maddy123; thanks! I feel a bit of a fraud being on Pam’s lovely site, as we haven’t created something that’s totally authentic in the way that some of you guys have, but we do love the house and we’ve tried to stay true to its spirit. We fell in love with it the minute we walked through the door (the ding-dong doorbell helped). I adore the Fifties open-plan footprint of it, it’s so easy to live in. And the original bits we found, like the oven and the hob (as we say in Europe!), gave us a starting point for a bit of a style mash-up that reflects our Europeanness and also our love for midcentury style.

sleepingbee: the cross-tube lights in the kitchen (there’s one over each window) are another thing that are uber-modern but seem to fit the house perfectly. I bought them on sale at Design Within Reach (or Design Way Out of Reach as I prefer to think of it). They were one of the first things I bought, and I think I got the last two available, for about 45 dollars each; despite their extreme modernity they just seem to ‘go’. A bit like the Le Klint lightshade in the dining room which we bought in Copenhagen, carried on a plane from CPH to London, then another plane from London to Boston.

elvis: too kind. I love ‘things’ but I have to be ruthless with myself; I’ve had to learn restraint the hard way. And I like to make little displays. So sue me.

sumac sue: You’re very welcome! I wish I could have you all round for coffee, what a nice bunch you sound. That’s the nearest Pam could get me to the camera, by the way. And the bears ate one of my tiny pumpkins, that’s why they don’t balance. We’re not used to bears in London.