Jenny Ferris: Obsessed with Design

Jenny Ferris Obsessed with Design
Jenny Ferris, interiors consultant at Meadgate, takes a look at why interior design has become such an integral part of the house buying process.

Having once been content with the dream of a detached house, garage, garden and en-suite bathroom, home owners are increasingly striving for much more than this suburban conventionality.

With the property market taking centre stage in recent years and a spate of home improvement programmes on the television, the home and its d cor have become more important than ever before.

It's probably true to say that, as a nation, the British are obsessed with housing.

Media coverage is not just limited to housing supplements, since house prices and the use of interest rates to control them is a genuinely hot topic. But apart from the economic issues, the aesthetic ones have proved a fertile stamping ground for TV.

From Changing Rooms to House Doctor and Houses Behaving Badly to DIY SOS, there's something for everyone. And with disciplines such as feng shui now part of our everyday vocabulary, it's no wonder that we're becoming a nation obsessed with interior design and home makeovers.

Look too at retailing to see how our interest in the subject is being fed. Ikea has cornered the market in combining style and value but retailers not normally associated with home furnishings hav