In the first chapter, How to Arrange your Stuff, Hilary identifies and illustrates four different approaches to arrangements – intuitive, narrative, practical and curatorial – and shows how each one can be achieved.

She also considers the variety of display locations available within the home – walls, mantelpieces, windowsills, chests of drawers, tabletops – and suggests how to make the most of them. Next, in Stories Told by Real Homes, Hilary shares insider knowledge drawn from the experience of creating interiors that fall into five different styles – Neatnik, Bohemian, Naturalist, Sculpture Vulture and Noble Salvage.

Some people are magpies – they love stuff; finding, collecting, and displaying it – while their opposite, the minimalists, are on a mission to contain or tame it. The ideas in this book will appeal to magpies, minimalists and everyone in between.