My boyfriend and I have only lived in our new home for a month and a half, but it’s already taught us a lot about interior design. So I’m not surprised to hear that shop owner Gemma Lewis has learned a lifetime?s worth of decorating lessons in the four years she?s spent renovating her early-1900s […]

My boyfriend and I have only lived in our new home for a month and a half, but it’s already taught us a lot about interior design. So I’m not surprised to hear that shop owner Gemma Lewis has learned a lifetime?s worth of decorating lessons in the four years she?s spent renovating her early-1900s home in Surrey, England.
Gemma shares the space with her husband Gary and two children — a brood not unfamiliar with moving around. For a decade they bopped between houses throughout England, living in each for no more than a year. This nomadic lifestyle has given Gemma several insights into how to set up a home quickly and make it comfortable. Her current Edwardian looker in Surrey, however, highlighted the setbacks of her trigger finger: ?I don’t often take the time to plan my decorating at home. I tend to rush straight in and hope for the best, which is probably why some of the rooms have been changed at least four times in the four years we have been here.? Not only has this century-old home taught her to take her time, but it?s also shed light on the importance of paying attention to details. When the family purchased the home, for example,...