Interiors with Sarah Jane Nielsen, owner and director of Sarah Jane Nielsen Limited, at Staveley.

Thankfully, I love my job and more often than not I do receive the rewards of a satisfied client who will actually say ‘thank you.’ That is just so wonderful, as although I may be obsessive with design details and paint shades for my own satisfaction, I do need to know the client feels the same way.

We had a visit to the studio in Staveley recently from a new and very patient client. I say that as I first visited her property in Kendal in April and it has taken till now for her to come and view our proposals due to an assortment of issues, mainly our workload. However, the session was a complete delight, her surprise and enthusiasm was contagious.

Rachel had come to us with some slight trepidation. She was not sure what we offered or indeed what to expect. We chatted on the phone and I followed with a visit to view her lounge. On entering I could tell she had a keen eye for nice pieces of artwork and ceramics. I immediately wanted to suggest a new scheme based around the textures and colours in the paintings and vessels. She had very limited storage and all was in need of general organisation. So we chatted through likes and dislikes and what she felt she would like to keep, and me to work with.

It was a very valuable hour. I discovered a lot about her and I think she naturally started looking at her living space in a different way.

We agreed to use the existing blonde 1930s style furniture, some lovely bits and pieces, and she requested I keep with the raspberry curtains and styled rug, but the sofa and chair was so uncomfortable, she assumed to find something suitable elsewhere. This minimised my direction, however, we were going to proceed with a co-ordinating scheme.

Just before I left she asked if I could look at it as a blank canvas? Was this something we could do and would it be a practical cost for her? I noted the look of curiosity in her eyes. We agreed that I spend a fixed hour at it and she would come and see if our approach was one she may like.

I could tell I left with a little excitement in the air, for us both!

The rewarding thing about Rachel was her reaction to the initial schemes we had put together. She was truly excited as she felt her expectations soar. So we dumped the existing raspberry curtains and rug and went full hog for a beautiful fresh lounge, sofa and all, with a close eye on the budget, of course.