Katie Merrick is the lead designer for the Ideal Home Show, currently on at the SEC in Glasgow. In this Q and A, she talks about future trends, innovative tech and dream dwellings - and explains how to not just build but decorate and furnish a whole show home when time is tight.

Everything in the home can be purchased at the show

Job title, and how did you get started in your career? Lead designer for the Ideal Home Show. I studied interior design at Loughbourough University and then took a job at Grand Designs magazine.After that I worked in window design at Harrods and then spent ten years working for Burberry in store design and window dressing. But looking after the emerging markets for Burberry involved a lot of travel, so when I started a family I wanted to be closer to home.

With the design of the Dream Home I’ve been involved from the start and the job is a real mix of the creative and the practical, with quite a lot of health and safety considerations too.

What is the Dream Home? It is a life-sized property that we introduced as the centrepiece of the Ideal Homes Shows this year.

The history of the shows goes back over 100 years, but the Dream Home on this scale launched first in March [at The Ideal Home Show] in London.

The main concept is to provide something that isn’t individual stands for each company to showcase their products, but to create a whole home which people can walk through, styled inside and out with realistic rooms so you can really imagine how each item will be used.

Why build a house? To allow visitors to explore each room, immersed in and inspired by the latest interior trends and ideas for modern living.

Whether it is furniture, art and accessories, appliances or home tech, visitors can get up close and personal to all the featured brands – all in a spectacular, Insta-worthy setting.

And for the first time everything in the Dream Home can be purchased at the show.

The Dream Home is the centrepiece of the Ideal Home Show in Glasgow's SEC

What are the key considerations when designing it? It has exaggerated openings so that people can move around it easily, but the rooms are representative of a real house and people can really touch and interact with the products. The layout has been designed to provide a relaxed meander around, rather than being herded through in a queue.

Who designed it? I worked collaboratively with Good Homes magazine and the participating brands to come up with the concepts for the rooms. Brands create their own spaces and room sets, but we steer the overall look of the house.

Our main contractor is Solutions2 who build the shell, and we partner with different firms to style and dress the interiors.

The grand piano and wine store make up the recipe for a perfect evening

Which companies have styled the house? We are working with Sofology, who are the living room and cinema room sponsor, Haig Kitchens are responsible for a spectacular open-plan kitchen, including a state-of-the-art smart tap by Blanco Taps.

BoConcept have designed the bedroom and study, and Bollo with Bang and Olufsen have provided hi-tech audio-visual equipment in a cinema room. Graham and Brown are showcasing paint and wallpaper, and Verana has installed floors.

Outside, The Grass Yard has clad the house while local company Mclarens Nurseries [based in Barrhead, Glasgow] have provided landscaping, including trees and hedging for the garden, while the outdoor furniture has come from The Designer Rooms, along with a hot tub from Hydropool.

And as it is a dream home there is even a motorhome by Camperking parked outside.

How long does it take to build? It’s a pretty tight schedule, as although we plan the architecture and design of the house months ahead, we only have three days to build, style and finish the entire thing before we open the doors to thousands of visitors.

The contractor is given a day and a half to build it, and then the same time is given to furnishing the inside.

It is constructed in a modular way off-site, so there are a lot of moving parts, and in the few days before opening it will be covered in different people in high-vis jackets getting it ready.

How does the Scottish version of the Dream Home differ? It is slightly smaller than the London version because the SEC space is more limited, but we still tried to tick all the boxes.

We hope to keep developing the idea because it has been so popular with visitors. We will continue to showcase new ideas and come up with new concepts for each one. While visitors may not take home every feature of the house, it provides inspiration and plenty of ideas of clever things that we know people look for at our shows.

What happens to the Dream House when the show is over? We aim to dismantle it in one day and the structure will be recycled and reused at future events. Anything that can’t be used again – and that is under about 2 per cent of it – will be disposed of sustainably.

The Ideal Home Show is at the SEC, Glasgow, until Sunday.

Go online to www.idealhomeshowscotland.co.uk

Meet the woman who built, decorated and furnished a house in three days

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