#mydonnawilson is an interior inspiration series where each month we ask some of our favourite people to showcase our products in their homes. Not only does this mean we get to peek into some beautiful houses and apartments, but we also get to know a little bit about the owners – and their interior design tips.
It’s always nice to have a snoop inside someone else’s house, so I thought I’d invite to take a peek at mine – come on in!
I live in Leytonstone, East London, with my partner Jon and our two young boys. We moved here about six months after having our first son, as we wanted him to grow up having a garden and a bit more space to run around in, which was lucky as he turned into a very lively toddler! We were so lucky to find a house at the end of a road surrounded on three sides by allotments. He loves the garden and learned to climb trees pretty much before he could walk.
Jon and I are both designers and love having objects around. I love the idea of a minimal house, but it’s just not us! Jon collects things from flea markets, skips and house clearances and is always fixing up parts of things or creating new uses for him. It drives me mad sometimes but recently he found sixteen old tins used for screws and nuts and bolts in a friend’s disused workshop, then made a case for them and now we have a handy drawer set that we keep in the kitchen under the pinboard!
Since having the boys, nothing is safe, so all our nice sentimental objects need to be kept up high! I make the most of all the small shelves and ledges and use them to curate little display spaces that I can enjoy. They do change around a bit as inevitably the boys will find a way to get up to them!
I’m not too precious about the house and furniture, as I really want them to grow up with the freedom to be creative whenever they want to be. I try to have paper and pens around so they can see them and draw, and we make things from clay a lot. Most of it’s about the process of making and we crumple it up and put it back but I try to make one or two keepers if I get a chance.
I seem to have a lot of macrame around the house. It’s something I love, especially the texture and when mixed with plants. I love the nod back to the 70s when I was born. The style is a mix of old flea-market finds and more contemporary pieces of furniture, lots of colour and pattern and a bit of mess.
Thank you to Carmel King for the lovely photographs, and for making my house look so neat and tidy!