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Lisa Faulkner on the decorating feature that is her biggest 'pet hate'
As part of our interview series, My Happy Home, we sit down with Lisa Faulkner to find out more about the best decorating advice she's ever received — and what her dream home would look like.
Lisa is a British actress, television presenter, food writer and celebrity chef, best known for c0-presenting John and Lisa's Weekend Kitchen with her husband John Torode. She's appeared in shows including Eastenders, Holby City and The Girl Before, as well as taking home the Celebrity MasterChef trophy. She has also written four cookbooks and Meant To Be: My Journey To Motherhood, where she explores the many forms that family can take.
What makes you happiest at home?
LF: When all of my family are in it. When everyone is in my home it is my favourite time. The more people and the more family and friends that are in it, the happier I am.
What is the best home bargain you’ve ever snapped up?
LF: I don’t have anything that I've snapped up, per se but I do have a table, which was originally my Mum's. It was the dining table that we grew up around as a family and then eventually outgrew. It was passed down to us and even though we've loved using it, it really did need a bigger top. I found a lovely man who made a marble top to go on the base of that very table, so we sort of upcycled it. It's technically my best bargain as I could never have afforded a brand new marble table but that addition actually worked out really well.
Tell us about your favourite memory at home...
LF: I would say that my favourite memory is from my family home growing up. When it used to get cold, we'd have the fire on in our little dining room and it had a little sofa in there and I remember having crumpets and butter and cups of hot chocolate topped with marshmallows, by the fire. And it was just one of my happiest memories growing up.
I felt like we were always really lucky when we had our hot chocolates with marshmallows and were gathered around the fire as a family. Bear in mind, this was the eighties. I remember thinking, it's so cosy and lovely, and it's something that I always remember fondly of home.
What is the best decorating advice you have ever received?
LF: I think it would have to be to keep it simple. I've always been told to keep it simpler on the walls and then you can dress up a room with colour thanks to soft furnishings, which I've found is always the easiest way to decorate a room. That way I can go for more patterns in my sofas, or cushions, but with less on the wall. However, I'm not very good at keeping the walls completely empty – I've got so many pictures and other little things hanging on my walls.
Where do you shop for the best homewares?
LF: When it comes to my favourite place to shop for homeware more generally, I sort of go between new and old, which means going to antique markets and shops. I adore them and love to have a good look around.
You can also always find great stuff in Dunelm. They've got some really good options, especially for little things. And everyone always goes 'where'd you get that?' and I immediately say, Dunelm.
If you could have a snoop around anyone's house, whose would it be and why?
LF: I'm so nosy, I would like to snoop around almost anybody's house. You know when you're in a traffic jam and you're just literally sitting looking into houses, I spend my whole time thinking, 'oh I'd like to look in there'. So it wouldn't have to be anybody famous, just about anyone's house would draw me in to have a snoop!
I suppose I'd be quite interested in seeing Kate Moss' house. But even then, I would simply love to be given the keys to all of the houses, up every street, so that I could have a nose in. I just love people's homes and their ideas and what they do with their spaces.
What is your most treasured possession at home? Why is it so special?
LF: I have my Mum's spice rack cabinet. I think my Dad said that they had to bring it back from America after she'd found it in a flea market in New York. She simply had to bring this spice rack back with her. I really don't know how they got it back, but they did, and it was her pride and joy. She loved it, this little wooden spice rack, that is technically nothing special – but she obviously adored it and I still use it to this day, always. I love it because of the sentimentality of it.
What would your perfect night at home look like?
LF: It would look like cooking something lovely in the kitchen and then eating around our table with our family or friends, and then watching a movie, lighting the fire and having a glass of wine. The simple things are often the best, absolutely.
What does your outdoor space mean to you?
LF: I'm really bad with outdoor space, as in I'm not a gardener, but luckily John is. Living in London, we don't have a huge outdoor space to work with, but John is very good at making it look really nice.
Having a seating area so that our outdoor space and back garden is an extension of our kitchen is key. We've also got little lights strung up around the trees, which makes it really pretty. So I suppose I am very lucky because I'm not very good at gardening but I have a husband who makes everything look lovely outdoors!
Which room do you spend most of your time in? How did you decorate this space?
LF: Easily, I spend most of my time in my kitchen. It's my favourite room. I absolutely love it. We don't have many fixed cupboards because it's not fitted. So, we've got a few cupboards under the sink that are sort of a teal blue colour, and then we have a little marble worktop and a big wooden island that can move in the centre of the room, as well as a bench for seating.
That island also has all of our cooking equipment on the bottom and then we cook on the top and there are stools on the other side of it, so people can sit around it. We can sit and cook and chat, which is what we love to do.
What would top your list for the worst decor trend?
LF: That sort of artex ceiling, it's always been one of my pet hates and things that I don't really like. I just think that it's always difficult to change it. For example, when you rent a house or a flat and you have those ceilings, you can't do anything about them. And then when you are in the position to remove them, they are always difficult to get down. My first house had funny ceilings and I was like, 'oh gosh, I can't do anything about them.'
If you could design your dream home, what things would you want to include?
LF: If it was my dream home, I would want it to include a beach. I'd like to be able to walk out of my back garden and onto a beach. It would be somewhere like West Wittering Beach, which I absolutely love. Being able to go straight from the back garden, onto the beach with the dog, to walking the dogs on the beach would be something I would like very much. And being able to see the sea from my windows, that would be wonderful. I would also like a big open plan kitchen, like I have now.
The Ideal Home Show, in partnership with NatWest, the world’s longest-running home and interiors exhibition, is currently on at Olympia London until Sunday 27th March 2022. For more information and tickets, please visit idealhomeshow.co.uk.
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