How To Renovate

In this episode, I sit down with the brilliant, Emma Forrest, in her gorgeous, cosy, feminine home. 
Emma, is a novelist, memoirist and filmmaker, and her work is known for its emotional precision and unflinching honesty, exploring love, identity, grief, and the ways our past shapes who we become. 
From her early days as a teenage columnist interviewing cultural icons in 90s London, to her deeply personal memoirs and films, Emma has built a body of work that feels both intimate and expansive. Following divorce and a major life shift from Los Angeles back to London, Emma reflects on starting again, and what it’s meant to create a home from scratch, here in her home town, London. In this episode, we explore what home really is, not just the physical space, but the emotional architecture behind it. 
We talk about our shared childhood experiences of being othered, and how our childhood homes, loss, and movement across countries shape our sense of belonging. Emma shares how living in what felt like the “wrong” house for her, a new build devoid of history and texture, deeply impacted her mental health, and why she feels most at ease in spaces that carry stories. A quiet testament to just how profoundly our surroundings shape us. 
We also talk about Emma’s deep connection to light and views, and why she will always choose a top-floor, for openness, safety and epic views.
 As someone who loves entertaining and designing my entire home for that purpose, it was very interesting chatting to Emma about the reasons and need for creating a home for cocooning - a reminder that your home doesn’t have to perform for anyone else, but can simply just function for you alone, and hold you and yours. 
Towards the end of the episode, Emma shares something quite extraordinary, a deeply personal experience of mentally revisiting her childhood home, moving through it room by room, drawer by drawer, a moment that reminds us that the right home never truly leaves us. Closure doesn’t always arrive when we expect it to, and that sometimes we need to return, even if only in memory. It leaves us with a simple truth, that a well-lived home, much like a well-lived life, is never perfect, it is layered, shaped by change, and sometimes chaos, and filled with traces of everything that came before. 
This is one of my favourite episodes so far, and I hope it will resonate deeply with anyone drawn to the emotional side of making a home. And the ways identity, belonging, and personal history shape the spaces we can create to make a home that help to heal us after life throws us a curveball. 
You can find Emma here:
Instagram
Substack
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Hi, I’m Tash South — interior designer, renovation consultant, and founder of South Place Studio.
In this podcast, I share practical renovation advice, along with deeper insights into home and belonging.
If you’d like more resources and support, head to:
https://www.southplacestudio.com/freebies
If you’re navigating your own renovation, my RenoVersity programme offers a structured, guided and thoughtful approach to renovating with clarity, confidence and intention https://www.southplacestudio.com/renoversity
Or if you want to get social, you can find us here:
Instagram: @southplacestudio
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/south-place-studio
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/southplacestudio

What if your home was quietly shaping your habits… without you even realising?
In this episode, I explore one of the most powerful ideas from Atomic Habits by James Clear, that our environment plays a huge role in the habits we build (or struggle to maintain).
As renovators and homeowners, this is where things get really interesting.
Because your home isn’t just a backdrop to your life, It’s an active participant in it.
I’ll walk you through how small, intentional design choices can make good habits easier, reduce daily friction, and ultimately help you create a home that truly supports the way you want to live.
Whether you want to exercise more, feel calmer, be more productive, or simply make everyday life flow better, this episode will help you start seeing your home in a  new way.
Inside This Episode
Why your home environment has more impact on your habits than motivation
How design can either support or sabotage your daily routines
The power of visual cues (and how to use them to your advantage)
How to reduce friction in your home through better layout and flow
Simple ways to design for focus, calm, and productivity
How to shape your home around the person you want to become
What you see every day influences what you do every day and a well-designed home should make the right choices feel easy and natural.
It’s not only about the big renovation, it’s about the small shifts too. Moving something or repurposing a a space. Small changes in your home can lead to big, lasting behaviour shifts. Making one habit at a time just that little bit easier.
Resources & Mentions
You can download chapter 1 of James Clear’s #1 New York Times bestselling book Atomic Habits here: Atomic Habits by James Clear
Loved This Episode?
If you found this helpful, I’d be so grateful if you left a review on Apple, YouTube or Spotify, or even shared it with a friend who’s renovating, or just wants to create a better home.
Send us Fan Mail
*******************

Hi, I’m Tash South — interior designer, renovation consultant, and founder of South Place Studio.
In this podcast, I share practical renovation advice, along with deeper insights into home and belonging.
If you’d like more resources and support, head to:
https://www.southplacestudio.com/freebies
If you’re navigating your own renovation, my RenoVersity programme offers a structured, guided and thoughtful approach to renovating with clarity, confidence and intention https://www.southplacestudio.com/renoversity
Or if you want to get social, you can find us here:
Instagram: @southplacestudio
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/south-place-studio
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/southplacestudio

Layout is more than just where walls go,  it’s how your home feels to live in every day.
In this episode, I’m talking about all the the subtle but powerful ways layout shapes our mood, stress levels, and how easily (or not) our lives flow through our homes.
I chat about why bad circulation quietly causes daily frustration. How thresholds and transitions create calm and clarity. Why adding a pause point or two in your home design can encourage those small moments of stillness we all crave for.
And one of my favourites - how to design your layout for better human connection.
Because our homes just simply work better when we consider and plan for human needs, like connection, ease, flow, and how we want to feel when we open that front door after a really long day.
Send us Fan Mail
*******************

Hi, I’m Tash South — interior designer, renovation consultant, and founder of South Place Studio.
In this podcast, I share practical renovation advice, along with deeper insights into home and belonging.
If you’d like more resources and support, head to:
https://www.southplacestudio.com/freebies
If you’re navigating your own renovation, my RenoVersity programme offers a structured, guided and thoughtful approach to renovating with clarity, confidence and intention https://www.southplacestudio.com/renoversity
Or if you want to get social, you can find us here:
Instagram: @southplacestudio
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/south-place-studio
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/southplacestudio

Some designers create beautiful things.
Others create work that carries a story.
And today’s guest is someone whose work does both.
In this episode I talk Eva Sonaike, a London-based textile and interior designer whose work is instantly recognisable for its bold palettes, layered patterns, and joyful energy. But what makes Eva’s work so compelling isn’t just the colour — it’s the narrative behind it.
Born in Germany to Nigerian parents, Eva’s work is brimming with colour, confidence, and a real sense of cultural pride.
Her collections celebrate the richness of West African culture while translating it into contemporary interiors in a way that feels modern and elegant. In the conversation, Eva refers to The Yoruba culture she draws from, which is known for its rich visual language — bold colour combinations, rhythmic pattern, and textiles that carry meaning as well as beauty. In many ways, you can see that influence in Eva’s work: confident colour, layered prints, and designs that feel alive with story and symbolism.
Before founding her own design brand, Eva worked as a fashion journalist. But finding a gap in the market for homeware that reflected her heritage when decorating her own home, she began with a small collection of cushions which quickly grew into a brand stocked by some of the most prestigious retailers.
In this conversation, we talk about colour, about how heritage and identity shape the spaces we create, and about why our homes should tell the story of who we are. We also explore something I think is incredibly important; how design can help us create spaces that feel grounding, meaningful, and deeply personal in a world that often feels anything but.
Eva brings such warmth and honesty to this conversation. I think you’re going to feel incredibly inspired by the way she sees the role of home in our lives. 
I interviewed Eva in her colourful and creative London studio, so take a peek on over on my YouTube channel to see some of her incredible work and grab some inspo on how to make your own home feel grounding, vibrant and expressive, hit that play button and we’ll see you inside. 
This is my conversation with Eva Sonaike.
You can find more on Eva here:
Website: evasonaike.com
Instagram 
Send us Fan Mail
*******************

Hi, I’m Tash South — interior designer, renovation consultant, and founder of South Place Studio.
In this podcast, I share practical renovation advice, along with deeper insights into home and belonging.
If you’d like more resources and support, head to:
https://www.southplacestudio.com/freebies
If you’re navigating your own renovation, my RenoVersity programme offers a structured, guided and thoughtful approach to renovating with clarity, confidence and intention https://www.southplacestudio.com/renoversity
Or if you want to get social, you can find us here:
Instagram: @southplacestudio
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/south-place-studio
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/southplacestudio

I'm back and in this episode, I’m sharing a personal update on why the podcast returned a little later than planned… and where it’s heading next. 
Life, business, a new renovation project, RenoVersity updates, and even a book in the works have all been bubbling away behind the scenes.
But more than that, I wanted to talk about something many of us are quietly carrying right now: the weight of the world.
When global news cycles feel relentless, economic pressures build, when identity and belonging feel fragile, it can all feel very overwhelming. 
Inside I look at some small, simple things we can all do at home to gently reset and find a moment of sanctuary from the outside world, and these cold, dark months of the year.
From simple rituals to finding reasons to celebrate, lets explore what can we do inside our homes to feel steady again?
Send us Fan Mail
*******************

Hi, I’m Tash South — interior designer, renovation consultant, and founder of South Place Studio.
In this podcast, I share practical renovation advice, along with deeper insights into home and belonging.
If you’d like more resources and support, head to:
https://www.southplacestudio.com/freebies
If you’re navigating your own renovation, my RenoVersity programme offers a structured, guided and thoughtful approach to renovating with clarity, confidence and intention https://www.southplacestudio.com/renoversity
Or if you want to get social, you can find us here:
Instagram: @southplacestudio
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/south-place-studio
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/southplacestudio