Ilse Crawford, author of Sensual Home, once said: ‘Make room for things that have meaning for you. Buy for instinctive reasons rather than rational ones. You will always enjoy it – it’s the “sensible” buys you’ll end up hating.’ And how right she was!

The joy of discovering a design or colour that speaks to you, is as moving as the evocative power of smell… wood smoke, the salty tang of the sea, the warm aroma of baking cakes, the lingering scent of a fragrant candle. They all bring back happy memories. ‘Life is simply better when surrounded by beautiful things,’ says curator Helen Untiedt, co-founder of Perfect Hideaways.