Katherine Wightman’s parents suspected their daughter had a flair for interior design when she was 12 and they were awoken by the sounds of furniture being dragged across the floorboards of their Oxfordshire home. But it was not until Mrs Wightman became pregnant that she took the plunge and set up her own interior design company in London. Katherine Clare Interiors was born, and so was her daughter Arabella, now five. Mrs Wightman relocated with her family to Abu Dhabi four years ago. She had not intended to work here, but could not resist answering a call-out from a bedridden mum-to-be who needed her nursery decorated. Mrs Wightman, 35, now combines home design with keeping her own home in Khalifa City in order.
5.30am
I go for a run around my neighbourhood before I have to get everyone up for the day. I make their lunch boxes, then Arabella goes to school with my husband and I wake up Harry, my two-year-old. We have a relaxing breakfast of porridge and fruit together, just the two of us. I take him to nursery at 8am.
8.30am
This is when the Musaffah-based factory I use to make furniture opens. You can draw a picture of what you want, or take a photo of something you like in a shop, and they will make it for you. Sometimes clients like to join me. As grim and gritty as Musaffah is, it can be good fun to see a big piece being made. If they wanted a leather sofa, I’ll have ordered the actual cowhides. It takes five cows to make a sofa, and they will not always be exactly the same colour. So if my client is very keen, we will go through the hides and check they are happy that they match.
10.30am
I might go to a workshop on Electra Street I use and take pictures of their fabrics. I am always on the lookout for new fabrics to keep my photographic fabric library up to date. I usually have a few jobs on at once, so I might be thinking “she needs blue curtains” or “they need velvet curtains” as I look through their stock.
11.30am
I normally go to my favourite decorators on Delma Street with my paint samples. I tell them what I want and for which rooms. I especially love decorating little boys’ rooms, as then you can go for, say, the nautical theme, which encompasses boats, the sea and blue and white stripes. With girls’ rooms, when mums say “I don’t want pink” that makes it a lot more interesting.
12.30pm
I might go to a mall to buy things like lighting for a client, and sometimes they will join me there. In Laura Ashley today I was after some good old-fashioned English wallpaper. Although it is expensive, it is lovely.
2.15pm
I pick Arabella up from school and my nanny picks Harry up from nursery in a taxi. At home, my lunch might be leftovers – or cake and a cup of tea, which is normally what I crave. My own home is an eclectic mix of furniture, so not very showroom-like and rather lived-in. Every piece has a story behind it. Some old items belonged to my parents. If I designed something for a client that I loved, I would bring an aspect of it home. I am a trained upholsterer and when I started my company I used to do all the upholstery work myself and sew the curtains. But for clients, I have a team of ten Pakistani tailors who do the sewing for me.
3.30pm
I always try to get a feel for a new client’s tastes by meeting them at their home. I will look around and say, “tell me what your favourite and least favourite piece of furniture is”, or they will comment on magazine pictures. I will also show them photos on my iPad of work I have done and tell them they have to be brutally honest about whether they like it or not. All my current clients have gone for the summer, which means when they return it will be like the British TV show Changing Rooms with the big reveal. I love that. I prefer it when people are not around while I am working so I can surprise them. If they are there while I am working, it is never as impactful.
5pm
Recently I have been going to a shop called Avenue, which is opposite a Play and Learn in Al Raha Mall, so the children can have fun while I am close by. They sell very high-end European fabric for curtains. I would be choosing the fabric, or making sure they have the right measurements for the windows.
6pm
I give my children supper, bathe them, and then it is their bedtime at 7pm. I am busy emailing or calling a few of the businesses I deal with until my husband gets back between 8.30pm and 9pm. Then I cook something like Thai chicken curry for our supper. I am in a book club and recently read The Goldfinch by Donna Tart, which was fabulous. I love reading.
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