Changing Rooms has made a comeback to our screens, but you may notice that one of the much-loved designers, Linda Barker is missing from the show.
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Speaking to HELLO!, Linda revealed she was just as surprised as we were when news hit that Changing Rooms was returning to our screens - but although she wasn't asked to reprise her role on the brilliant 90s and 00s show, she's not been putting her feet up! Linda tells all about her own personal renovation project, her collaboration with Terrys Fabrics and, of course, her Changing Room memories…
WATCH: Linda Barker on Changing Rooms when everything went terribly wrong
Prior to the show airing, Linda confessed that she couldn't wait to tune in like the rest of us to see the reboot, which is being presented by Anna Richardson.
"I will be watching with great interest!," she said. "It’s time for a programme like that to have a resurgence again. I know there’d been gossip around the show for a long time - it came into another gossip sphere about a month ago and I spoke to Carol [Smillie] and she was like 'No, I don’t know what’s going on.' And then it was announced and we were like 'Ah that’s why'.
Changing Rooms is back!
"Good luck to Laurence (Lewellyn-Bowen), I think he’s one of the only originals that is doing the show. But no I'm not involved, I wasn’t asked to be involved."
The legendary episode that's replayed time and time again has to be the 'teapot episode' where Linda decided to display a prized collection of teapots on a floating shelf - a floating shelf that didn't stay up, and the teapots dramatically smashed. It is a moment that is still so vivid in Linda's mind. "I remember it incredibly well… it was really bad. I had no idea teapots could break into such small pieces," Linda said.
"Not one teapot broke into four prices that we could glue back together - they were in pieces - and so were we."
Linda looks back on her time on Changing Rooms on Instagram
Linda took the decision to go and personally apologise to the teapot collector and she explained: "We didn’t film that because it was a very poignant moment."Although keen to watch the new show, Linda may struggle to find the time to tune in amid her own makeover project in the form of her personal home renovation. She’s bought "a beautiful Georgian house in Yorkshire that is 201 years old" and is completely transforming the 1980s interiors. Linda and her husband have been tackling a lot of the work themselves and she reports: "The appeal of a big house that needs lots of work didn't faze us at all."
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When asked which part of the house Linda is most excited about finishing, there's no hesitation: "The kitchen is obviously the heart of anybody’s home, and I’ve designed mine from scratch. I’ve used my own paint colours and chosen a very dark olive green, it’s been a real passion project of mine."
Linda has taken on a huge renovation project with a 201-year-old house
And working on her new collaboration with Terrys Fabrics and their new ViSULiZR app may well come in handy. Linda describes the app - which allows you to visualise how your blind will look on the window you want to buy it for - as being, "like a designer hand holding you through the process".
"It’s easy to make mistakes, particularly at windows with materials and measurements," she says, so she is thrilled with this easy-to-use app that "makes the decision making easier".
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Although the pandemic has been a worrying time, Linda sees the positives in staying at home. "Lockdown was perfect," she told HELLO!, "We had so much to do so we just got on with it ourselves and it was fabulous."
On a deeper level, Linda believes the COVID-19 pandemic has truly changed the way we think about our homes. "I think we are now all really switched on to the idea of a healthy home," she says.
Linda shares sneak peeks of her renovation progress on Instagram
"Home is an incredibly nurturing space because it supports us mentally. The pandemic focused our attention on the health of our home. Interiors have always been like that for me, but recently, more people have really tuned into that idea - that home is a really important space for wellbeing."
Speaking about another upside of lockdown, Linda explains how this time has forced her "to be slow in the process of designing". Which funnily enough is one of Linda’s all-time top tips for anyone undergoing home decorating. "I always encourage people to be slow in the design process – because ideas change. It’s a good thing to take it slowly so you’ve got longevity and don’t make mistakes," she advises.
On a practical level, the interiors pro urged people to literally "get your moodboard out and sit with those ideas". She went on to say: "It’s sitting in that room and not doing anything to it – it’s sitting in there with a cup of tea at different times of day, watching how the light changes."