The Ins & Outs - Everything You Need to Know About Antiquing

Episode Date: March 25, 2025

Jojo tells us everything we need to know about antiquing! If you've ever been on the hunt for an antique, you're not going to want to miss this episode!Polly and Jojo talk us through what to do in the garden and the house for spring.Polly lets us in on one of her top secret tips and we discus the lost rain forests of the UK!InstagramPodcast - @the_insandouts_Jojo - @houseninedesignPolly - @pollyanna_wilkinsonProducer Andy - @andy_rowe_WebsitesJojo - https://www.housenine.co.uk/Polly - https://www.pollyannawilkinson.com/Pod Rowe Productions - https://www.podrowe.net/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Hello In and Outies and welcome back to this week's episode of the In's and Outs with myself Jojo Barr and the gorgeous Pollyanna Wilkinson. This week we are talking the lost rainforests of the UK, what to do in the house and garden in spring, I give you all my tips on antiquing and Polly designs a pizza slice garden that is, we talk tricky neighbors, garden fencing, artwork in entrance hall and Polly lets us in on a top secret tip. Shhh let's jump on it. Good morning my love. Good morning my love. How the devil are you? Oh you know I'm all right. All the better for seeing you. Oh and all the better seeing you, my dear. Isn't that from a fairy tale? Is that Red Riding Hood? You know, the granny that eats... Oh, all the better for seeing you, before she gets eaten.

Yes. Well, I'm not about to eat you, so... How are you, darling? Catch me up. What's been going on? What's been going down? What's been going down? I've just been sowing loads of seeds. We're sowing all of the cut flower garden seeds at the moment, so the greenhouse is filling up nicely. God. I'm loving your greenhouse that at the under tax greenhouse is just so I'm gonna go as far as to say it is so Aspirational to have a garden house like that. I look at it and I think oh my god

It just makes my it makes my groin Do something. I'm not sure, it just goes into kind of overdrive. It just likes it. It is the dream. Yeah, it's the fucking dream. I'm gonna just throw it at others. It was actually, when we- Dream house?

I keep calling it a dream house. It's a dream house. It's a Barbie's dream house. It's Polly's dream house. It's Polly's dream house. I love it, it's so much joy. And I was just pottering in there. I like to put on an audible or a podcast

and just have a little potter. then we're developing the no dig beds we've really lucky that my next-door neighbors have let us use a bit of their field. How lovely, so kind of them thanks neighbors. I know so we've gathered loads and loads of cardboard boxes and then Colin made me take the tape off every single one because I'm a lazy gardener so I would have just whacked them on the ground. He was like no all of the all of the parcel tape has to come off because obviously it's plastic we don't want that in the ground and he's a good guy. So I sat there for like an hour and a

half peeling the tape off every single box. This is hundreds of boxes and now we've covered the floor with it because there's so many brambles. And because it's not technically our land, I don't feel comfortable sort of digging up all of their brambles. That feels a step too far to be like, bring in the digger.

So we're no digger. You're gonna have to just quickly take a rewind. Can you just give us a very, very quick polysynopsis of what a no dig. Let's do this very quickly. No dig, exactly what it says on the tin so you're not disrupting. So explain why you put all the cardboard down so you're not disrupting. Yes so it's not just a case of putting soil on top, putting the cardboard down because it's going to act like a natural weed barrier for anything underneath it and I do not think that this will hold back the brambles forever

because brambles will find their way everywhere but it will do quite a good job so you do a really thick layer of cardboard and that's sort of your starter it keeps everything underneath it underneath it and then you on top of that will go a mix of of compost and well-rotted manure and that's and you mound that up and that's what will grow in. Okay. So the reason that you don't dig, if you're not disrupting the soil,

then you're not disrupting the soil structure. So essential organisms like earthworms and microbes are preserved. So it allows them to thrive and enrich the soil without sort of messing with their home essentially. So it's adding rather than disrupting. Okay. But that's what we're doing. So at the moment I am growing in my greenhouse

and also on the floor in the kitchen because it's got underfloor heating. Lots and lots of seeds and vegetables and it's gonna be a massive cut flower and vegetable series of beds. And the chickens and we're getting chickens. Okay. And the chickens and we're getting chickens. I've got so... one thing I didn't... Oh, I'm just pulling my headphone out. One thing I never... I didn't really talk to you about in great detail and I feel like I need to and I can't believe I haven't is when I

went down to the pig, I was actually there on this amazing retreat. Yeah. And the retreat at the pig was with Cabilla, Cabilla Cornwall. And Cabilla is owned by an amazing retreat. And the retreat of the pig was with Cabilla, Cabilla Cornwall. And Cabilla is owned by an amazing family. We were essentially hosted by this amazing man called Merlin Hanbury Tennyson. What an incredible name. I know Merlin, right? Isn't that just the coolest name? He basically is the wizard of the forest because his family owned this own, one of the only living rainforests left in the UK.

Temporate rainforest. Did you know, Paul, that, yeah, temperate rainforest, did you know that the UK used to be made up of 20% rainforest? I did not know that. The UK used to be made up of 20% rainforest all the way down the West Coast. If you look at a map of it, it's amazing. And then because of trading and farming and it all just slowly but surely disappeared. And there's only 0.4% of temperate rainforest now left in the UK. Part of it being this lovely man's, this family's land. And I got this incredible opportunity to go and walk through this temperate rainforest.

And it was quite honestly magical, truly magical. But they've set up a trust called the 1000 Year Trust, which is about basically regrowing this natural rainforest and reintroducing what should be back in the UK, should be back on UK soil. But interestingly Paul, interestingly you just said that about the soil and not disrupting the soil. All of the natural habitats of the UK such as pigs, sheep are not a natural indigenous animal of the UK, they are,

they were brought over for trading with from Arab countries. Pigs for instance, they do this thing with their little trotters and they pull all the earth up and they toss it over and it's all muddy. If you look at sort of how earth should be, it should be all sort of upturned and messy. Yeah. But obviously we've become so obsessed with everything being flat and perfect. Yes. And it was really interesting to have this sort of full, almost like a complete contradiction

of everything I ever thought I knew about our beautiful green open fields that shouldn't actually be like that at all. Even sheep's little hooves are not meant to have just flat green grass. That's only like that just to purely feed sheep and cattle. It should be all sort of upturned. And it was absolutely fascinating. I could go on about it until the cows come home. And I haven't done this nearly enough justice, but he's just released a book called Our Oak and Bones,

which is about reviving a family. Our Oak and Bones. As in our broken bones, but our oak and bones. He used to be, it's a story about war, trauma, nature, rebirth. It's incredible. I would urge you to go and read it. I think we should both read it because it's just coming out at the moment, I think through Penguin Books. But I feel like we should both read it, our own little book club, all of us, and let's report back. But I think you would love it because, and I'd love to go there with you because I think you would absolutely, it's incredible.

I've never experienced anything like it this being in this rainforest It's the most bizarre experience. The air is different that it feels different and very healing Incredibly healing. Oh, I'm glad Mmm gosh, that was a real tangent I know I was wondering where you were going with that when I started talking about chickens as I was she gonna say Yeah, but it was more that it was more the fact that it was the whole is the earth. It's the fact that the earth is as you know it right you want like perfect green, green

lawns and things. No, I don't. I desperately don't. But yes, we often end up with them. It's the need for everything to be perfect. Well, I think there's a real move away from that though, my friend. I think if there's one thing, well, that us designers are talking about, even if our clients aren't yet, is actually the move to far more imperfect gardens is definitely happening.

And that's sort of like everything being manicured is far less important and actually having sort of more wilder, more natural spaces. I like a bit of both. So we've got the garden is, I'm looking out on it now it's halfway halfway built and I've got actually a very formal space at the front which is a sort of quite a crisp lawn till the kids get their footballs on it but then we move into the gravel garden which is really lovely drought tolerant plants and then at the back it's going to be all completely this sort of very natural much more like a sort of farm setting and I love that because when we're going

to it's going to be so good for the pollinators as well. Yeah and we've got the little we've got the old pond still, Fisher sends his regards, which I saw a little new tin the other day so it's it's just all about trying to bring some variety. Yeah it's so interesting to say you say this is more this lean towards what is what is more natural and I definitely feel it with my garden I want my garden to almost be an extension of what I see the night you know surrounding areas. For you in particular you can't have a formal garden it would look nothing up against your fields. Couldn't be formal at all and also no and also I feel like I'm because I just know the upkeep of a garden is extraordinary I think unless you've got a team of gardeners coming in every week to

try and you know manicure it that's just so not my vibe at all. It's not how I live. But it doesn't suit your setting. So much of it is where you're based. So it's sort of accepting your surrounds and your genius. Well, yeah, because we've got this view of all of this surrounding countryside. If you suddenly had a really manicured lawn and flower beds, it would look really jarring, it would look really odd. Totally. Yeah. But equally, it can be really cool having kind of a contradiction of quite a formal lawn and then it softens into something else and then it softens into something like that interplay as well of sort of formal and informal. Yeah, very interesting. So, Jojo, before we get into questions, I've got some questions, I actually

have two. The first one being, anything we should be doing in the house now that it's spring? Clock's changed this weekend. Oh, I always love it when the clock's changed. What should we be doing in the house in spring? I'm gonna go down the route of being practical here. It's throwing open your windows, checking you've got no damp and condensation,

changing all your bed sheets, all your bed linens. We've had all the sort of, if you want to get really, really, really heavily spring clean. I've always wanted for just getting rid of... I always think the spring is a time for, it's like rebirth, isn't it? And even in the house, I think it's just get rid of the old, get rid of everything you just don't want, pack everything way into bags get Just just it's got to feel airy. Everything wants to feel airy in and light

Do you get if you've got loads of cushions on your bed? It feels quite heavy if you've got like double linen, you know double bedding and double throws on your bed Just pack it all away. Get it all away. Get it off. It just it's suddenly before we know it gonna be summer and I also just yeah, I mean, I think this time of year is all about being outside, but if you, yeah. That's my best advice. What are you gonna do?

Do you pack away clothes? I do. So it's so hot this time of year, cause it's still cold. And then it's all, it's cold. The old cashmere jumpers, babe, isn't it? We keep up the old cashmere. Oh, I can't say goodbye to them yet.

No, but I think, I kind of use those all year round, but I still think they have got to go in plastic bags and boxes because, and also if you are worried about your Kashmir being eaten by moths, which of course is going to happen, put it all in the freezer. Stick all your Kashmir in the freezer because it's the only thing that will kill the eggs. Not permanently. No, no. I was like, I can't fit all my Kashmirs. because it's the only thing that will kill the eggs. Not permanently. No, no. I was like, I can't fit all my cash in.

No, stick it in the freezer overnight and then it will kill all the eggs and everything before you then get it dry cleaned and then pack it away into bags. And it might seem like a really weird thing to do. It feels, it doesn't crisp, by the way. If you find a jumbo and it has a little hole in it, the likelihood is it's being eaten by moss.

Get it in the freezer straight away. That's what will kill it and then get it dry cleaned and then get a hole mended. Don't just mend the hole because it's gonna keep happening. Oh, cashmere's not a cheap option, is it? Although to be honest, I just wash mine. Sorry, not sorry. How do you wash them?

Otherwise, just spend, well, just on a low wash and then I just sort of stretch them. That doesn't kill the eggs though. No, I don't, I'm not talking about eggs, I just mean just generally, cashmere is quite an expensive upkeep. Oh, do you put it in the washing machine? Yes I do. Controversial.

I'm not even sorry about it, life's too short. No, don't be, I didn't even know you could, I've been so terrified of doing that. Just on the lowest wash and then obviously with no heat and then obviously not the dryer, and you know, you've got to be willing to roll that dice and I am because otherwise the cost of dry cleaning would actually cost more than the jumper after a couple of cleans.

Do you know what, now I know you can do that. If I've shrinked all my cashmere jumpers it's all your fault. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, Kashmir. Well sometimes I'll just hand wash it in the basin. Yeah okay. You know. Alright I'll give you that. Do you know one of my other favourite things to do around the house? Tell me. Is to actually bring flowers inside. It's all about flowers from the end of spring. I just love cut flowers in the house. There's nothing quite like it. There's nothing like having a load of daffodils and tulips and all these lovely flowers and then walking outside and seeing the same thing.

Love that. Bringing it the outside in. I love that. You said tulips and it's instantly triggered me to say, I just need to remind everyone, if you've got tulips in pots you really need to be watering those pots or you're going to get stubby tulips. Because it's been so dry. No one likes a stubby tulip. Water those bad boys. I'm still watching to see if mine has fire actually and I can't tell if it's frost damage or fire. I need to know what we need to be doing right now in the garden, Paul. Tell me. Oh what do you need to be doing in the garden? Well it's just sort of a time of great so hopefully by now you've cut things back. You know all of the things

which I've been harping on about you keeping up for winter interest and for world life, for forage, now you should have cut them back because I would assume we've had some warmer weather, you're going to see all of the green sprouts at the base of nearly everything now, so you need to make room for them. So cut all of that back. I imagine by now everyone's cut their hydrangeas as well, but if they haven't do, gosh, I've got so many scared messages, Jo Jojo about pruning hydrangeas in March and then there being frosts forecast and I listened to this fascinating, I think it's garden's question time actually, where you know we still have frosts in April it's not like the frosts are done by mid-March that like they still

keep going so with hydrangea pruning it's not that you're trying to dodge every single frost if we did that you wouldn't actually prune them till the end of April And then what happens is you would? The buds would come out distorted and you'd be cutting off a lot of new growth So there's the sweet spot where you're waiting for the worst of the frost to be over Which is why we wait till March because you know, it's January February Sort of December which are the colder months

So the odd frost is not gonna hurt your hydrangea, but people get very scared about it. But hopefully you've preened them anyway. I was terrified. Were you? Oh my god. Could you not sleep? Couldn't sleep a wink. The thing is, as a really interesting experiment, I've got a massive mophead hydrangea in the front garden,

which is actually going because I don't want it there. And Colin cut it down to the ground. Is that the purple? Is that the lilac? That's the lilac-y one. It's bright pink and blue. It's very old lady and I kind't want it there. And Colin cut it down to the ground. That's the lilac-y one. It's bright pink and blue. It's very old lady and I kind of love it, but it doesn't belong by my front door. So can you cut it back and give it to someone? No, it's massive. It's years old. It must be at least a decade old. There's no moving that. You can't move it. But that's okay. And so mop heads, you're not, you don't cut them back like Annabelles.

Annabelles, you cut all of the stems down to about 20 centimeters and same with like a Paniculatus, like Limelight. But mop heads, which are the ones which the big pink and blue headed ones, you just take out a third of the old stems and just deadhead it because it flowers on old growth. So as in it flowers on what was there last year whereas Annabelle's and limelight's, the lights, flower on new growth. So what grows this year they will flower off. So just as an experiment we've hacked that bad boy all the way down to the ground. See what happens.

And it's sprouting, it's absolutely fine. So it just proves that our trees are actually quite tougher. Hardy, hardy little, hardy old gals. Yeah. Love that. So you can be doing that, you can be, if you look outside, depending on where you live, you might see that there's quite a lot of weeds self-seeding and if they're self-seeding it means that you can probably start sowing some stuff outside too. Because if the weeds are coming then it means seeds are germinating outside but if if not, just keep going undercover now. You can basically sow what you like now. Most cut flower seeds will say, you know, say March, April.

So go for it. Light level is good. Clocks are changing. Let's get outside. Let's do some questions for goodness sake. Let's do some questions. OK, let's jump on in. Enough of this. I have a question for you from Claire, who says, she's an in-betweenie, which I love.

Not a nini nor an outie, but an in-betweenie. I. I've never heard that, Claire. Oh my God, I love that. How did we not think of that before? In-nie, out-ie, in-betweenie. We need some t-shirts. Trademark that.

Right, okay. I'm a few months behind on the pod but has Jojo deep dived into antiquing yet? I'm desperate for her tips, fave places, how to prep for going to an antique market, etc. Oh my gosh, where do I start? Polly, you know how much I love antiquing. It's tough though, I find antiquing tough. Give us some tips. It takes practice. So first of all, the one thing what happened the first time you ever go to an antique market is that you will physically share panic at the amount of stuff there is and you want everything. It's like the sort of need to, it's like a kid in a candy store. So you'll just want the first thing you see. Take a deep breath.

Every time you go to an antique market, you will see again and again, the same things, you'll notice the same things again and again and again. So I'd almost say the first time you go, unless you're on a mission to actually find something in particular, don't panic. Go, go for the first time and actually just walk around and get a feel for what it's about. There are so many antique markets around the country. Um, this, what's the website that you can go to? Hold on. and get a feel for what it's about. There are so many antique markets around the country.

What's the website that you can go to? I really want to go to... Is it Ardeng Lai? Is that what it's called? Ardeng Lai is one of my favorites. Yeah, that's down on the way to Brighton. I really want to go to that. And I go to Kempton Market, it's very near me. Kempton's very good. Kemp's is good. So if you go on the IACF website, they are the organizers of Europe's largest antiques fairs and you can find all the dates of when they're available and where they are. Obviously in the winter months, the dealers will still come out and they do come over from Belgium and France, but mostly to the UK dealers. They will come out, they do come over from Belgium and France but mostly UK dealers.

They will come out but obviously it's very, very, very cold and the mornings are dark. If you want to get hold of the good furniture at antique fairs, you need to be up and at it first thing in the morning. You can sometimes wangle trade if anyone's out there who's in trade or that knows someone who knows someone, you can get in there early. Say you're looking for a pair of antique bedside tables, they're going to be like gold dust. So you're going to have to get in there early, otherwise you're going to arrive at opening and they're going to be gone. My best tips for antique markets is usually to go around in the slightly warmer months where it's a bit lighter in the morning. It will be busier because people are fair

weather shoppers. You want to take a shopping trolley or one of those lovely little wheelie trolleys. Yes, I want one of those. Take warm gloves and a hat when you first start going around because it's nothing worse than when you're in an antique market, you're freezing cold. And what about prices, pal? Is the price they say the price you should be paying? Little haggle, is that?

You can always try a little haggle. They're going to expect you to have a haggle and I think it's quite good fun. Take a tape measure, always take a tape measure with you to an antique market. Remember if you're going around a big antique market, say you're selling something like Ardenglyde, it's a big fair. Every time you buy something, you can leave it with the vendor. You can leave it on the stall and then come back for it.

You can actually go and pick up your car if you're going to pick up big stuff. Pick up your car from the car park and then you can come back in if you get a car park pass and drive around and pick up your car if you're going to pick up big stuff, pick up your car from the car park, and then you can come back in if you get a car park pass and drive around and pick up the bits. Just take a photo of the stand because the amount of times you go into an antique fair, you buy something, you leave it there, and then you get to the end of the show and you're like, where the hell did I buy that antique, that frame or that pot? And you are driving around for about an hour trying to find it. So take a photo of the stand, remember where, to pin drop something or you hour trying to find it. So take a photo of the stand, remember where to pin drop something or you know where you left it.

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recall the brands they hear when listening to podcasts. If you want your business to be top of mind, podcast advertising with Acast is the way to go. Book your campaign today by visiting go.acast.com. Really good bit of advice. How do you know if it's antique or not? Or if it's reproduction? That comes with practice. Most of these guys are very honest. It's like, there are some of them are, and you'll see regulars.

Every time you go you'll see the regular guys that will go back week, month on month. And they'll be at all the shows as well. So again, this why I say don't panic you'll find the same pots if there's something in particular looking for you probably you know you might find it one week and then you'll come back another month then actually you'll find something you prefer so don't just don't rush don't panic unless you see something that really I always say if it's something that literally sets your heart on fire walk away from it. Ask you know get interest and if you lose out on it, there'll be something else. There'll be something else. So just don't panic. Best bit of advice, if you are looking at something and it is a bit spinny, don't make it the first thing you walk on

the stand and ask about. That's the best bit of advice I can give. Oh, clever. What a tip. So walk on the stand, say hi, how are you doing? Be friendly. Don't be afraid. They might try and like, you know, sort of chat to you and just have a nice little fun chat with them, talk about the weather, talk about how they are. They love a chat, they really love a chat. And then just start looking at other things.

You might, I might go straight to the thing you like. Don't go straight to that thing, because if they see you go straight to that thing, they're gonna think she's really interested in that, so she wants. So find out how much it is, then walk around, start looking at other stuff. How much is this? How much is this much is this how much is and then come back to the thing you really love and say would you take X for it they say no they say no you'll get your haggle hat on get your

haggle hat on and if they say no. What do you think is a fair discount on like the price they say? It does it totally depends some some yeah um some traders will just simply say, no, not having it. Some of quite, you can get some grumpy ones who just absolutely, I'm not here to haggle love. The price is the price. And actually you might find that if it's got a price on it, it usually is the price on it. Whereas if it doesn't have a price on it,

they're gonna just stick the finger in the air and then you've got room to haggle. Which is, it's part of the fun of it, I think. Part of the fun of the fair is to oh you're making me want to go to an antique and also take look take loads of bags as well so take um if you are sort of going up there for on a bit of a mission um take a load of shopping bags with you as well make sure you're comfortable make sure you wear really comfortable shoes

Ardenglis you can sometimes cover you know 20 000 steps in like one day so it is such a brilliantly fun thing to do and it's a really fun thing to go and do with a friend um yeah just oh i just love it it's just great fun but just like i said don't panic honestly everything you see at those fairs you will see time and time and time again and if it is a piece of furniture you'll be lucky to get it if you're going in late because furniture goes really you will see time and time and time again and if it is a piece of furniture you'll be lucky to get it if you're going in late because furniture goes really quickly. Love it. That was a good good dive into it. Good my love. Okay right let's run outside. This is from Adam. Adam asks absolutely love the show

and all of the wholesome feels. I have a garden shaped like a pizza slice. Any suggestions with what to do with the acute angled area where you take your first bite on a slice of pizza of the garden? I had some ideas in mind like a small structure with seating or a water feature, etc. Just kind of stuck at the moment. Thank you. Yeah, really tricky. That's probably the hardest shaped garden to design. Weirdly, my garden is actually not far off a pizza slice and it's it's proved really challenging. So for me the goal is to hide that pointy corner where you would take your first bite of a pizza. I don't want your eye going into that sort of like into that little pointy it's just that's not a nice

thing to do. So the first thing we would do is plant that corner and so if you were looking sort of birds-eye view down on that pizza slice you would see that I would put my money on every single designer out there at some point either curving off or straightening off that corner by stuffing it full of plants so that you don't see it going into the little point at the end. So that could be that you do a tree, it's sort of hard to know what size it is, but it could be a tree, it could be that you put hedging in front in a row so that you have a sort of false boundary and then maybe you use that pointy corner as a storage space that's quite a good use for it as well.

Oh you're saying that the pizza slice goes into the point at the end of the garden? Yes, yeah I think that's what he's describing. Oh I see, not from the garden outwards. Well he said that the pointy bit was at the bit where where you take your first bite which I presume is the small point. So the best trick I could describe is that you get something like a hedge and you pull that in to sort of once you've taken your first bite where the second bite would start is I would put a hedge so that you get a flat back to some of your garden then plant in front of that or put trees in front of that and then you can put your focal point so I think if you've naturally got boundaries

which do sort of angle inwards on each other then you're right I do agree it's sort of screaming for a focal point but that focal point should not sit in the apex of that triangle first of all flatten off the triangle or curve off the triangle bring buffer in first and then do it and that is the trick. And then the other thing I would do which we have done in my garden is square off your house so you don't have to have borders which run the parallel to your fences, whatever your boundaries are, that is going to exacerbate the triangle. If anything, I would actually be trying to either curve off or square off

so that you're tricking your eye and not noticing it's so much of a triangle with plants. Does that make sense? Okay, yes. Yeah, totally. And I've got sort of a, like with mine, I've got a slice out the side. Yes. I've almost got like a square with a slice out the side. And we've squared off your slice. In the designs, you've essentially squared the slice off. It's really into your eye. it was so clever as soon as i saw it i was like oh my god obviously because we would

kind of do the same inside if we had an angled room you'd kind of want to not make the room feel you'd almost want to visually make it feel like it was square again totally funny thing dealing with angles in in design yeah okay better help online therapy bought this 30 second ad to remind you right now Wherever you are to unclench your jaw Relax your shoulders Take a deep breath in And out Feels better right that's 15 seconds of self-care And out.

Feels better, right? That's 15 seconds of self-care. Imagine what you could do with more. Visit betterhelp.com slash random podcast for 10% off your first month of therapy. No pressure, just help. But for now, just relax. We all have that one friend whose opinion we trust on everything. For 63% of podcast listeners, that friend is their favorite podcast host.

When Acast's podcasters endorse a brand, their audience listens and takes action. So if you want a recommendation that really sticks, put your brand in their hands. Book a HostRed sponsorship today by visiting go.acast.com slash ads. Brilliant, thank you, Paul. Jojo, actually, I've got a question. I want to discuss something with you. Yes, go on. I think we've touched on this before. How do you deal with artwork

if you've got, there's something about the waste in artwork. If you've got very modern art, but you move house to somewhere really traditional or vice versa, you move somewhere traditional and then you live somewhere traditional and you've got sort of very oldie worldie oil paintings, but then maybe you move to a new build. Do you keep the art and reframe it or do you start again? And we're not talking about like family heirloom valuable art here. Do you keep the art and reframe it or do you start again? And we're not talking about like family heirloom

valuable art here, we're talking about like things that you can buy online. I try with artwork not to start again. I think artwork is that sort of, it's the character in the house. And first of all, do you love the artwork? So sometimes when people move, what we do find with clients is that

they have the artwork from when they were sort of students or when they first met each other and it's something that perhaps, an old movie poster or something. And you tend to hold onto things. We hoard things, don't we? So we tend to hold onto things. Sentimental art. And we sort of hold onto things because we think we should. And I say it all the time. If you really don't love it, why are you trying to hold on to it? But what if you love it but it just doesn't go with your decor anymore? Oh, okay. So if you're really loving it, then I would say it could just be that it's the

frame. Is it the frame that you could address? So make it work with a frame. If it's something that really sticks out, so if it's something that you're going to put in any room in your house and it's just going to stand out, then it has to go on its own. It's a piece that has to go on its own. So is there somewhere that it can go in a spare room or something where it's not going to jar with everything else around it? You don't want to design, unless you're a woman, you do, you don't want to design a whole room just to fit a piece of artwork. No, indeed. So it's really whether it works.

Obviously, if it's something you really love, it's a shame not to hang it. Yes. But it's a case of either trying to make it work within a new frame or putting it in a room that is not going to be seen necessarily every day. Got it. Stuff it all in the room that no one sees. It's a tricky one. Okay, and my... It's a tricky one. Stuff it all in the room that no one sees.

Okay, and my... It's a tricky one. You can sometimes create a bit of balance as well with artwork. So for instance, if it's a piece of artwork that is really bold and it's a bit modern, you could get another piece of artwork to sort of help balance it and create a bit of contrast that would sit nicely together. So it's not the only thing that's shouting at you in the room. It's like that slightly.

It's a bit like the red theory. Ah, okay. Where it's the only thing you're seeing in the room because it's quite bold or it's quite, if you try and create balance with bringing another couple of things that will compliment it, it will sort of disperse the eye. Then it makes more sense.

Yeah, so you could try that. Well, that brings me on to my second question about it, which is how do you deal with artwork? If you've got a big room with no and a wall with no windows on like a big stretch of wall mm-hmm with nothing on it let's say like I don't know six meter long room with no windows or anything to break it up mm-hmm how do you deal with art in that because if you just put like one thing in the middle that it doesn't right if like how do you

what's the best approach when you've got a big run? You either need to go art gallery wall. So gallery wall is where it can be quite sort of random pieces of modern, loads of artwork. All different heights and sizes and make it a bit more random. That works really nice on a really big long wall. You could do a triptych of three really large pieces that would help sort of expand, sort of stretch down the wall. Three is always a really good number as anyone will know. Two wouldn't look right. Two pictures next to each other wouldn't look right. It would have to be three, so triptych. Or you could do a grid of say six. So three above,

three below and that could be a really nice, if you like something a bit more structured that can always look really lovely. So perhaps square framed mounted pictures, family photos that could be in a grid of six. Yeah that would work. So a few options there but we get that quite a lot especially in sort of dining rooms where you have a long expanse wall. Yeah that's what I was thinking it's sort of dining rooms and you've got this big wall and tricky. There you go. Okay thank you. you've got this big wall and tricky. There you go. Okay, thank you. I've got a question from Sarah.

How would you suggest adding character to a currently very bland entrance hall, color or no color? I mean, it depends again, it very much depends on the aspect. Do you have light in that hallway? Is it very dark? Is it skinny? Is it wide? First off, what have you got on the walls? So do you have anything in that hallway? Is it very dark? Is it skinny? Is it wide? First off,

what have you got on the walls? So do you have anything on the walls? Have you got artwork on the walls? There's loads that you can do to an entrance hall. I actually did a little unfunky video on entrance halls. Any color that you put in an entrance hall is obviously going to bring the walls in. So if you put a sort of very dark color, it's obviously going to make it feel much smaller. Anything bright, off white, lovely warm white is gonna make the room feel bigger, the entrance hall feel bigger. What Clarence? No, no.

He just wants in all the time. So but then I think there's things as well. Put lovely artwork on the walls, put a big mirror on the wall. Yes, I love color in an entrance hall, but I think it depends. I need to see a picture because I'd have to treat every, in this instance, I think I'd have to sort of see it to be able to take a judgment. Does it have paneling? Can you add paneling? Do you like wallpaper? You could have paneling about wallpaper about paneling to add a bit of interest and a bit of fun. Do you have kids? Are kids going to be running down the corridor and brushing past the walls every five minutes? You know, does it

need to be protected? There's so many considerations with entrance halls. You'll notice in a lot of our designs, I tend to keep communal, I call them sort of the communal areas, your entrance halls open into your kitchen, sort of those staircases, landings. I tend to keep those actually very light and airy. And then the rooms that you go into, I add the character and the funds. So in the entrance halls, I tend to keep them that way because I think they remain timeless.

And it's a passage and it's things like the artwork and everything that's gonna add the character. So as another bit of advice, always go a bit darker on the woodwork. So you can add some interest on woodwork. So you could go with sort of sagey color or a bit of couple of shades darker than your walls. That's always a nice thing to do.

Lovely. I'd like to do one little quick and dirty outside. I've got a fun one for you here. This is from Lottbox. Fencing options please. London garden, but very difficult neighbours. Right, okay. Well I mean your neighbours shouldn't really matter because with fences it depends if they're yours or not. If they're yours you're completely entitled to change your fences

whenever you want, they're yours, so they're moot but presuming because we're in London you probably own one side and not the other Either if you're if your difficult neighbors say no, they don't want to swap their fence You're stuck. You can't change their fence. What you can do is fence next to theirs And you know sacrifice the 10 centimeters of space that all that you want so that you can have a nice fence And that's what we will often do if for whatever reason That the neighbors don't want us to replace them So you can't clad theirs, you can't attach anything to theirs, but you could either put posts up and then you could install your own fence or you can do fence units. So that is

your solution to the neighbors is sort of, you know, if they don't want to cooperate, then that's your only choice is if you'll need to sort of fence inside your boundary. And then fence options. Well, my favorite is a nice tongue and groove fence where there are vertical. I really like it when it's the vertical tongue and groove a bit like how Jojo loves cladding. I love tongue and groove fencing. So I like the outdoor equivalent. And I love it because it doesn't have gaps in it. So you're not peeking through at the neighbours. It's really easy to paint as well because obviously there's no holes for anything to bleed through. And I much prefer to paint those fences anyway. I'm not a big fan of bare wood fences in London. I like them nice and dark and covered in plants.

The Jacksons do loads of really good fencing. If possible, I would just try and choose something solid, choose something that's got a long guarantee and something that you can easily paint. Amazing, such good advice. Thank you, Paul. And I think that's quite enough of that. Quite enough of that. Which just leaves me to ask Jojo,

what is in and what is out? I'll tell you what's in right now for me is us being in a lot of sites now. I'm at such an exciting stage for me because we've been all about the designs. We've been in the studio designing, designing, designing, designing, client meetings, client meetings, client meetings. And now we are actually on the sites. We're in the houses and we are, and things are happening. So it's just like the most exciting time.

I just love it when we get on site because it's when all the problem solving starts to happen and it's just really exciting seeing everything start to take shape. So would we say that you are in the thick of it? I am in the thick of it right now. And I just love it, I just love it. Every project is so different in how every architect practice we deal

with is different, every contractor we deal with is different. So it's just fun. It's just every day is different and it's great. One of the parts of the job I love. That's what's in for me. What's in for you, pal? Well I'll go with plants then. We're in peak planting season baby. We are planting left right and center. It's so nice, much like you. We're on site getting plants in the ground. What a joy. What a joy. So now's the time guys, start planting your borders, get these plants in, move these plants.

Spring is the perfect time to do it. Move your plants, plant your plants. And out for you, out. I'll tell you what's out for me. Tell me. It's the barbecue. The barbecue is out. As in you've wheeled it out, dusted it off.

It's been dusted off. Yeah, we've taken the cobwebs off it and we are now using the barbecue. Our barbecue gets a real good scene too in the summer. As in like, I'd pretty much say six nights out of seven we're using the barbecue. Okay, you know, I'll join you with that. I've got the green egg actually. It was a bit sunny the other day. We didn't have any charcoal.

So I drove around to like four different garages trying to find charcoal and all they had was the like, you know, the house stuff, which is not safe for cooking. Actually, that is a really good bit of advice just to wrap up this pod is because the amount of times that we've run out of gas is to get like a double double gas. Get your lovely lumpwood charcoal, get your smoking chips at the ready that we've run out of gas is to get like a double double gas or just top up your get your lovely lump wood charcoal get your smoking chips at the ready because

yeah they sell out in the garden centers and then it's really annoying they do and they can't get hold of it there's nothing worse than the driving around on a Sunday trying to find you know a gas canister actually Jojo that makes me think I've got another in for the innies and the outies if you want garden furniture order it now for God's sake, order it now or you're going to miss the boat and you're going to receive it in August. Okay. Do it now. Don't tell everyone else though. Okay. Perfect. Thanks, Polly. Thanks. Okay.

All right then in between us. Yay. I love that the in between us. Um, okay. Well, that leads me to say don't forget to like, subscribe, share with a friend. Come on, you can do better than that. Who else can we share with? Isn't there some sort of, there must be a solstice-y something happening soon with the clocks change and everything.

Go and share it with the druids. Share it with the druids. I love that. Okay, find a druid and share it. I love it. Share a druid. All right. Share with the druid, pass it on. Off you pop Share the druid, pass it on. We love you guys. Bye darlings. BetterHelp Online Therapy bought this 30 second ad to remind you right now, wherever you are, to unclench your jaw. Relax your shoulders.

Take a deep breath in and out. Feels better right? That's 15 seconds of self-care. Imagine what you could do with more. Visit betterhelp.com slash random podcast for 10% off your first month of therapy. No pressure, just help. But for now, just relax.