As a child, where my friends drew wedding dresses, I was drawing floorplans.

I've been designing homes for twenty-five years. Not professionally, but personally. Two full renovations, including complete kitchen designs, a rear extension on a 1910 terrace, and a new build in Sydney where every specification decision was mine. Every project taught me more about how spaces actually work than any classroom could.

Some of it comes from my architect and photographer Dad. The way I read a building, the way I wait for the light, the way I walk into a room and immediately sense what it can become. That instinct was never learned. It's just there.

I've lived in different places within the UK and Australia, and I have travelled extensively. Every place has left its mark on how I live and how I see a room. After twenty-five years away, I've come home to the Thames Valley. Haven + Elm came with me.

My career has been in Solutions Consulting. That is where I learnt how to hear what people actually need, not just what they say they want. That skill sits at the heart of everything I do as a designer. The listening comes first. Always.

Beverley Allsop. Founder, haven + elm. West Berkshire.