The Home

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:01:02 Hello and welcome to The Luxury Podcast. My name's Jonathan Vernon-Smith, and with me is William Hanson. This is the podcast that helps you live a more luxury life.

William Hanson 0:01:23 Hello, Jonathan and I are here to help you create the everyday moments of luxury that make life worth living, whatever your budget.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:01:29 In each episode of The Luxury Podcast, William and I tackle an area of life that we think you should upgrade, sorting the onslows from the hyacinths, advising the nation in gracious living. So, William, what the dickens are we going to talk about today?

William Hanson 0:01:43 We're going to talk about the home, which is fitting because we should say we're both in our respective homes.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:01:51 Yes, why are we doing this again? I can't quite remember why we're doing it from home.

William Hanson 0:01:56 Well, we've fallen out and we can't bear to be in the same room as one another. No, I don't know if I've mentioned, I'm in Titanic.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:02:05 Have you? Yeah, I know. We're friends.

William Hanson 0:02:08 Yes, and for various reasons due to rehearsals, I couldn't make the usual Thursday recording, so I am here.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:02:16 Ah, well, yeah, well, it's a pleasure to only have to waft downstairs to greet you, William, rather than having to trek all the way into London.

William Hanson 0:02:25 We could set a precedent.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:02:26 Shall we? Shall we?

William Hanson 0:02:30 Yes, we hate that new studio so much.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:02:33 So we're talking all about homes, how to have a luxury home, how to make your very ordinary home potentially just a little bit more executive.

William Hanson 0:02:42 Now we've got so much to talk about and a lot of— some some of the meat, literally, we'll be discussing in our bonus tomorrow because we have now had the intergenerational homosexual dinner party. But related to Home— I mean, we can't talk about everything, but we can talk about most of it. But related to Home, you came over for the first time and saw the sofa, the controversial sofa, in situ. As a room as a whole.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:03:15 Yeah.

William Hanson 0:03:15 Now, would you like to tell the Bucketheads your feedback?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:03:18 My feedback, as I said to you at the time, was it looks better in the flesh.

William Hanson 0:03:24 There we go.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:03:26 When I first saw the photo of your controversial sofa, floor, I thought you might have lost the plot. However, having now seen it in the room, It is certainly of a look. Now, it's not my choice of decor, it's not my choice of soft furnishings, but it's yours and it looks okay in the room.

William Hanson 0:03:49 Now, you've slightly backtracked on what you actually said on the day.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:03:53 What did I say on the day?

William Hanson 0:03:58 Oh, it looked gorgeous, you said.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:04:01 I don't think I said that.

William Hanson 0:04:02 Where do I get one?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:04:03 No, I don't think I said that, did I? No, no, no, to be fair, it looks nice. It's, it's of a look. It's almost like, you know, when you go to a museum and they show you, uh, a kind of old living room from the past and you look at how people used to live. Your living room kind of has that look to it. I imagine I'd be looking at it through a Perspex panel.

William Hanson 0:04:29 Well, you bloody well will be next time you come around.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:04:33 I'm sorry. No, it is, it's nice, it's nice. It's— yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's what it is.

William Hanson 0:04:45 It is very me, yes. And also the rug, the, the slightly controversial rug that you didn't particularly like when I showed you that, nor did others. Again, you said it works. It works as a whole. It all works.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:04:56 It definitely does. It makes— what I would say, I mean, not that you need my advice whatsoever, because as you know, you and I have very different kind of tastes.

William Hanson 0:05:06 We can see that on these recordings.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:05:07 What I do think it has done is it's made your room quite small. It feels quite small slash cosy.

William Hanson 0:05:15 It's attractively compact.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:05:16 I feel like I might be offending you from a distance, from a safe distance. No, but you know what I mean.

William Hanson 0:05:28 You're only a 40-minute drive away.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:05:30 It does, it does make the room look a little bit bit small. But I—

William Hanson 0:05:34 What, the rug?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:05:35 The rug and the furniture.

William Hanson 0:05:38 Okay, fair enough.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:05:39 I think if you'd gone— no, but I'm not saying anything you don't know, surely. If you'd gone for, uh, cream kind of walls shaded white, and if you'd gone for cream furniture, of course it would have opened the room up a bit. But I don't feel as if that's what you were going for anyway.

William Hanson 0:05:56 No, you want— I want a sitting room. And we will talk about your, um— can't wait to talk about the aesthetic of your home in a minute. But we'll I want our sitting room to be, particularly in the winter, really cosy and sort of just, you know, you can snuggle up with a book or watch something on television, and that's what I wanted from my vibe.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:06:18 You've definitely achieved that.

William Hanson 0:06:20 Thank you so much.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:06:21 It's a lovely look.

William Hanson 0:06:22 So on to you.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:06:24 Here we go. Revenge is a dish best served cold. Go on there. Yes,

William Hanson 0:06:33 revenge is a dish best served cosy. Um, why don't you just sort of tell Bucketheads and new Bucketheads generally the aesthetic of your home and your sort of design philosophy?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:06:45 Well, uh, you can see the colour of my walls in the background for those watching on video in our luxury members club. Uh, this is shaded white, and my whole house is shaded white. Shaded white with cream and dark wood.

William Hanson 0:07:01 Was there an offer on the shaded white in the paint store? Is that why it's all one colour? Were you saving money?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:07:09 No, I'm a big lover of the same colour flowing through a home. Oh really? I'm not— yes, I'm genuinely not keen on going from one room to another with totally different colours. I feel as if it It makes a house feel smaller and it ruins the flow for me personally.

William Hanson 0:07:29 That's interesting. I can— I do see what you mean by that. That's, that's fair enough. And is that a philosophy that you got from anyone? Did someone pass that down? Did you hear it on a TV show? Or have you just learned it as you've gone through life?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:07:43 Definitely not from my parents because my—

William Hanson 0:07:46 Very different colours.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:07:47 Oh my word, very different colours. Very '90s. Floral wallpapers, pinks and peaches. And I mean, you would've loved it. It was very, yeah. And every room was kind of de— decorated in a different way, different colour carpet. I mean, that's the other thing. I like the same carpet. My whole house is, is, is covered in the same carpet. Mm-hmm.

William Hanson 0:08:13 Yeah. Okay. Um, and since, I mean, I've, I, I knew you in your previous, uh, flat. I didn't know you in the one before that, but has your, I think, I think I know the answer to question, but has your taste sort of remained fairly consistent and you've sort of done the same thing? No, I'm not— don't read into anything there. But you, I think your last flat was a similar shade of white. You had Clunch up the walls in the bedroom, didn't you?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:08:37 Yeah, so that was Clunch in the flat in St Albans. That was Clunch. I'd slapped Clunch all over the place. And yeah, it was Clunch, clunch in the kitchen, clunch in the living room. Oh no, I tell you what, it was, uh, it was Egyptian cotton in the bedrooms, and it was— oh, and bone in the hallway! You've just reminded me.

William Hanson 0:09:02 I'm surprised you didn't have bone in the bedroom.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:09:04 I had bone, I had bone in my, uh, in my hallway when you came in. Bone. It was, yeah. And it was quite— because you remember my hallway was quite narrow and dark.

William Hanson 0:09:32 Yeah.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:09:33 And the bone really made it feel quite dramatic when you walked in.

William Hanson 0:09:39 Lovely. Yeah, no, that sounds—

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:09:40 Dramatic bone.

William Hanson 0:09:41 Gorge. Um, and, uh, what else? Your bones distracted me. So why did you not— why did you not have Clunch in your new property? Well, it's not that new, you've been there 11, 12 years, but why did you decide to veer away from Clunch?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:10:00 Can I be honest with you, William? They discontinued Clunch. You cannot get Clunch for love nor money nowadays. But also, I did try Shaded White, and I— when I saw the Shaded White, I thought that was a much nicer colour because, I mean, in the background here, if you can see, for those, those looking, there's a kind of, um, I don't know, how would you describe it? It's kind of a creamy colour, but there's a hint of green, there's a hint of grey in it, there's a warmth to it. And it changes depending on the light, whereas clunch always looks kind of creamy.

William Hanson 0:10:44 Right, okay. A creamy, a creamy clunch. Have you had a drink this morning?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:11:04 No, no, I haven't. I haven't.

William Hanson 0:11:08 Funny. So, in my home, obviously we don't have— well, the hallway is a sort of a white, but that's not what we've painted it.

William Hanson 0:11:17 We inherited that, and we will, once we finish doing all the work, the hall is going to be done last. But I think, yes, ours is a decent-sized hallway but not a lot of natural light, so I think we will probably keep it a relatively light colour there. Or you could say, because there is a philosophy with design, paint dark rooms dark colours and light rooms light colours. Don't paint a dark room a light colour thinking it's going to lighten it up because it won't. So we might go for like a lovely deep navy or something like that.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:11:45 In the hallway?

William Hanson 0:11:46 Yes, with panelling.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:11:48 Oh well, I'm a lover of panelling. I'm considering having some panelling in my bedroom and I do think panelling looks very nice, but navy blue in the hallway?

William Hanson 0:11:58 Or something like that, yeah, a nice deep rich colour. Really? Potentially, yeah. We've seen some photos online.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:12:07 Right. You have very di— we are so similar in so many ways, and yet our taste is totally opposite, isn't it?

William Hanson 0:12:17 Yes.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:12:17 Totally opposite.

William Hanson 0:12:18 In some ways, yeah.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:12:19 I would never dream of painting a room dark blue. That's absolutely ludicrous.

William Hanson 0:12:27 Did you not? No, you wouldn't have seen— no, because, uh, you might— you did come to the Manchester flat, but I don't think I had painted the bedroom It was Stooky Blue we painted the bedroom in Manchester, and that was quite a— that was— I did the complete opposite of what I've said. That was quite a light room, but we painted that a dark colour, and that was very nice. And everyone was absolutely horrified when we told them originally. They were like, you're going to do what?

William Hanson 0:12:48 And then we did it, and they were like, oh, that— no, that does actually work. That works really nicely. But I think you've got to be bold with colours, and I like— I mean, I'm sitting here in my study. You won't be able to see this because the shot is quite tight, but the study, because it's in the the loft. I've painted a sort of a Skylight, I believe is the colour, because it's light.

William Hanson 0:13:07 I wanted to be up. I'm up in the clouds, so let's continue a nice light colour up here. That was my philosophy.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:13:13 It's lovely. Creamy.

William Hanson 0:13:15 Thanks. Creamy. And it's also a shame you didn't come to see the Colour Drench Guest Womb, which is also up here in the loft. I kept saying we must come and take you up.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:13:25 Take me up to your womb!

William Hanson 0:13:27 No. Well, you'll have to come back.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:13:29 Okay, thank you very much indeed. So are you a lover— so we've talked a bit about colour, quite a lot about colour actually, and I mentioned carpet because I do have the same carpet flowing throughout the whole house apart from in the kitchen and the bathroom. Are you a lover of carpet or do you prefer wooden floors or what's your preference on the floor?

William Hanson 0:13:50 I don't mind carpet in the upper rooms but on a lower floor, particularly in the style of property that we're in, sort of late Victorian, I think a non-carpeted ground floor, first floor for our American Bucketheads, is, is better. Personally, much more in the style of property we're in.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:14:08 Yeah, yeah, much more practical. Trying to keep cream carpets clean, particularly when you have the policy of, of shoes remaining on, because it's common to ask your guests to take them off, that is a constant battle.

William Hanson 0:14:21 Yes. And you get yours cleaned, what, twice a year?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:14:24 Once a year. Once a year professionally. With an intermediate, um, high buff polish and spritz by my good self several times as and when they need it.

William Hanson 0:14:34 Okay, good. Nice. Lovely. You should come— oh, I could borrow your machines and I could do— I could do ours. We will change our carpets eventually because these again are inherited carpets and they're a bit, um, uh, well-loved.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:14:45 Yes.

William Hanson 0:14:46 Yeah.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:14:48 Well,

William Hanson 0:14:48 so, but again, we'll do all the work.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:14:49 Yes, quite.

William Hanson 0:14:50 What's your favourite room in the house?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:14:53 I would say probably my living room. That's the room I feel most comfortable in. Although of course now I have the new high-quality luxury air conditioning system for a better class of premises, the bedroom is now exceptionally cool and comfortable in the warm weather.

William Hanson 0:15:10 Do you have it turned on even during the day, or do you just sort of put it on before bed at night?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:15:15 No, of course I don't have it on during the day. Why would I, why would I leave the air conditioning on during the day?

William Hanson 0:15:22 To cool it down.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:15:23 So it's not when I'm not in there? No, no.

William Hanson 0:15:25 Well, okay, at work would be ridiculous, but you know, if you've come home and you're changing or whatever.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:15:32 No, no. I mean, the thing with the new luxury air conditioning system for a better class of premises, uh, is that it's instant. So you turn it on and within 30 seconds, uh, the room is cooled right down. It's absolutely amazing. So you don't need to leave it on.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:15:47 Just, you know, but if I, if I came out of the shower and I was getting ready and it was quite hot, then absolutely put it on for, you know, 5 minutes or so while you're getting ready. But no, it doesn't need to be left on. I mean, you, when you have your property air-conditioned, you of course realise very quickly how wonderfully comfortable it is in such a short amount of time.

William Hanson 0:16:08 Oh, I can't wait. And again, we'll talk more about air conditioning, uh, in tomorrow's bonus, I'm sure.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:16:12 Yes. I'm sure. Um, but in terms of, uh, the most comfortable room, I would say the living room, just because that's where, that's where I like to watch television and relax, and the dogs will often be there. In the winter, I like to have my log burner on, and it's kind of cosy with the curtains drawn. So yeah, that's my, my favourite room. Where's yours? Your luxury kitchen-cum-diner?

William Hanson 0:16:37 No, no. And, and again, we'll change that in time. I I think— well, my— tell you what, I haven't spent a lot of time in my study recently because I've been elsewhere and I have actually really missed it.

William Hanson 0:16:46 And when I came in here today to record this, I thought, oh, I really miss this room because I haven't often— you know, I've written a book, as was announced a few weeks ago, and I spent a lot of time sort of just sitting here in the study writing it. And so I've gone from spending— being locked away in this room to not very much time in this room. And so I like— and it's sort of— it's— this is my zone. You know, Mikey has his own study, as we know. Controversially, we have switched a 5-bedroom house into a 2-bedroom house.

William Hanson 0:17:18 But I have my zone, and this is my patch.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:17:20 Your domain. Your man cave. Exactly. If you were butch, it would be your man cave.

William Hanson 0:17:27 Yes, it's not a man cave. It's— so because it's so far up I wanted— I sort of— it was reminding me a little bit of— it's got lovely views of the Eagle's Nest, but I thought obviously I can't have that because that's, you know, that was problematic and Hitler, so I'm calling it the Swallow's Nest.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:17:47 Have you ever read Flowers in the Attic?

William Hanson 0:17:49 No.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:17:50 Have you not read it? Where a woman puts her children up in the loft. You're like her kids. The two of you up in your loft.

William Hanson 0:18:02 No. Yeah, no, I haven't read— should I read it? Is it a good book?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:18:06 Oh, you should read Flowers in the Attic. Yeah.

William Hanson 0:18:07 Okay, well, thanks so much.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:18:09 Yeah, she moves, she moves in with a, with a new man, uh, or he moves in with her. I can't remember what it is. And she, she basically tells the children they've got to hide in the loft for a while, and then they, they never come down. They lived up there for years.

William Hanson 0:18:29 This sounds like social services should get involved.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:18:31 Well, it would be. It would be today. It would be today.

William Hanson 0:18:33 What era of— when was it set?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:18:36 Oh gosh, I don't know. Yeah, it's been many years since I've read Flowers in the Attic. I think they made a film out of it as well. I can't believe you've never seen it.

William Hanson 0:18:44 Oh, sounds very Butch and Manly. I shall go and find it immediately.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:18:49 Dig it out. Yes. Oh, I'd better get that. I think it's my white slimline telephone with last number redial.

William Hanson 0:18:55 We'll be back in a minute.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:20:31 Welcome back, Bucketheads. We've been discussing the home, and it's now time for your questions. Well, it will be very shortly. Shortly, we'll be checking out our heaving bags of post. Do remember, if there's something on your mind that needs a luxury touch, postman@luxurypodcast.co.uk is the place for your queries and your questions.

William Hanson 0:21:06 Something I just thought of in that, in that little interlude we had is, if you could add on a room to your house that you don't have, what would you want?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:21:18 I have, I have everything in the house that I need, but I would quite like a swimming pool.

William Hanson 0:21:25 That's not a room.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:21:26 No, but I could have— what I'd quite like is I'd like an indoor swimming pool room that I could walk into from my house, but I'd like it to open up to the elements when the weather's nice. Yes. So you could turn an indoor pool into an outdoor pool.

William Hanson 0:21:42 An outdoors-indoors luxury swimming pool.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:21:45 Yes, we know Finger Buffet. That would be wonderful.

William Hanson 0:21:48 Nice.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:21:49 What would you like?

William Hanson 0:21:50 I would— well, I know Micah's answer would be a gift wrapping room. Um, I don't know why, he's just always wanted a gift wrapping room, bless him. Uh, I probably would say— now don't laugh at me— I would like another bedroom that would be used as a bedroom. I know I've got 5.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:22:10 You just spent ages removing the bedrooms.

William Hanson 0:22:14 Yes, but it's just—

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:22:15 To turn into your own private, you know, ego trip.

William Hanson 0:22:21 Studies! But it would be nice to have sort of 2 sets of guests stay at a time. That might be quite nice.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:22:30 Oh, right.

William Hanson 0:22:31 But then not surrender our studies or our walk-in wardrobe.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:22:35 Okay, well, you're gonna have to make a decision because I'm not sure that you can extend that house anymore.

William Hanson 0:22:42 No, no, no, we are at full capacity. But you know, if magical powers allowed, that's what I would say.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:22:48 Yes, that would be very nice.

William Hanson 0:22:50 Shall we do some correspondence?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:22:52 Yes, let's. Meghan's been in touch, William, and says, oh yes, hello Jonathan and William, I'd love to hear your thoughts on an ongoing debate happening in our home. Are driveway gates a luxury addition to a home, or are they a nuisance? My husband absolutely hates our electric gates. He finds them annoying and unnecessary, whereas I believe they add an air of luxury and make the entrance to our home feel a little bit more special.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:23:21 For context, we live on the Isle of Man, where crime is relatively non-existent, so there's no real need for the gates from a security perspective. It's purely about the feel and aesthetic they bring to the property. So who is right? Are they a luxury feature that elevates a home or just an inconvenient extra thing to maintain? Best wishes, Megan Bowl.

William Hanson 0:23:44 Well, I think it depends on the style of your property. Yes, if you are living in suburbia, to have in-and-out gates is ridiculous because, you know— what, am I saying anything incorrect there?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:23:57 Um, well, I mean, I, I think we might disagree slightly, but we'll come to that. You, you tell us what you think first.

William Hanson 0:24:04 If you're a detached house next to another detached house next to another detached house with a not particularly expansive drive, yes, of course you could have a gate if you want to.

William Hanson 0:24:13 I don't mind that, but you only need one. You're not living in Gosford Park, so you don't need in-and-out gates. No. But if you're in a sizable property, probably in the country or in a very underdeveloped area, and there is need for you to have an in and out gate, then yes, that's fine. I mean, growing up in my parents' house, which they no longer have, we had in and out gates, but we never used the out gate.

William Hanson 0:24:43 So yes, we just always just used the in gate, and the out gate was always shut predominantly.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:24:50 I think we're kind of in agreement, but I would say you could have gates in suburbia But I think the crucial thing you hit upon, it's all about the length of your drive. I think it looks ridiculous, you know, when people have quite a short, short driveway, maybe, um, one car length, and then at the end of their drive they put gates up, big high double gates, and that looks absolutely ridiculous. It turns the house into a kind of prison. Whereas if you do have a nice big driveway, um, I think to have smart gates can add a little touch of class.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:25:25 But it's got— you've got to have the room from the pavement to the actual front of the house to be able to accommodate it, in my view.

William Hanson 0:25:33 Completely agree, yes. It's where it's that sort of thing of looking— making your house look grander than it is. And again, when it's sort of a house in suburbia, as gorgeous and lovely as houses in suburbia are, it isn't Gosford Park. So just don't make it look like it.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:25:47 Yeah, I would quite like electric gates.

William Hanson 0:25:51 I wanted electric gates at my parents'. They refused to have them put in.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:25:54 I just like the whole idea of people having to ring my bell and then I buzz them in through my gates. My gates start opening. I think that's very smart. But I can imagine if you're in and out quite a lot, it would get quite annoying.

William Hanson 0:26:09 Yeah, well, you'd have to lock them over, sort of jam— not jam them open, but sort of put them in a— I don't know if these electric gates— I'm sure they do now— have a like permanently open mode that you can close them at night.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:26:18 Very much so. But no, I think it all depends, Megan, on your property. As long as you've got a long driveway, you'll be fine.

William Hanson 0:26:23 Now I'm going to read a question from Rhys from Hobart, Tasmania. How exotic. Dear William and Jonathan, on the subject of having a luxury home, I'm always looking for ways to elevate my luxury townhouse with executive features. I was wondering, what is your opinion on houseplants? Are they luxury? Are there any you would just consider too common? Yours sincerely, Rhys, Hobart, Tasmania. I don't like a peace lily. There, I said it.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:26:51 That's your strong view, is it? A peace lily?

William Hanson 0:26:53 Yeah. Yes. I don't hate it, but I, I don't— I would not want one.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:26:59 I have a few, um, and much to your horror, I have a couple that are artificial as well, because—

William Hanson 0:27:05 Are they artificial?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:27:06 I do have some artificial plants, yeah.

William Hanson 0:27:09 Oh, I'd never have known.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:27:11 Shut up. But ultimately it's because I can't keep real ones alive in some rooms in my house for some bizarre reason.

William Hanson 0:27:20 Yeah,

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:27:22 and they need light. Yeah, you do need quite a lot of light. And I like them in areas where there aren't so much light. So, um, yeah, there— I do have them. And I think, I think plants in a house give a nice softness to it. I think they can, you know, even in a very minimalist house with very clean lines, I think some nice flowers or a plant somewhere can look quite nice. And sometimes a big plant can, can add a touch of drama to a room.

William Hanson 0:27:50 Yes, we used to have a ficus in the bedroom in our previous property. We did.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:27:55 Did you?

William Hanson 0:27:57 We inherited it from our lovely friends Ellie and Michael who were leaving the country, and so they wanted to get rid of their houseplants, and so they gave us their ficus. And it lived there for— and it did really well for a year or two, but then it just died. You killed it. Well, we didn't kill it on purpose. It was manslaughter, not murder. But it Yeah, it died.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:28:17 Oh dear.

William Hanson 0:28:18 Which is a shame, but again, it added just a touch of greenery and interest in a corner of a room. See,

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:28:24 in your— because William has, for all the Bucketheads that won't be familiar with William's house, but you have a nice kitchen that kind of leads into a dining area with bifold doors going out to your back passage.

William Hanson 0:28:39 It's not a back passage, it's the terrace.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:28:43 It's a big room with quite a high ceiling, and I think you could have a big plant in there that would add a real touch of drama.

William Hanson 0:28:51 Yes, and I think once the kitchen and dining room, once we redo that and we sort of know where the— not the dead spaces are, but where there is space, I'd quite like that. Yes, go ahead.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:29:02 Claire's been in touch, William.

William Hanson 0:29:03 Okay.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:29:04 She says, hello William and Jonathan, I wanted to get your opinion On the scent of a person's home— oh, I love these questions today— I try my hardest to keep my home smelling luxury: candles, flowers, diffusers. I find that other people often don't make this a priority, particularly those who have smelly dogs. Firstly, Jonathan, how do you stop your house stinking of hound, and how do you politely tell someone that their home has an unpleasant scent and you'd advise them to alter it. All the best, Claire.

William Hanson 0:29:38 Oh, lovely.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:29:40 I mean, I like—

William Hanson 0:29:41 yeah, and my mother is dead against it and doesn't, doesn't like smelly things. I mean, she likes this. She has a diffuser that we gave her. In fact, she's now got the Dr. Farange's one that you gave me for our downstairs loo.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:29:51 You mean like one of these?

William Hanson 0:29:53 Yes, exactly. Is that Leather and Oud?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:29:56 This is— what is this? No, it's not actually. What is this one? Milano. Milano. Milano.

William Hanson 0:30:03 Um, she loved, she loved that so much in our downstairs loo, uh, that, that we gave her one.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:30:10 I've also got a top-up spritz. Oh, oh, Milano.

William Hanson 0:30:16 Uh, but yeah, I think scent can be important. Um, again, as long as it's not an artificial smell, because there are, you know, Yankee Candle type things, they smell horrid. Oh,

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:30:30 God.

William Hanson 0:30:30 Because they're full of rubbish and don't smell very nice. But I also think these diffusers work better in smaller spaces, which is why things like downstairs loos, they have such an effect because it is such a small room. When you're putting them in your— I know you've got one in your sitting room, but I always think for that sort of size of room you need one or two, I think, to actually— of the same scent— for it to really

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:30:56 I've got a big one.

William Hanson 0:30:56 You do have a big one. You've got a big one downstairs and slightly smaller ones upstairs.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:31:09 I do have, um, I have smaller ones in every bedroom. Um, and I do think it's nice. And also I have one on the— as you go up the stairs, there's one on the windowsill up the stairs. So as you as you walk up the stairs, you often get a, hmm, interesting, that's a nice scent.

William Hanson 0:31:25 And different scents throughout?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:31:27 Yes, different scents for the rooms. So the scent in here, Milano, in my office— I'm in my office at the moment— is, is, it's nice. Oh, since I gave that little spritz, I've now got this lovely smell in here. It's absolutely lovely. And then when I go into my living room, there's more of an oud. Smells lovely.

William Hanson 0:31:48 I've got, uh, I've got a Diptyque one. It's over behind— I can't reach it from where I am, but, uh, a little diffuser that sits on my desk.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:31:55 Nice.

William Hanson 0:31:56 Which is nice.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:31:57 But I do think there's something, there's something lovely about somebody's house that smells gorgeous. And I know you, you take the mickey out of my love of Spanish cleaning products, but one of the reasons I love a Spanish cleaning product is that they, they put so much effort into the scent and it, and it lasts. So to give you an example, I came home yesterday afternoon from work and I decided to clean the house before I took the dogs out for a walk. Clean the house, vacuumed through, mopped all the floors with nice Spanish products.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:32:31 I went out to walk the dog. I was out for about an hour and a half, and as I opened the front door and came back in, I, I was greeted with this lovely clean smell of Spanish products, and that's what I like. When you walk into a house and you think, this smells clean and executive.

William Hanson 0:32:46 Yes, fair enough. Oh, can you hear the plane going over or not?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:32:50 It's— I can hear the plane. What is that? Is that the, um, 10:41 to Chicago?

William Hanson 0:32:57 Oh, I thank you for saying a nice international destination, unlike the planes near your part of the world.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:33:11 There's nothing wrong with a Jet2 holiday.

William Hanson 0:33:12 No, I know there isn't. Nothing beats one. What a lovely episode.

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:33:16 It was. It was so lovely having you in my home, Bucketheads, and lovely for us to be in William's home as well.

William Hanson 0:33:23 Yes, and do you know, so I've enjoyed it so much, I think we should do a couple more episodes from home, don't you?

Jonathan Vernon-Smith 0:33:27 Shall we? While we're here? Well, why not? It would be a shame to have to go out. That's more than enough luxury for today. We'll be back, of course, tomorrow for one of our bonuses, and I've got so much to talk to you about, William. Oh, where are we going to start? And of course, do look out for us next Wednesday for our main episode on DIY. We both have so much to say. Until then, goodbye!