get in touch if you’d like an interiors consultation. I’m so inspired about changing a tiny part of our world here at home and the impact it could have.