107. Interior Design For Wellbeing - with Zoe Hewett

Your home reflects your personal story, and it's equally essential that your space makes you feel good too! 

In this guest podcast episode, I had a fun chat with Zoe Hewett, an amazing artisan interior designer who caters to spirited individuals, creatives and entrepreneurs, and talked about the following:

✨ How do well-designed spaces help promote positive emotions and create a sense of well-being?

✨ How colours can influence your mood —yes, they're more than just shades; they're mood boosters!

✨ Furniture isn't just about looks—it can actually affect your health. Who knew, right?

✨ And, of course, we have some tips for creating a positive vibe in your space! 

So, grab a cup of tea, get cozy, and tune in to this episode that will inspire you to design a space that makes you feel great — a home that represents you while keeping your well-being in mind.

Make sure to follow Zoe so you'll become confident with colour, clear on what you want and inspired by new ideas. You'll love her! 

Visit Zoe’s website:  http://www.stylemongersofbristol.co.uk

Follow Zoe on Instagram. @stylemongersofbristol

Get Zoe’s The Sustainable Interior Design Pocketbook (Enhance your space and well-being without compromising your unique style) HERE

Transcript

A quick heads up before you start reading..... My transcriptions are automatically generated. I do not type them manually. For this reason there may be errors, incorrect words, bad spelling, bad grammar, and other things that just seem a little 'off'. You'll still be able to understand what is being said though, so please just ignore that and enjoy the episode.


[00:00:00] Zoe Hewett is my guest today. I'm excited about this because I know absolutely zero about this topic. So let's just start by Zoe, say hi and introduce yourself. 

Okay. Well, first of all, for having me, Terri. Um, I'm an interior designer and I'm based in Bristol. I was a set designer before, but I've switched to interiors.

It's the same skill set, just different application. So now I work with real clients and real properties and it's, it's not make believe and it has to last more than three weeks. 

Oh, that's a, yeah, that's a lot of work, isn't it? When you're doing a stage, I'm imagining you put all your heart and soul into making it perfect and then, and then it's gone.

Yeah. I mean, sometimes they last more than a few weeks, but, um, yeah, it's very transient, whereas now everything's a bit more It has permanence and a bit more longevity, so I think that's a good thing.

Yeah, yeah, that's lovely. And I know like hundreds of people must get to appreciate it when you do it as a [00:01:00] stage show, but I would imagine that there's something a lot nicer about doing something that personally impacts 

somebody. 

Yes, that is rewarding actually. When you see it making a difference to somebody, that really, that does definitely hit the reward button for me.

So primarily for People? Individuals? People? Not animals? People? Individuals? Or companies? Or? 

Mainly individuals. I did do a project once where my clients had pets that they were particularly keen on.

And there was some provision for pets running around. This was a long time ago, I can't remember all of it now. But there, there was some sort of play structure for cats or something.

That's brilliant because I was actually joking 

I know yeah, I've done quite a few weird wonderful things.

Um, but i've I have done a few, like, small pubs and small restaurants and things. I'd like to do a bit more commercial, I think. Small scale. Bristol's full of so many [00:02:00] independent businesses that are fantastic that I'd love to kind of get my hands on. Basically, I'm really greedy and I just really like all kinds of interior design.

Nice! Yeah. Yeah, but that's variety, isn't it? Everybody needs variety in life. Yeah. 

So we are going to talk about how it affects our wellbeing and how it, how make a difference and that sort of thing. So let's start with why. Okay. I know it's a really vague question, but why does our interior, why does the environment around us, why do make a difference to how we feel?

There's loads of research into this because I guess people have cottoned on that there's a correlation between our interiors and how we feel. I think it's a really human need to decorate. Like, even cavemen did it. Oh yeah, okay. [00:03:00] And I have done a little bit of reading up on this ahead of today and I came across some stats around how clutter makes particularly women feel really stressed, and it actually increases cortisol, like quite significantly.

And that's definitely something I've experienced first hand. And my current place is not immaculate, but it feels good. It doesn't feel cluttered, and I've had a bit of a clear out lately. I think that's probably the most noticeable one, where it really instantly affects your well being, I think.

Yeah, there's an old saying, isn't there? Tidy, tidy house, tidy mind? 

Yeah, it's so true. Oh yeah, yeah. 

Yeah, I find that as well. Particularly, I can't bear clutter. It drives me absolutely crazy. It doesn't seem to bother my husband so much. 

Well, I've, I've read something somewhere where it literally has been researched [00:04:00] and proven that it doesn't affect men quite as much as it affects women.

I don't know why that is. 

I Don't know. I wonder if it's something to do with, um, the typically maternal housekeeping brain that we've got. 

Perhaps we just spend more time. in it at home being affected by it and trying to, you know, generally I know it's a sweeping generalization.

There are lots of men that do all things as well but generally speaking it does tend to fall to us doesn't it to keep on top of the tidiness and the smooth running of a household. 

Yeah, it does, doesn't it? It's just one of those things. The female will do it. And like you say, sweeping generalization, obviously, it doesn't apply to everybody, but it does , we have endless conversations in our house.

My family chat gets it. Every now and again, there'll be a message of, I am not your keeper and I am not your slave. Because it just does, doesn't it? It just falls down to women most of the time to do these things. 

It's [00:05:00] just really frustrating to try and do any tasks in a mess as well and when you have to search for something and move 16 other things to get to the thing you actually need to touch to to use it to do whatever you're doing I mean that level of frustration is just too much for me so I try to not have that here.

Yeah, same. If my desk is covered in stuff then it's It's not even distracting. It's just annoying and then can't focus on what I'm doing. Can't think about things clearly. Whether we realize it or not, it does have an impact, doesn't it? On the way we feel about our surroundings. 

Yeah, absolutely.

Um, I'm sort of halfway through this book that I keep picking up and I need to actually finish it to called the architecture of happiness is absolutely fantastic. And there's a, there's a little story in there about, uh, when the author goes to a church and has this like amazing experience because obviously the architecture is designed to [00:06:00] make you feel awe inspired and then he goes to a McDonald's across the way and he's just, you know, completely depressed.

So 

these places really do impact us and our responses to them. 

Yeah, that's interesting, isn't it? Do you think things like McDonald's, places like McDonald's are designed to not make you want to stay in them. You go in, you get what you want, and if you eat there, you eat there and you leave. 

Absolutely. So apparently orange is a really good colour for making people feel like they want to eat.

So red and yellow are appetite stimulants, which is why they use it in their branding. But they use orange sometimes in the restaurants because it's a colour that you can have enough of quite quickly, so you eat and you leave and it helps keep the turnover of customers quite, quite fast. So we're literally being manipulated by colour.[00:07:00] 

Yes, and that coupled with the fact that if you go to McDonald's there's no comfy seating, there's no cushions, you know, there's no comfortable armchairs like you would get in say, a nice cafe for example. Um, there's nothing comfortable about sitting in McDonald's. 

Or like an Ivy Brasserie where it's designed to be an experience that you stay for a long dinner and enjoy and for example, just as a comparison.

Yes. That plushness is lacking in McDonald's for a reason. 

Yeah, and I didn't realise red and yellow were appetite stimulants .

But blue is It's an appetite suppressant, and I think it's just because there's not a lot of blue food, maybe.

I'm head to toe in blue today. You are! I love blue. I wear a lot of blue. Oh, yeah, right, I hadn't even thought 

about that. Yeah, it's one of the world's most popular , apparently. Blue and that sort of turquoise y, [00:08:00] teal y, turquoise y colour. Blue is associated with, like, trust and, sort of, dignity, and reserve. What else, loyalty. You'll see it a lot in, kind of, corporate branding for, for, like, banks, solicitors, those kinds of organisations wear a lot of blue as well. 

I read somewhere that blue and gold particularly screams high end and corporate like you, like you say, so that matches up.

OH, let's dive in. Let's talk about then. Okay. Talk us through a range of different and what they mean and go where you like with it.

The happy colour is yellow, but it's quite a controversial colour as well because I talk about this in my workshops. I run interior design workshops and we do a little bit about colour theory and then a way to like break the rules. And we have a little quiz game where we take it in turns to read out a fact about colour.[00:09:00] 

And yellow always gets a bit of a hard time because apparently too much of it can make people feel nauseous. So it's apparently avoided in aircraft interior design. Apart from maybe Ryanair. 

I was going to say, apart from Ryanair. Interesting. 

Yeah, but you don't see a lot of yellow in places like that.

And it's apparently because it can make people feel sick if there's too much. Apparently it's associated with making people feel crazy. There's a novel, um, I haven't read it. It's about, what's it called, the yellow, what is it, the yellow wallpaper? Oh, I'm sorry, I can't remember, but the story is there's this woman who's kind of locked up in this bedroom and goes bonkers after a while because of this yellow wallpaper she has to keep looking at, but I mean, we just may have all these different associations with things and of course they're different here in the West to how they might be in the East as well.

We don't all share the same sort of associations with colour universally, but [00:10:00] yeah, pops of yellow are joy Promoting. Okay. Yeah. So, if anyone wants to pick me up, yellow plant pot or something like that. Doesn't have to be a whole ball. That might be a bit much. Yeah. Depending on the intensity of the yellow as well.

It's, it's one of those things. Orange is quite a joyful colour too. And green is a very relaxing colour. And I, whenever we go to the woods, There's some response in us that instantly helps us feel relaxed. But I think it's something to do with the wavelength of the colour as well because it's all light.

Red is, uh, the longest wavelength, so it sort of advances to us, which is why we use it for stoplights, because we see it more easily and more quickly than any of the other in the spectrum. Whereas green is the most restful one for our eyes to settle on.

So we can look at that for a long time. [00:11:00] Yeah. 

Oh, okay. That's interesting. I hadn't thought about colors as light. I hadn't thought about it actually transferring to you and the way that works with the brain.

Now, for me, it starts to become clear why colors make a difference. If there's a difference in how they get to you, how they hit you, how you receive them. Then that now makes sense to me why you would have a different reaction to them. 

I love colour but I can have, even I can have too much of it, which is probably why this room that I'm in is white. Which disappoints people sometimes because of what I do. 

So, if we're thinking about designing our spaces for the right emotions, for example, how do you approach that?

So, let's start with, we think of the bedroom as relaxation, right? Yeah. So, how do you approach that from a [00:12:00] design perspective? 

Generally, for a bedroom, you You don't want it to be too stimulating, so painting it all red might be just, just too much, you know, and also, uh, apparently we don't sleep well if a room is hot or if it feels hot, it only wants to be about, apparently it's between like 16 and 18 degrees, so if you're going to paint it like a strong red or a strong orange, it's not going to turn the actual heating up, but it's gonna make you feel warmer and hotter, and apparently that can also diminish your quality of sleep. Oh, okay. So, but it doesn't mean you can't have in a bedroom, but you maybe don't want lots of , and lots of pattern, and lots of stripes, and lots of everything. 

Yeah. Yeah, and that's really important because sleep quality has a massive effect on the way that our day goes, because if you have poor night's sleep [00:13:00] or a very broken night's sleep, then the day is a struggle, isn't it?

So to promote that restful sleep is really important. 

Yeah, absolutely. I'd also avoid sort of high contrast things in the bedroom. So like lots of black and white or, or even like leaving the ceiling white and then painting the walls in something else , it can be quite a jarring effect.

But, with the white being so bright and then something else being pale. So, in my room I've, I've used this lovely colour called Tuscany. I love a paint name. It sounds like it's going to be orange. It is kind of. It's a sort of salmon pink. I mean it sounds gross. But give it a nice name like Tuscany, it sounds a bit better.

But it's quite pale. But I've taken it on all the walls and over onto the ceiling as well. And it just sort of envelops the whole room. And I think if I'd left it white, it would [00:14:00] have just been a bit of a stark contrast. Whereas now it just feels like a nice whole space and it is very calm. Which I needed.

That's nice. I would never think of applying the same colour wall to the ceiling. 

Yeah, I think ceilings get forgotten a lot, and the convention is to just do it white, but to us designers it's like a, it's another surface that we want to another blank canvas. Yeah, so apparently, I just learned this from Instagram the other day, if you use one colour across the whole room, apparently that's called colour drenching.

I never knew, I thought it was just painting it all one colour, but it was drenching. 

It's got a name, it's got an actual name. It has. Okay, so we're going no big colour clashes, no big drastic change from one colour to another. We're going nice, relaxing, neutrals are we thinking in the bedroom then, with just maybe pops of colour?

Could be, could be neutrals, but also you can use a strong colour if you let it [00:15:00] dominate, so There's a fab Instagram account, uh, Raspberry Flavoured Windows, where she's painted almost the whole house black, which is really extreme for a lot of people but it really suits their family needs.

So her son has a sort of, he can get over stimulated. So by painting everything one colour It's actually created this really calm effect, even though that colour is black, and it looks fabulous, and it has this really calm quality to it. It's great. I mean, black's not for everybody, for sure, but it could be navy blue.

Yeah, it feels, when I'm thinking about that, because I don't know that Instagram account, I'm going to look it up after. But when I think about that, it feels like it's going to be really harsh, and very, very dark, and I'm going to go and have a look. 

Yeah, it might not be a cup of tea, but it's, uh, the principle is the same.

You could, it could be a really nice dark green, a foresty green with neutrals on [00:16:00] the bedding or something like that and still feel pretty calm. 

Okay, so then let's think living space. Uh, like your living room. What do we think there? If we were promoting a really vibrant, energized, let's have lots of active time with the kids in this space. It's gonna be vibrant family space.

What do we go for? There's a difference, isn't there, between a really alive living space and somewhere that wouldn't be my cup of tea now because my kids are older and grown and I want my living space to be cosy, relaxing, very chilled vibe, so I'm just thinking there's a couple of different ways you can go with it.

Yes. Infinite 

ways. 

I've done a lot of kind of family rooms. Um, where there's a lot of multi purpose, you know, lots of different activities all happening in one room. Not necessarily at the same time, but, and of course everyone's taste is different [00:17:00] and everyone's response to colour is a bit different.

So I haven't ever really got a kind of one size fits all sort of answer, but I suppose if you want to create something that's, like, convivial, then I think it's like getting the pictures up on the wall really helps. And then that's a really great opportunity to have a bit of colour without committing to a large expanse of colour.

You can get the, get the joy in, in a sort of small proportion. 

Is, is there a way to start implementing these things? Because let's face it, it's an expense, isn't it, to completely overhaul a room and especially if you're changing color schemes to do it all because you've got the walls, you've got the window dressings, you've got the cushions and you've got the decor that goes, you know, the bits and pieces that goes with it.

How do you suggest people do it? If they want to pick their space up, if they want to make some changes to make themselves feel better, [00:18:00] how do you suggest that they can do it in a, in an easy, bit by bit fashion? 

Oh, I love a bit by bit. I think that sometimes I feel like the best interiors sort of evolve, rather than just suddenly get done, you know.

And there's always something you can do without spending loads of money. If you've got time, that's, that's It's always a trade off, I think. Yeah. We've got access to so many amazing, like, craft tutorials on YouTube for making, making things. You know, home, home crafts, whatever. But I'd say, for a really quick fix, plants are like, number one go to.

And you get your, your green fix to rest your eyes, but they, they clean the air as well. And there's a lot of toxins in homes. Plants, pictures up, even things like decorating a plant pot, or changing the pots around. Actually, that's another thing [00:19:00] I like to do is sort of move things around from one room to another, and pottering on shelves, you know, the stuff you have on shelves, kind of curating that.

And rejigging it every now and again can make things feel kind of new without having to spend loads of cash. 

That's a really good point because everything that's on my shelves, when I think about my house now, has been there since I put it there forever ago when we first decorated the room.

I never think to change the things that are on the shelves. That's such a good idea. 

Yeah, and it applies to pictures as well, because after a while you sort of stop seeing them. I'm due to collaborate with a fantastic woman next year on a workshop, who, called Claudia, and she, her expertise is in art, basically, so she advises people on how to buy the art that they love, rather than the art they think they should buy, but also how to hang it, and one of her suggestions is always to jiggle it [00:20:00] around and move it every now and again.

But also, you mentioned window treatments and I think that window treatments and like really good curtains are a huge investment really and that's not something anyone wants to be changing unless they really need to. So I think having a sort of emotional attachment to the fabric and something like that will help it to have longevity. And then if you were to sort of pick out from, from curtains for the rest of the room, then it gives you many more options for changing it, sort of every, changing the rest of the room every, you know, whenever it gets really tired and you just need a little change. Yeah. 

Is that a good place to start then, if you don't really know what colour you want?

You don't really, you know what you want to freshen up, but you don't really know exactly what you're looking for. Are the curtains a good place to start then? So you can pick the, [00:21:00] the , the patterns, the fabrics that you like for the curtains and build out from there. 

Yes, I've definitely designed schemes in that way.

Or it might be a wallpaper that comes first. Because it's sometimes easier to match the paints. to a patterned fabric or wallpaper than the other way around. And actually paint is the sort of cheapest way really to, to get a big transformation quickly. I had some clients who were sort of gifted to me by a mentor who, who's retired and she worked on their house like 30 years ago.

And then when it started getting tired, 25 years later, started working on on it room by room again, and they kept their curtains in their two reception rooms from the first time that she'd worked on their property all those years ago. Cleaned them, relined them, but the fabric was such high quality they would have been criminal to get rid of it, and they just changed everything else in the room, and they're transformed, even though the curtains hadn't changed.

That's [00:22:00] amazing. What a clever purchase though. Yeah. They, like you said, they've gone for quality, which, it isn't cheap, is it, when you buy curtains? They're so expensive, but that's just proof that years and years and years later, they're still standing the test of time and things are changing.

That's why it's important to choose what you love. But yeah, it's a massive investment. But you can always make these things yourself, but it's beastly. I hate making curtains, if I'm honest. 

I did, I've made a few, I've made a few in my time, but only for things like the kids bedrooms . 

It's a fiddle, but it's worth it. And also the acoustic softening properties that they have as well, it's really good. I've just put some up recently that I made and don't want to do that again for a while, but my daughter is so loud and I've lived here for two and a half years without curtains in the living room.

The difference it's made to the sound already is fab. It's probably going to help my energy bills a little bit as well. 

Yeah. [00:23:00] 

Alright, so what about eating spaces then?

You've already mentioned McDonald's and the choice of there against, you know, a really nice restaurant, but when it's in your own home, and and, you know, obviously the listeners to this podcast are working on their relationship with food and their eating habits, and that sort of thing.

So how do we design an eating space or even a preparation space, the kitchen for example, so that it promotes a better relationship with food or, you know, feeling more relaxed around producing food and eating food. 

Ooh, that's a great question. I read something somewhere where it said, you know, eat the cake, eat the biscuits, eat whatever, but have your fruit on show 

I remember as a kid in the 80s, my mum saying that having a bowl full of fruit was like the height of luxury, because it would have been quite pricey [00:24:00] to fill a bowl full of exotic fruit, to have a pineapple in it would have been wild! 

I go through phases with my fruit baskets. So, sometimes it's a big glass bowl, and then, other times, it's baskets hanging. It's a two tier thing. Sometimes it lives on the work surface, and sometimes it lives on the table, and It's interesting how just bits and pieces like that make a difference. 

Yeah. I suppose having a think about the way produce is displayed. Maybe even abroad. I mean, like, strings of onions.

So beautiful. My mum used to have hops in the kitchen. I mean, most people would be like, ugh, dust and grease trap. Look great, though. I suppose anything that makes you feel like, ooh, that looks delicious, you know. 

I would love a really nice I mean, my house does not lend to this, I would love a really nice big kind of typical country kitchen where you've got things like the racks with the hops on [00:25:00] and, and, and things hanging and just, just lovely, just lovely.

It screams comfort to me that I think that's what I'm after in a space where I'm going to prepare and eat food because for a lot of people that are overcoming, disordered eating food can be very stressful, food prep can be very stressful, very overwhelming, so to make it a comfortable, homely space is really important.

It wants to be user friendly and easy, doesn't it? Yeah. I love seeing food stuff in, like, glass jars with a chalk pen label. I love, in fact, I'm in the process of ordering my herbs and spices like that, because I love the aesthetic of it, it feels nice to use, and a pint of milk in a glass bottle, love that.

The tactile joy of like a pint, a proper pint of milk that isn't in a plastic [00:26:00] bottle. Yeah. I love stuff like that. And I suppose like, maybe it's because I'm a designer, I'm a bit obsessed with product design of anything, but you know, a nice knife and a nice chopping board, just putting the joy in everything.

That sort of sensory, sensory pleasure. Good lighting as well. 

Oh, what do you mean by good lighting? 

So, good task lighting. Usually under the wall cabinets, so you can see what you're doing really well. I've had no light in my kitchen for a year because I had a leak from the roof and on the top floor of the flat.

But I've now reinstated the light just this week, so that's definitely one to celebrate. Um, so I've been cooking in the dark for a year. Don't do that. No. 

Oh God. It's hard enough already without doing that. 

. Yeah. I love my little kitchen. I've got the, there were a red, red tile splashback that came with the flat from the previous residents. So I've, I've painted it a nice colour [00:27:00] to go with. It's going to sound a bit gross, but it's a sort of dark, rich, Caribbean kind of zingy green.

And I've taken that over the ceiling because there's not a lot of wall space. It's looking great. 

Now isn't there something that says red and green should not be seen? 

Oh yeah, I've heard that about blue and green as well but all these, all these things are just complete lies because like you'd never look at a field with the blue sky above it and think, oh what an awful colour combination.

Or, or like red baubles on a Christmas tree. Oh, how ugly. 

Yes. 

People just make this stuff up. 

Yes, that is a really good point. How do you suggest people learn how to put together? Is there a way to do that? Is there a resource where people can see what kind of go really well together and what What will clash and look absolutely awful, should you choose it?

Yeah, there are all kinds of rules for how to [00:28:00] put together. There's a colour wheel, and all the colour wheels look slightly different. But, I never actually learnt how to use a colour wheel until I started teaching workshops, and I thought it's not helpful if I just say, I will just pick everything, just instinctively put colors together. That's of no use to anyone. So I learned how to use the color wheel , but what I usually end up saying to people is actually just look to nature, and you could even get your camera out and photograph a beautiful flower or a beautiful bird or a landscape because the, the color combinations that you'll see in nature are never, they're never unpleasant.

I'm yet to find like an ugly, natural color combo. 

Oh, that's such a good idea because I am, I am not a creative person. I don't have this natural creative ability to just, to just [00:29:00] do the figuring out what feels right together.

I would love to have that. You obviously have this really nice, natural ability to just feel when things look really nice together. So to have something like go and look in nature is, that works in my head. 

The other advice would be to have a look at a colour on a paint chart, any colour, and just consider how your body feels in response to it, because that will, I think that will always tell you as well, what you really think about it.

Why do never look the same on a paint chart? 

Is there a 

reason for that? 

Yeah, I think it's to do with the light. Because light changes constantly. Then sometimes if you use a different finish. So, um, an eggshell finish. or a satin, you know, slightly, slightly shiny or gloss, high [00:30:00] gloss finish.

It's going to look different from the matte version on the paint chart as well. And then also when you've got another colour next to the colour you're looking at on a paint chart, it makes it behave kind of differently to how it behaves if you're just looking at it in isolation. It's very strange and that's why we need to do tester pots.

Yeah. 

At the time they feel like a bit of an expense. I mean, I know I'm talking a lot about expense in this one, aren't I? I don't mean that it should be everybody's consideration money, but you do look at a tester pot and think, Oh, it's going to be nearly a fiver for one tester pot. Yeah. But actually, there's real value in getting a couple of those and sticking it on your wall and seeing what it looks like. 

I actually like to do it on wallpaper, um, lining paper. A really big swatch and two coats of it. Usually when people use tester pots, they put a little tiny patch, and then they'll put another tiny patch of a different colour next to it.

But it'll only be one coat, so it looks scratchy and it's not the best representation of that colour. [00:31:00] And then they behave weirdly next to each other, so I always suggest big, as big a piece of paper as you can cover with one tester pot on a bit of lining paper and then move it around the room, look at it at different times of the day and see how you feel about it.

Oh, that's a good idea. Get the most out of that fiver. Yeah, for sure. 

Yeah, for sure.

You know, I don't want everything to be about money, but the reality is, for a lot of people, it is about money and, and 

Yeah, it's a shame, it's something that really bothers me about my industry because there's no getting around it, it costs some money. But, thanks to technology like eBay, Gumtree, you know, we can find amazing bargains.

Furniture. Cheap stuff. Free stuff. Do it up. Of course, then it means you have to invest the time. But, there's something anyone can do and it doesn't all have to be about luxury, gold leaf and marble. You know. I feel [00:32:00] like all, all levels of interior decor are valid and important because it affects everybody.

Yeah. I love upcycling. I love. No, I'll tell you what I love. I love buying things and then having my husband upcycle.

But some of my bedroom furniture, for example, is really, really nice, big, chunky, solid bits of wood. And, and it looked awful when it got to us, but there's potential in it. So once it was stripped and treated and repainted and whatever, it looks great. So I'm all about recycling. Upcycling furniture. I think it's, it's brilliant.

And like you say, it doesn't, it doesn't get wasted then. It doesn't go to the landfill. It's, it, yeah, it's great. It's a really good way to do it. 

Yeah, I agree. 

Um, you mentioned earlier toxins. Yeah. Want to touch on that and [00:33:00] the toxins in our home? because obviously they, well, you explain, you explain and then.

Oh, well, unfortunately, our homes are full of toxins. Carpets aren't particularly good for us, and sofas and armchairs, basically upholstered furniture is not good for us either. About 18 months ago I met this fantastic upholsterer called Delith Featherston Dilka. I always find that a bit of a mouthful.

She's brilliant and unfortunately she noticed she was feeling ill and she made the connection between occupational health as an upholsterer and her not feeling very well. Did some digging around because it turns out she used to be a lawyer and so she knew how to research things and sort of join the dots and she's basically discovered that the flame retardant chemicals that are used in on foams, upholstery foams, and the top fabrics [00:34:00] are so toxic and it's, it's disproportionately affecting upholsterers, obviously, because they're super exposed to it when they're ripping apart old chairs and things.

Children are disproportionately affected because they spend most of their time on the floor and the dust, basically these Every time we jump around on a sofa, it kind of off gasses this stuff. The particles go down in the dust onto the floor. And, of course, children have a lot of hand to mouth behaviours.

Ah, it's awful, and it should be, and it's probably about to become a massive public health scandal, really. And also from a consumer rights point of view, this is a problem as well, because we're all allowed to buy these sofas. In fact, we can't buy any other kind of sofa because of the weird laws. But when that sofa has come to the end of its life, it's now considered so toxic that if you take it to the [00:35:00] tip, it won't go in landfill, it'll be incinerated, and it requires, like, special handling because it's so hazardous.

But it's still okay for us to buy that and use it in our homes. Yeah, it's absolutely horrendous. But it's thanks to Delith that word is just starting to get out. And she's been featured in the press just recently. It's like quite a long, slow campaign. But on the continent, they use a lot less of these flame retardant chemicals.

And they're fire death. rates aren't any different from ours, particularly, so it's suggesting that actually the flame retardants that we're using aren't preventing fires because armchairs don't like spontaneously combust. Um, and it's really complicated and it's kind of to do with the way that we test and pass an item of furniture.

So we use an open flame test where [00:36:00] basically someone sticks a Bunsen burner on the back in the middle of a chair. And if it catches fire in, 20 seconds or under, then it's no good. It needs more chemicals to inhibit the flammability. Um, but abroad, and in America, uh, America and Europe, they use a smolder test.

So, for example, imagine someone's fallen asleep in the armchair, they're smoking, cigarettes on the arm. After 45 minutes, it might catch fire or it might just go out depending on what the materials of the furniture are made of, but they use that kind of test instead of just sticking a Bunsen burner on it because it is a much more realistic scenario for how a fire could start.

Oh, it's so complicated. But basically we need to stop using foam or we need to stop using these FRs right now. But we can't! We can't just start reupholstering [00:37:00] everything in a traditional way using sheep wool and horse hair which is all inherently flame retardant because we can only do that on furniture where the frame predates 1950.

It's bonkers. So, don't worry, we have a campaign going to sort this out. 

It's amazing. It's quite scary, that, actually, because you think all these things are put in place, you think of it as, um, development, I guess. So, Over time, furniture has more rigorous testing, but actually, the results of that now mean that there are more chemicals in the furniture. Um, the testing is not really appropriate by the sounds of it, that's sort of, you know, not realistic rather, rather than not appropriate. So, to somebody who doesn't know about it, it seems like things are good because they're progressing and they're making it safer, but actually, it's becoming more harmful.[00:38:00] 

Um, how do we get around that? Like you say, we can't all find furniture that predates the fifties. 

Um. No. Especially not sofas. 

No. No. And like you say, everybody's going to have one. So how do we deal with this? What can we do? What, how can we make our living spaces a bit more friendly in that respect?

Because these toxins are obviously going to play into our health, play into our physical health, play into our mental health. Um, and if we could improve that, then that in turn might. improve how we feel about ourselves. So, 

yeah, yeah, a hundred percent. So there are a few things we can do and luckily Delive, Delive kindly put some tips together for us.

So she recommends regular vacuuming of furniture and obviously the floor as well. But yeah, hoovering, hoovering your furniture with a HEPA filter regularly and she also recommends loose covers. So made out [00:39:00] of a natural fibre, like a linen or cotton or a mix, because that can sort of inhibit the clouds of horrible stuff coming off sofas every time we bounce around on them.

If anyone listening was to go on an upholstery course, they could do whatever they wanted to their sofa. Because if it's for your own use, fine. But obviously I can't, as a designer, I can't specify to somebody a fantastically healthy sofa because it would be against the law.

It's bonkers. But if someone was prepared to DIY it, they could take all the horrible foam out, put some sheep wool in, fine. 

Yeah. 

Yeah, or if you've got a vintage antique family heirloom armchair from granny that could be upholstered traditionally If it's pre 1950, no, no trouble Nice and nice and natural But That's an expensive solution and DIYing it isn't an easy solution.

[00:40:00] So hoovering and loose covers for now Yeah, and plants. Plants and regular airing 

Oh, plants, yeah. Yeah. Because they're obviously natural air cleaners, aren't they? 

Fragrance is a really good way to boost mood at home. And candles are Also fabulous because the glowing light just I suppose it's like a fire it really appeals to us. A friendly fire You know really appeals to our human Instincts and that the soft glow of the light but I would say beware of Fragrance candles unless they are pure essential oils because I have a sneaking suspicion that some candles may if they have essential oils, And that it's not a purely natural candle, it may have additives in, which I suspect could be the same group of chemicals that are the flame retardants in furniture.

But I haven't verified this yet, I need to do some more research. But apparently they're used, these additives are used to inhibit the flammability of the [00:41:00] essential oils in candles. So it has to be the same stuff, or similar. So I'd say go for a a beeswax or a soy wax candle, ideally fragrance free, and maybe get the fragrance from essential oils in a burner instead.

And then you can play around with the different combinations of different scents as well. Because they're all, like colors, they're all associated with different kind of meanings as well. Like lavender is really good for sleep, so that's a good one for the bedroom.

Yeah, I think there's, uh, there's a lot of information out there, isn't there, on the different essential oils and the way you can use them and the impact that they have on you.

Yeah. Yeah.

I do think about layouts of rooms a lot. So the sort of practical function, I always start with that actually, before I go anywhere near the and the fun stuff. It's always about the bones and the The function of a space first. We tend to arrange our living rooms around the TV.

But actually, because we're all a bit disconnected [00:42:00] and craving connection, if it's possible to arrange a space to promote conversation. And socialising instead, then brilliant. That really helps. And also creating things like book nooks. Little reading nook. That's, that's a nice one. Sort of somewhere cosy to go and be.

We need different things at different times of day, don't we? Or, you know, different days of our lives. Maybe one day you do need the comfort of something like a book nook, and then other days I need something a bit more energizing and productive feeling.

What advice do you have for people with teeny tiny little spaces? 

I sometimes quite relish the challenge of a tiny space. I suppose the key is to just not have too much stuff because there are all sorts of clever contraptions for, you know, beds folding down or desks folding down. But a lot of, like, using that stuff it's quite a lot of admin that can just be really annoying if [00:43:00] you've constantly got to move things and tidy things away.

And I know it's not always avoidable, but I guess just not having too much stuff. As much stuff as your place can reasonably take. But also sometimes bigger spaces, they're problematic in a different way. Like acoustics are a problem in a big open plan space a lot of the time. Increasingly actually, I'm having clients say they get like sensory overload or someone in their family does.

So thinking about acoustics , is something I'm doing more and more. Right. Yeah. That was a tangent. Sorry. No, no, not at all. I don't apologize. 

I love it. I love it. Oh, Zoe, thank you. It's been so interesting. Tell people where they can find you, because I always encourage everybody to come and follow and see what you're talking about and look you up and hire you if you [00:44:00] need to. 

Well I, I don't go by my name Zoe, I've got a little business name now so my little brand name is Style Mongers of Bristol.

Because interior design is historically a bit stuffy, I wanted it to be a little bit fun. Um, so yeah, stylemongersofbristol.co.uk. And I've got some free resources and inspirational pictures and things on there. So, hopefully people might enjoy those. They're very colourful as well. 

Nice, lovely. I'll obviously put the link in the show notes so people can go through.

Uh, social media? You're on all of the socials or just select ones? Or? 

Instagram, Pinterest. Facebook, less often. But yes, I'm on it. Mainly Instagram. Style Mongers of Bristol again. Yeah. Fab. 

Well, thank you Zoe. Thank you so much. 

Thank you for letting me come and talk about my favourite things. 

Oh, you're welcome. You're welcome. 

This is how I like to spend my days, talking to people who, who can just, spread a little joy.

[00:45:00] That's what I like to do. 

Thanks Zoe.

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