MEET PHOEBE OLDREY - INTERIOR DESIGNER
During the lockdown, we’ve kept in touch with other local small business owners to see how they’ve been coping during the pandemic. Phoebe has inspired us with her tenacious attitude, creating a new range of online courses so she can share her creative skill set to a wider audience. We talk brunches at Juliet’s and why living in Tunbridge Wells is the best move she’s ever made….
What brings you to Tunbridge Wells?
My family and I moved to Tunbridge Wells from North London 8 years ago, I have two boys and we were ready for a life that got them outside more and gave them a little more freedom. People always laugh at us when they ask why we picked Tunbridge Wells. We more or less put a pin in a map and once we had come down for a weekend to check it out, we loved it so much we had our house on the market the Monday after we got back. When you find the right place you just know. 3 months later we moved here. We never regretted the decision and have loved making our home here. It’s like the best of two worlds, a fabulous historic town with lovely café’s and shops but turn the other way from our house and you are in some of the most amazing countrysides in England and still a train ride away from London which we still love to pop up to now and again.
Tell us a little about you…
I live with my lovely husband and two boys who are both in secondary school. They are a bag of energy who keep me on my toes, I have watched a lot of Marvel films over the last 10 years! All three are my north star and I love hanging out with them so much. When I’m not doing the Mum/wife part of my life I run my own Interior design business, Smartstyle Interiors.
What inspired you to become an Interior Designer?
I originally went to drama school and tried making it as an actress but by my mid 20’s it wasn’t really going the way I hoped (in other words I wasn’t Kate Winslet and Steven Spielberg definitely didn’t have me on speed dial!) I had stopped having fun, and I knew it was time to move into a new career. That’s when I went to train as an interior designer. I wanted to stay in a creative profession, but I also loved organising projects which I had been doing a lot while working in marketing to pay the rent between acting gigs, so Interiors was a perfect fit. I graduated KLC School of Design 18 years ago – and then worked for another interior design firm, Sue Symons Interiors, working on large multi-million-pound projects. When I had my eldest son 14 years ago I knew it was time for me to go out on my own and I set it up Smartstyle Interiors when I was still living in London. Running your own business is an adventure and I have had the opportunity to design some amazing spaces and worked with some lovely people both as clients but also as suppliers. I’ve written an interiors blog, presented a Ted X Talk, and survived one recession to date! Relocating to Tunbridge Wells was like starting again and fighting my way through the recent Covid Crisis has shown me what I’m capable of and the infinite possibilities that are out there.
Do you think post lockdown is a good time to make home improvements?
Oh my goodness, yes! So many people have spent months on end at home staring at the same four walls and they are ready for a change. All those unfinished rooms and tasks have become annoying to people and they can’t hide from them by going out. Also, our homes have become everything to us, our place of work, a place for home entertainment instead of going to the pub, a restaurant or the cinema, a place to exercise and also a place to educate our children. We have realised how much our homes support us and really how important it is to have a nice home you want to spend time in. There is lots of research and science about how our environment can affect us mentally and physically. Right now taking care of yourself is key to having the strength to get to better times intact and our homes are part of that. I’m also a great advocate that a home should really be an expression of you, your style, your passions, and your interest. Now is the time to get your home working harder for you on so many different levels.
What are you working on at the moment?
I have been a busy bee during the lockdown and have built an online Interior design course called “Finding Your Confidence with Colour” I wanted to put an online course together for a while but never had the time to really focus on it. This course teaches people all about how to use Colour in their home, how to build decorative schemes, how colour works and therefore how to work with colour. The reason I wanted to teach about colour is that so many people would say that they loved colour but they just didn’t know how to pick it or were “worried they would get it wrong”. Time and time again clients say to me that they had picked the ‘plain sofa’ not because they loved it but because they were scared to make a mistake. It felt like their homes were filled with items they just didn’t like or expressed who they were, purely because no one had given them to tools to confidently choose a colour for their home.
It is interesting that Trendbible, one of the leading UK trend prediction companies, has just said that Colour in the home is going to huge over the next few years as people will be looking to make their homes a cheerful place to be after a very hard year. It predicts that people will step away from the greys and the creams.
I don’t mind saying that I’m really proud of the course I’ve put together. I had signed up for a few online courses at the start of lockdown and then opened them up to not get very far because it was all written content – something I struggle with as I’m dyslexic. That’s when I decided I would do all the lessons as videos and have them professionally edited so that we really step the students through each idea, so they understand it and it’s fun. I like the idea that they can just pop each lesson up on their phone and sit back and let me teach them. I also hated when doing the online courses that I could never ask for more help understanding something I might be struggling with, That’s why I have included Zoom tutor groups as part of the course so while people are learning they can check-in if they need my help with anything.
As I said, a very busy bee and it was nice to let the inner actress out again!!
Do your projects have a particular style?
I believe in designing beautiful family homes that are inviting for the people who live in them. I would say that my interiors have a classic contemporary look. Which mean I like to blend a classic look with a contemporary one, my work doesn’t look out of place having a cutting edge modern sofa with a vintage coffee table. Colour is always present in my work to some degree but to be honest my clients are the key to my design work. I believe their homes should be 100% about them, after all, once I complete the design and walk out the door it should be a home that they feel represents them. The nicest thing a client said was that when she gets back from holiday she loves walking in the door because her home is the nicest place she knows. This is why I say we are Holistic Interior design, We create a space that works well for people’s lifestyle, they look amazing, they also have to FEEL great to be in. That might sound a bit “Woo Woo” but there are lots of elements we look at to get all these components into our design and was the inspiration for my Ted X Talk.
What tips would you give to anyone taking on a room makeover?
Take the time to prepare your design before you get stuck into the implementation. When you plan everything out ahead of time it saves a lot of heart ache, wasted money, and bad mistakes.
Where do you find your inspiration?
All kinds of places, love exhibitions – the Christen Dior one at the V&A last year was so inspiring and I did have my eye on the Kimono one they were opening this year. Cinema, TV, and Fashion. A couple of years ago I said I want to go and “Experience” more design so would make trips to visit certain hotels or restaurants so I could see things myself and also feel what it was like being in those places. Like everyone I’m an Instagram/Pinterest addict and can while away a good hour or two looking at all the gorgeous interiors. I do love visiting the design shows, which sadly aren’t running this year. That is where you see the future and the best of interior designs and it really sets your imagination running about how you can use it within your own work.
What do you love about Tunbridge Wells?
We love the feeling of community you get in Tunbridge Wells. Though my boys weren’t born here they have grown up here and I see how they feel connected to the town. They have had great schools, both for primary and secondary, and I really do feel that they have thrived here.
For me, I love the pantiles and a visit to The Cake Shed, Many a Friday after school has been celebrated here. When I get the chance to escape on my own I love getting a hair cut at The Chapel and popping into Anna Poulson -beautiful clothes and the staff are so kind and helpful and then a little sneaky visit to Anthropology.
There are so many places I love to pop into in Tunbridge Wells. Le Petit Jardin which has such a diverse mix of products that relate to your garden, I have an obsession with their wooden brushes and environmentally friendly soap products, The Bloom Foundry does gorgeous flowers and plants alongside some homewares, during lockdown I would treat myself to a bunch of flowers over a couple of weekends and they really made my home a delight during that hard time and finally, Lumiere is a new lighting shop and as an Interior Designer, it is such a delight to have something this cutting edge on our own high street. All of those are independents run by strong and dynamic women business owners. Always something I want to put my money behind.
When eating out I like to keep it more casual, as a family, we eat at Juliet’s or Bills and for Sunday lunch The Vineyard is a favourite. I love sushi and Thai food so Kai’s Kitchen, Kitsu and Kiki are amazing!!!
As a family, we like a bit of live music and love the fact we have the Forum right in the heart of town but there is also The Neverworld festival each summer just outside Hever and some amazing bands have played at Bedgebury.
I think we are really lucky to have Trinity Theatre. There is something just magical about it. It’s such a lovely building, but for me, it’s the feeling that they care about the community that makes it special. They also do a great film schedule, a real mix of stuff and it does help that you can have a glass of wine while watching.
If you’re not in Tunbridge Wells, where are you?
The boys are at the perfect age to travel with so we try and get away when we can. That’s not just about leaving the UK but also finding weekend places to visit and share. We do feel really lucky that we have had the opportunity to do this. Last year we decided that we would do an adventure every month, so visited places like The British Library, Whitstable, Folkstone. It’s easy to have time slip away from you so we made sure we were out seeing things.
What’s on the horizon for your brand?
I can’t wait to get back in the full swing of designing homes for happy family life, it really is what I love to do. Over the last few months I’ve built a strong online side to the business and I hope that will mean we can help people further afield than Kent and East Sussex. I’m already building more online courses over the next year and I have a webinar session coming up in September. I want to be able to help as many people as possible to build beautiful homes they just love being in.
For more information about Smartstyle Interiors click the links below:
