Paper tissues are modern – but never let a cardboard tissue box covered with gharish flowers let your interiors down.  Buy half a dozen smart covers in rattan, bamboo or fabric and keep your tissue boxes dressed.

Table lamps, not switched on. Globes that have expired. Overhead lighting that throws light on your head, and not on your table, where you need it. If you have table lamps; for goodness sake, turn them on.  Use layers when lighting a room – much more flattering.

Forget cheap supermarket liquid soap. It’s depressing. Always use a good brand or just decant the cheap stuff into a glass bottle – so much nicer.

No patterns or motifs on loo or kitchen paper, ever.  Use only plain white paper. Pictures on lavatory paper are where people let their standards slip. Don’t be one of them.

Cold houses. Interiors are as much about ‘feel,’ as ‘looks’. Keep yours warm, and welcoming.

Never have smelly kitchen sponges and scrubbers in the sink; out they go. Sullied and soiled tea towels, too. Keep only that which is fresh, crisp, fluffy and nothing that is worn, hard, stained, thin, smelly, cheap or tragic. Sponges and scrubbers have a shelf life of one to two weeks. Maximum. Tea towels need regular laundering. Buy half a dozen in linen, and chuck out all those ones featuring sad-eyed puppies, and someone else’s souvenir.  

Don’t float little rugs in big spaces. Large rugs can be expensive but a rug that is too small for the space can make a room look wrong, disjointed and unfinished.