Surrey Homes | SH43 | May 2018 | Restoration & New Build supplement inside

Above: At the far end of the family room, steps down to the home cinema and wine room on the lower level. The cowhide butterfly
chair is by Abigail Ahern
The success of Notes From a Stylist means that she’s now
not just a blogger, but – with over 44,000 followers on
Instagram - an official ‘micro influencer’, which is something
like a trusted internet friend who will tell you, with beguiling
chirpy honesty, whether your bum is likely to look big in that.
Advertisers and big companies have noticed, and
Sara now works with a range of brands, if they fit the
style of her blog. She also consults on a number of
social media projects and helps companies to get started
with their own style blogs and Instagram accounts.
Among the well-executed and varied pictures that feature
- often of Sara herself modelling - there are myriad style
hints on the blog. It’s all very accessible and friendly.
“It’s aimed at the over forties, for people who have
lost their style and want to get their mojo back. I feature
a body shape guide, trends, what’s coming in, lots of
fashion, a bit of interiors, some food and lifestyle.”
It’s a happy mix - and one that can keep you glued
to the screen for hours… But while the blog features
seasonal trends from designer catwalks, it’s very much
a modern mix of up scale and high street brands.
And when it comes to homewares she’s also a believer
in buying from local suppliers when she can.
“Shopping local is a good thing. There’s a little shop called
One Forty in Cranleigh, a lovely emporium where I get objets
d’art. They are very useful and then there’s &hobbs, based in
an old forge and owned by Libby Hobbs, who was a buyer
for Anthropologie. She only stocks local artisan pieces.”
From the bedroom we head down two floors to the
basement, which they have had excavated, to house the
home cinema, complete with large screen tv/cinema. Each
family member has chosen a themed poster to reflect their
favourite movie. It’s a chilled space - and somewhere they
can all escape to and relax in. (Possibly not unaided by the
proximity of the temperature-controlled wine store…)
Back up one floor, we sit at the elegant Saarinen
marble-topped table in the light-filled kitchen and I
notice that the line of sight from here goes straight
across into the family room to the feature wallpapered
wall, complete with feathered lampshade from Cox
& Cox, above the stairs to the basement room.
“There was a wall here before,” explains Sara,
indicating the space, “Nick suggested it would
be great to have a flow through the house to the
end wall - and he was completely right.”
The kitchen is Poggenpohl, but Sara is clear that it
needs to be a very functional space. “A kitchen should be
practical and for working in,” says Sara and from what I
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