30 Jul 2012

The Best Job In The World…Probably…

If you could choose to do anything – absolutely any job in the world – AND be paid for doing it…I wonder what job you would choose?

Personally, I want Ros Byman Shaw‘s job. Ros is the author of some of my very favourite interiors books. They’re the ones that I go to bed with, and hug in my sleep. Forget ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’…my fantasies consist of Fifty Shades of greige…faded pink…and vintage floral!

They’re the sort of books that have taken over from the childhood fantasy novels, where I once imagined myself as the central character, playing the heroine in the most wonderful adventures. Except now – with interiors books such as the one’s that Ms. Byam Shaw writes – I no longer imagine myself playing the brave, inquisitive heroine. The need for bravery has fallen by the wayside – it is just the inquisitiveness that remains. Now, in my imagination, I simply walk around the most beautiful English country houses and am free to nose into antique linen cupboards and regard heirloom art collections, throwing myself onto plump tapestry cushions and into grand four posters swathed in vintage eiderdowns and lace trimmed sheets handed down through generations. Now, I caress the perfectly hued Farrow and Ball painted surfaces, admiring the aged undulations of the wattle and daub walls.

How wonderful to be invited into peoples homes, to be positively encouraged to help style and photograph them beautifully – and then to be able to write all about it and be published afterwards.

What a joy to spend every working moment submerged in such personal history, architecture, quirky beauty and individual style – AND (I say it again!) to be paid for it!

Yes, that surely must be the best job in the world?

Probably…

images courtesy of “The Perfect English Cottage”; “The Perfect English Farmhouse”; “Perfect English”; All by Ros Byam Shaw for Ryland Peters & Small with photography by Jan Baldwin and Chris Tubbs.

The Diaries

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