When looking for interior inspiration or tips on sprucing up your home, you’ll probably find some of the most practical and stylish advice on social media – and who better to turn to than the local interior influencers living right on your doorstep?
Former art director and stylist for fashion brands in London, Dan Hull started his Instagram account more than 10 years ago after moving back to the North East. Giving him the creative output he was craving since leaving the capital, Dan’s Instagram has attracted more than 21,000 followers.
At the time a lot of my home was grey – I think it was for most people as it was big trend back then – and Miller was my Grandad’s middle name, so I put the two things together to create a name. Dan Hull just didn’t have the ring I wanted.
I bought the flat I live in now in February 2023 as a renovation project and it’s the first home I’ve owned after years of renting. It had good bones but needed a lot doing to it. I decided to document my progress and originally my content was very interiors based. I had a very minimal, simple aesthetic at the start.
Although my focus is ultimately around the renovation of my first property that I’ve bought, I also produce content around the things I’m passionate about; so, you’ll find food and travel, alongside a lot of North East content on my Instagram account.
In terms of plans for my home, I’m generally very decisive. When I first saw this flat, I knew I wanted to remove a wall and open up the living space. As for the more cosmetic elements like the decorating, that’s definitely developed over time.
I very much believe you have to sit with spaces and get to know them, see what the light is like throughout the day and in different conditions, but also how you instinctively work with a space. It helps you to work out what’s wrong, what’s right and also see some of the issues you’re going to potentially come up against.
I like to think everything which embodies my interior style is warm and inviting. I like spaces that instantly feel like home, so lots of textures and warmth from wooden elements. I generally go for neutral based tones and whilst there’s certainly more colourful elements coming into the spaces I’m creating currently, I’m personally not one for bright colours.
Now Instagram is full of interior creators, and I think the platform has hugely influenced people to be more adventurous with how they decorate and live in their homes. It helps us to define our own tastes as you can completely curate your feed by following people whose taste inspires you. As a result, Instagram is a huge pick ‘n’ mix of things for you to draw from when you come to designing your own space.
Since starting my page I’ve been so lucky to work with some incredible brands. I’ve always loved the actual creation of the content, as well as the photographing and styling aspect. When a brand comes to me with a brief, I love sitting down and deciding how I’m going to produce something that tells a bit of a story. I especially love working with Jo Malone London and telling the stories of the fragrances visually because it’s all so open to interpretation and I love that.
Hopefully my followers see my content as accessible and inspiring, but I also try my best to do things with a real sense of humour. Being realistic about situations is really key to me. As much as I love a polished piece of content and a space looking beautifully styled, I try to present it with the reality of what it took to get there. There’s no clicking of fingers to reveal a full room renovation. You’ll see the falling from ladders, paint spills and various mistakes along the way that were necessary to get to that result.
Sarah-Jane Smith lives in Northumberland in her Victorian-terraced home with her husband, toddler and dog. Having lived in the property for 10 years, she’s currently on her second round of renovations, alongside a loft conversion and kitchen extension.
I’ve always loved interior design, even from a young age. Growing up I would rearrange my bedroom all the time and I used to sketch out plans for redecorating which I’d pitch to my parents to help me bring my ideas to life. My dolphin bedroom was a personal favourite, but I was gutted they couldn’t get me a glass topped glitter jacuzzi in the middle of the room.
We first bought our house and did the first lot of renovations as the property needed a lot of TLC. I’d always dreamed of having my own place to decorate and took lots of inspiration from travels, hotels and everyday life too. Interior design has become a hobby and is something that I really love.
As a photographer I’m always taking photos and found myself documenting our home renovations more and more but wanted a place to keep it all and look back on our progress and changes. An Instagram page seemed like the perfect place and although I was quite nervous to set up a page and put it off for ages, at the end of 2018 I went for it and honestly, the community is just amazing.
Our plan for the house has developed over time but ultimately, we fill our home with all the stuff we love. We’ve always embraced our personal tastes, so it’s naturally changed as time has gone on.
Our littlest guy joined us at the end of 2022 and not long after we started on our current renovations as we are very much now in our family era. There are lots of things we do differently now and things that we’ve changed that no longer suit our needs, however I feel fortunate that we get to design a space that works for us as a family and somewhere we can all grow in.
In terms of my home style, I’ve always followed the motto ‘if you like it then you can’t do any wrong’. I choose colours I like and I think we’ve been led a lot by the house itself. For example, how the light comes into each room at different times of the day and how we want to feel in each room – I don’t generally look at the house as a whole but more room by room.
Getting inspiration has never been easier and I think Instagram is great for seeing how people style their own homes, and finding out where certain items are from and getting ideas for paint colours. I think the platform gives people the confidence to just go for it. Plus, there are so many amazing hacks for home renovations and design which again, I think gives people the confidence to try out new things and get creative.
I’ve been so fortunate to have so many highlights since starting @homebythestation, but my number one has to be the people behind the accounts – there’s just so much inspiration and everyone is so supportive, it feels like people are cheering each other on.
I’ve also really enjoyed having the opportunity to work with brands who I’m a genuine fan of. I once had a photo of my bathtub go viral which was absolutely wild.
Although every room is different, our living room is my current favourite room in the house. I dreamed of arched alcove shelving and putting all my bits and bobs on display, and it still doesn’t feel real that it all worked out. I couldn’t have designed the layout any better for us and the room works really hard and ticks all of our boxes. Plus, the Christmas tree has never had a better location which was my starting point for this room.
