It’s really hard to play it cool when you have been chatting to one of your heroes. One of my fave instagram accounts – and also the one with the best name – The Girl With The Green Sofa – is run by the lovely Nicola. I love her use of strong colour and chic styling. So of course, I was thrilled when Nicola, the woman behind the account, asked if she could feature We Love Home on her brand new beautiful, inspirational blog – and she says that we are one to follow!
That’s my styling in the top right hand corner of her famous instagram account (the plum living room)
So without further fuss, click HERE for the feature, complete with pics of We Love Home house and posts from my shoot. I’ve posted a small snippet here for you to peak your interest…
We Love Home And The Girl With The Green Sofa
‘Today I am featuring Interior Stylist, Styling Coach and Lifestyle Blogger – Maxine Brady of We Love Home blog – to fill us in on her styling career, and why she has chosen to recently branch out into interiors blogging. Maxine used to work in London as a Style Editor for numerous Interior Magazines, before taking a career break to go travelling around the world.
On her return, Maxine bought her first house which was a ‘wreck’ and she started We Love Home blog to talk about her makeover projects, as well as share her styling tips and decorating advice, and showcase her chic interior style. She most recently launched a range of interior styling workshops – The Secret Styling Club – which she hosts around the country.
Recently listed in the top 50 trending blogs, Maxine is definitely one to follow.’
Awh, thank you. I work really hard on my blog so that is lovely to hear.
The only house I could afford was a ‘project’ – well, actually it was a total dump. It had been empty for seven years and had nothing done to it.
Everything needed renovating. It had a leaking bathroom, a dilapidated kitchen, an overgrown garden and parts of the roof and all the windows and doors needed replacing.
When I started to look on-line for ideas for my home, I couldn’t find anything that reflected my own home style. This gave me the idea to start an interiors blog using my interior styling know-how.
When I started I knew nothing about blogging or social media. In the past three years, I feel I have done a MA in social media and website design!
Social media is part and parcel of running a blog, as I discovered. You have to shout out about everything you do to drive traffic to your blog.
2. Do you mix your blogging and social with other jobs, what time is spent on each?
I work full time as an interior stylist – and I do my blogging in the evenings and at the weekend. I do blog about my job with “behind the scenes of photo shoots” or showcasing my latest projects. I also blog about how to become an interior stylist. I try to share my know-how as much as I can. I mix that in with posts about my own home DIY projects and more practical reviews (my post on underfloor heating in my kitchen is one of my post popular!)
I’m starting to branch out into my other passions – like bits of fashion and travel.
Ooh- that is hard one!
I think being very true to who you are. I love to discover a blog where I can get a sense of the person behind the blog and their sense of homestyle. My favorites are all so different Swoon Worthy, Kate La Vie, Melanie Lissack Interiors to name a few…. but they each have a distinct style and offer something interesting and different to me. That is why I feature lots of posts with me in them – as I have found photos of me in my home do the best on my social media.
I also love American blogs like Apartmenttherapy – and my fave of all time is Dominobecause the write the most stylish interior trends posts with the best headings.
4. How do you juggle it all?
I don’t! I spend most of my life either running around Brighton picking up props, writing posts until 1am then up again at 6am to drive to London. Plus Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter….
I struggle with a work/life balance. This is something I’m trying to get better at (I have actually written a post on it).
5. Do you have any advice on growing a blog readership or Instagram following, what specifically should people look to do?
I’m a big believer in taking your own photos for Instagram – and don’t use a filter. Make them as ‘you’ as possible – and treat the captions like mini blog posts.
I also an getting into Pinterest to growing traffic to my blog and am trying to focus more energy into that. Also, try to build communities on all your social media platforms – chat to other instagramers, connect with people – be proactive.
I’ve started two hashtags #secretstylingclub for the styling workshops I run – and #BrightBlogGang – the community of Brighton Bloggers that I have gather together. #Brightbloggang has a private facebook page and insta pod – and I arrange meet ups so we can all get together to build a community and support each other. (Any Brighton lifestyle bloggers reading this – get in touch).
I have loved Nicola’s feed for a long time and her cool interior style which is completely different to mine – and I think you will love it. I was excited to learn that she had launched a blog so I could learn more about her interior style. You can see her new blog The Girl With The Green Sofa HERE. And join her on 74K instagram on HERE.
I hope you enjoy the read.
Love
Maxine
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