West London Girl

WLG on home tours

May
12

Not only are these women open and hospitable but they’re savvy

Every month I need to find a beautiful home to feature in an interiors magazine that I edit. I’ll often ask a contact if they know anyone and s/he’ll think of someone with an amazing home but often the home owner/tenant is too private to want to show their home off to a lifestyle magazine, particularly if male. Hence, most of the homes we feature belong to women or families – but the woman will be the star of the feature.

Through the home tours, I get to discover someone’s personal style, see inside their home and get a glimpse of their life. Not only are these women open and hospitable but they’re savvy: there was the fashion designer and mother to two young children with her at-home atelier; the interior designer, who followed up to ask me to include the types of projects that she is available for in the article; another mother who asked me to include the name of her business early on in the feature; and the celebrity entrepreneur, who confided that she got a discount on her hotel residence with a strong social media and PR proposal. I’m sure the hotel is more than happy with the publicity: we were the first of that day’s three photo shoots with her. The women always put a lot of time and effort into making their homes and themselves picture-perfect ready for the shoots, which our small magazine team is grateful for.

Outside of the day job, I’ve also met a lady whose home belongs more to the cats, whom she rescues, than herself. She works full time as well as running a charity that not only rescues animals but also runs programmes to educate and raise awareness to improve animal welfare in the community.

When I asked the entrepreneur what home means to her she said it meant everything; it was where she worked, enjoyed spending time with friends and it was her sanctuary… ‘Can I get back to you on that one,’ she said out of frustration because she couldn’t sum up succinctly exactly what her home means to her.

If you would like to stay up to date with WLG’s blog, subscribe to our weekly e-newsletter.