Just to let you know that I, representing Garrendenny Lane Interiors, has been nominated as Retailer Entrepreneur of the Year at the South East Female Excellence in Business Awards.  The finals are on Tuesday 15th so I will let you know how I get on.  Delighted to be in the finals.

I guess we are retailers with a difference in that a more personal service is offered.  Homely ambience with tea and biscuits or alternatively, I visit the client’s house with the relevant fabric, wallpaper and paint swatches.  Initially I know some people thought having a showroom beside my home was somewhat bizarre. My reasons for doing it at the time were so I could do appointments in the mornings and evenings and be here for the children when they got home from school but the way the economy has gone and there are so many interior design shops now that have closed down due to high overheads, that I am so glad I did it this way.

We are planning to buy a new or nearly new car soon, well, probably in the new year.  My favourite car is still the ex-London taxi but as my family are refusing to travel with me in one, I think it will have to be a traditional car.  Now, Brian is no more interested in cars than I am – he can recognise more models than I can but that’s as far as it goes. While I can appreciate that some people may not be able to tell Marimekko fabric from Designers Guild or a cotton from a silk but people seem bemused that I wouldn’t be able to tell a Volvo from a Passat! Spending a few afternoons going around garages looking at cars would be our idea of hell, we’d rather stick pins in our eyes.

What I would ideally love is if I could give someone a wish list, ie, colour, size, big boot, budget, size of engine and a number of other ‘wants’ that I can’t think of at the moment and let them drive up 3 or 4 cars for me to choose from. Then, I thought to myself, that is exactly what I do for people.  I visit the house with the fabric books, advise of type of fabric, colour, pattern etc, help them select one, measure, can get curtains and blinds made for them and can have the curtains professionally hung for them – it’s all done and dusted and they don’t even need to leave the house. I wonder in these times if someone would do the same for us with our car choice dilemmas!