Home and Interiors Scotland: July-August 2016

The Way In

A career's worth of skill and knowledge has been poured into this interior designer's home on Glasgow's southside.

A pilates holiday in the Mediterranean is Catherine Henderson's main aim this summer. The intrepid interior designer is refuelling after reaching some­thing of a crossroads in her life: having spent the last 25 years working flat out on multiple projects - running a showroom and an interiors boutique, travelling all over the globe to meet clients and buy from international trade shows - she is looking to change pace. "I used to operate with 'work in progress' sheets," she explains. "But at one point, I just stopped and thought - I have 32 jobs on the go at the moment, all at different stages:' Up until that moment, Catherine hadn't been able to enjoy much personal time, but her latest project has forced her to lavish a little attention on herself. After spending six years in a five-bedroom period villa in Glasgow's affluent Pollokshields, she had come to the conclusion that she was ready to down-size. "My son had left home and was in London, and my dog had died," she explains. "I think I was ready for a new chapter in my life."