07 Feb 16

My week 1st February ’16

Well what a week! It all culminated with me crying all the way through yoga on Friday.  Well when I tell you whats being going on this week- you’ll understand!

It all kicked off with the start of series three of The Great Interior Design Challenge. After a grueling summer last year filming it all, its great to see it finally hit the screens. This week we saw Holly, Frankie, Sharon and Jane thrash it out for a place in the quarter finals and I went up to Studio Lambert , the production company, to watch the first episode with some of the crew and my TV hubby.

There were plenty of tears and tantrums throughout, some hideous upcycling, some triumphant colour schemes and some pretty happy home owners, so it was a great start to the new series and it’s gone down a storm on twitter using the hashtag #GIDC. Everyone has an opinion. After the way Holly rough shod over her homeowners in Kent I thought she’d have few fans but how wrong was I?! Such a big fan base- loving that Girrrrl Power! And she totally redeemed herself with the beautiful job she did in Scotland. But Frankie finally showed us he wasn’t just about quality soft furnishings. He pulled his finger out and showed us he could be innovative too. What a superstar. Now Steam punk, that has to be a GIDC first. Still not sure what it is, check out my Pinterest board. Either way all four were a seriously talented bunch and it truly made mine and Daniels job of judging all the more harder. Did you think we made the right choice? Let me know your thoughts on how the first week went in the comments box below. And for anyone who thinks Dan and I have it easy while everyone else is working hard, here’s Dan managing his Interior design business from a smart phone in a corridor in Peckham. Oh the glamour.
If you missed out on the first three episodes you can catch up here

Tuesday I had a live broadcast for ITV This Morning. I was invited to do a Scandi style makeover on their green room. In true TV fashion I only got told this the Thursday last week. But the great PR teams helped pull in lovely bits of furniture and accessories from Habitat, Heals, H&M, Marks and Spencer, Ikea, John Lewis, and House of Fraser. Such great stuff on the high street, made it really easy for me to pull this look together fast.

Then it was time for me to get a makeover. It was totally thrilling to be at ITV studios on the Thames. I arrived at 8am for rehearsals, then went into makeup with Jennifer Ellison and Rory McGrath on either side of me! Tad surreal.

Now the paired down all neutral Scandi scheme totally isn’t my vibe, so I made sure I wore a neon pink jumper and leopard print shoes! I’ve put all the photos, details, including the products I’ve used on the blog. You can see the live makeover from ITV This mornings website  here. And I can confirm that Holly and Philip are the nicest people in TV! And do you recognise the decorators? That’s Wayne from The Great Interior Design Challenge and Steve from 60 Minute Makeover.

This week has also been great for press. We’ve been published in the Daily Mail, I had my home in the Telegraph and I had a tongue in cheek piece published in the Guardian. The 715 comments of outrage are the best part of that article!

Then Wednesday Dan and I were in London doing radio Interviews. We were live on the Jo Good show for BBC London, then did some pre records for BBC Cornwall, Oxford and Manchester, before traveling up to Salford for an early start, an interview with BBC Breakfast. More hair and makeup- I could get used to this! We got to meet the gorgeous Louise Minchin and Charlie Stayt. They grilled us about the new series and asked us to bring some scatter cushions with us next time to cosy up their rather hard and uncomfortable red sofa.

Last thing to report is I launched my first Vlog on my Youtube channel this week. You can take a look here. Its a totally new thing for me but I plan to share some styling videos once a week. I’d love to know what you think or what you’d like me to talk about next. Please leave a comment in the comments box as I want to make sure I’m answering your questions.

You can see what I’ve been up to over on my  instagram feed- plenty of celebrity selfies this week!

Finally I’ve posted some dates for some Masterclasses coming up this Spring. I’m running some Interior Design Master classes with Daniel Hopwood and some Colour workshops with my friend, fine artist Becky Blair. Check them out, I’d love to see you there. All dates are on our Eventbrite page.

So there you have it. Absolutely elated yet exhausted in a pile of tears in my yoga class on Friday! Don’t worry though it was a great release! I’m now having a relaxing weekend, with my two best boys (although I’ve got 8 coming round for a roast this Sunday afternoon!)

Have a great week folks and remember The GIDC is back on the box Monday at 7pm!

Love Sophie x

Disclaimer: Apologies for spelling mistakes, typos and any other grammatical crimes. I’m writing this at midnight!