Fiona Leith: ‘We’ve all had the nightmare about coming to work in our slippers’

Plenty have had the one about ending up in the hospital with ‘grey day’ underwear too. So, I can’t be alone in having that nightmare where someone sees something in my home they shouldn’t?

You know, the joiner seeing the contents of your bedside cabinet, or your parents seeing the contents of your fridge.

Few things are more personal than your home space. It’s an evolving expression of your life, loves, tastes and tastelessness all wrapped up in one handy location for anyone to amateur shrink their way around without asking a single question – armchair psychology, if you will.

My sister is selling her house and asked me to join her for a ‘viewing’ of potential estate agents. The process was fascinating. What I was most interested in, however, was the general opinion that it was fine to leave personal items on display in a bid to appeal to the sensibilities of potential buyers. Perhaps this wouldn’t have concerned me half as much if my ‘through the years’ mug wasn’t on display in most rooms, starting at cherubic and climaxing at cynical.

However, the pictures for the estate agent were taken and the schedule drawn up for approval. My sister passed it on to see what I thought, and I had to be honest. It looked great. Her agent had captured the essence of her home both in the language used, but also by allowing signs of a wonderful home life to be seen.

We have a fantastic variety of home styles this week, starting with the Finlaysons who were smitten with the opportunity a 
Borders property offered them to blend old and new. We also see the remarkable passion of the Grants who took on a 15th-century towerhouse. In stark contrast, home accessories designer Bianca Hall tells us about extending into the attic to accommodate a young family.