We are delighted to have two very special guests on our blog today: the fabulous runners-up of the first-ever Sweetpea & Willow Home Influencer Awards – Amara Hasham (@thepajaamahub) and Greg Penn (@manwithahammer)!
First, let’s meet Amara!
How did you get into interiors?
I have always wanted my home to be a fusion of my personality, beliefs and travels all weaved into one, keeping the comfort of my family as my priority. Currently, we are at a stage in life where renting suits us more than buying a house. Living in the rental gave me a chance to explore unusual ideas to create a space that I craved for while respecting the limitations that came with it. I used 8 different creative hacks to add colour to the magnolia walls and seeing how happy it all made me, I really wanted to share the options for overcoming that feeling of a borrowed home with others and make it a version of their dream home.
How does it feel to be a runner-up in the first-ever Sweetpea & Willow Home Influencers Awards?
Oh, it is one of the most surreal feelings! I spent the entire day trying to soak it all in. It honestly gave me the strength to step out of my comfort zone, look beyond the numbers, and find the courage to share my work with a wider audience with confidence. I am so humbled to be chosen and so ready to explore deep within in terms of creativity as a content creator, and in terms of kindness as a human.
My favourite room in my house is…
This has to be the hardest to answer. I love our living room because it is literally the heart of our home and we spend most of our time in there. It really tells our story laced with a bit of fun. My eldest son’s room is also a firm favourite because of the combination of colours and the fact that I successfully pulled off two different design hacks in here which add much-needed character to the space. I did buy him a basketball jersey in exchange for those.
My dream destination (once restrictions are lifted) would be…
Iceland. It is just so awe-inspiring.
An invaluable piece of advice I have received is…
‘No matter how tall you grow, your shadow always falls on the ground.’ – I live by this rule.
My favourite piece from Sweetpea & Willow is….
The list is very long, but due to my love for a statement piece, the Dara Headboard is absolutely magnificent! It is the kind of piece that gets passed on from one generation to another. It would surely make one feel quite regal!
Let’s hear from Greg!
How did you get into interiors?
Very much by accident… and it feels alien to say I am haha, though I guess it’s finally time to accept it. Before Admirals House (my hopefully forever home that I’m renovating and sharing on Instagram), I bought my first house – a very dilapidated 4-storey Victorian terrace that had been used as a Dentists and flats for a lot of years. It needed complete gutting and redoing. I’d never done anything like this before, so had to learn the practical side of things and decided, if I was going to spend so much time and effort on the restoration elements, I wanted to end up with something I was really proud of too aesthetically; so I started reading interior design books and magazines, picking up what I could.
How does it feel to be a runner-up in the first-ever Sweetpea & Willow Home Influencers Awards?
Slightly surreal…. People’s kindness, interest and support on Instagram, and then to be recognised like this is very humbling – I’ve no design background, don’t work in a related industry and I’m even colour blind! So it’s very heart-warming indeed!
My favourite room in my house is…
You can’t make me choose! I love them all for different reasons! Quite often though, it’s the one I’ve most recently completed… as the ‘before’ is most fresh in my mind haha! I’m hugely excited about creating my dream kitchen one day too – and the entrance hall into the house, is probably the thing that had me falling in love with the place (within moments of walking through the door)… it’s a perfectly elliptical room… with 7 doors leading off, all curved to perfectly fit the walls.
My dream destination (once restrictions are lifted) would be…
I absolutely adore India – specifically, the South. The lushness of the landscapes and mountains, the vibrancy of the food and the culture, and the friendliness of the people is just wonderful – and a total contrast to the UK. I visited Vietnam a couple of years ago too and fell in love, and am itching to take a motorbike up into the Northern hills there.
An invaluable piece of advice I have received is…
I get asked a lot whether I get overwhelmed with the scale of the work I’ve taken on with the old girl… 30 rooms across 5 floors… 60 windows… 80 internal doors…. Well, it can be a bit daunting but the saying ‘How do you eat an Elephant? One bite at a time…’ is something I tend to fall back to frequently!
My favourite piece from Sweetpea & Willow is….
I love the Laskasas Jeanne Dining Table… One day, the oval entrance hall is going to have a huge table in the middle that most of the time will act as a sort of entrance table with flowers and nice ‘stuff’ on it… with most of the dining happening in the kitchen… but I think it’d be wonderful, when occasions demand it and I’m having a bit of a fancy dinner party or hosting Christmas, to turn the oval room onto a formal dining room and gather chairs… I think the oval walls will make it feel really intimate and it’s such a beautiful room, it seems a shame to only ever pass through it as an entrance hall!
Huge thanks to Greg and Amara for such amazing responses! See more from them over on their amazing Instagram accounts:
Greg’s Instagram | Amara’s Instagram
Images courtesy of Greg and Amara
