DKT Interior Design Studio

The Table | Wednesday 8pm BST

Last night, I opened “The Table” for the first time, and honestly I wasn’t sure what would happen.

My DMs and whatsapp chats are full of questions I genuinely want to answer, but they arrive in the middle of a working day and I can never give them the time they deserve. Sooo… The Table fixes that.

One hour, doors open, and I actually get to sit with what you’re asking rather than firing back a rushed line between site visits.

The first one was busy. I managed to whittle the submissions down to top 10 questions, and the range was great. What plants won’t die on you. How to childproof expensive furniture. The colours that open a room instead of white. How to start sourcing vintage. And the one I saved for last, which wasn’t really a design question: how do you cope when your home feels like it will never be finished.

I answered all ten this time. But I think, going forward I might take fewer and go deeper, especially if the questions get more involved, which I rather hope they do.

The answers all live in the Between Rooms chat, so you can go back and read through whenever you like. And The Table opens again next Wednesday at 8pm, for an hour.

Not in the chat yet? Tap the Between Rooms channel at the top of my profile and join me. Depending how this ends up going, we may do a live call or a zoom eventually.

Thanks to all who submitted questions and looking forward to the next one 🙌🏽

Dhil x

The Table | Every Wednesday Night for an Hour

Last night I opened The Table for the first time, and honestly I wasn’t sure what would happen.

My DMs are full of questions I genuinely want to answer, but they arrive in the middle of a working day and I can never give them the time they deserve. Soooo…”The Table” fixes that.

One hour, doors open, and I actually get to sit with what you’re asking rather than firing back a rushed line between site visits.

The first one was busy. I gathered the top ten questions, and the range of them made me smile. What plants won’t die on you. How to childproof beautiful furniture. The colours that open a room when white feels wrong. How to start curating vintage. And the one I saved for last, which wasn’t really a design question at all: how do you cope when your home feels like it will never be finished.

I managed to answer all ten this time. Going forward I might take fewer and go deeper, especially if the questions get more involved, which I rather hope they do.

The answers all live in the “Between Rooms” chat, so you can go back and read through whenever you like. And The Table opens again next Wednesday at 8pm, for an hour.

Not in the chat yet? Tap the Between Rooms channel at the top of my profile and join me next week.

Dhil x

A Dreamy Home for our Dreamy Clients

Six weeks out. 🤞🏽

The renders are great but they’re more than that to us. What they don’t show is how long it took to understand this wonderful family, what their mornings actually look like, how they spend their evenings, where the dog will inevitably end up sleeping.

Designing Engelfield has never been about aesthetics alone. It’s been about building something that holds up. Literally, the kids, a dog, the family travelling the states, everyday life — but also emotionally. This is their forever home. The one they’re stepping into as the next version of themselves, and we wanted every material, every finish, every piece of furniture to feel like it already knew that.

Right now we’re in the final stretch. Ordering the last pieces, pulling together the styling, making sure every room earns its place. The family room where they’ll actually curl up. The island they’ll gather around every morning that leads to patio for where they will roast marshmallows on wintery nights. The dining table big enough for Friendsgiving and the mudroom that will do the most.

That’s the part of this job that doesn’t make it into the brief. Getting to know a family well enough to design the backdrop of their life. We don’t take that lightly.

So grateful to our clients for letting us in. 🙏🏽🥰

# designingforwellbeing

I finally started my own Substack. 🙌🏽

It has been a goal of mine this year but I didn’t announce it because I didn’t feel ready. Nevertheless, it is now here and I need to get out of my own way.

My latest entry: How slow work shows up all at once.
You spend years doing the unseen thing. The drawings nobody asks for. The late nights. The supplier meetings. The hundred small decisions, most of them invisible by design.

And then a season arrives where several of those quiet years stand up and ask to be counted.

This is one of those seasons. turned a year older yesterday. Our Invisible House Reimagined was published in as an eight page spread in May. We were invited to the WOW!house preview. And tomorrow I sit on my first panel at the Design Centre with Manuela Hamilford and Brian Woulfe, which will be hosted by the wonderful .rich
I wrote about all of it, properly, in a letter this morning. About friendship. About science and instinct. About what it actually costs to build a studio quietly over years, and the difference between the visible moments and the work underneath them.

Link in bio if you would like to read.

What lies Beneath | Everything that is captured for socials is only the tip of the iceberg.

The hundreds of decisions, the sleepless nights finalising drawings, the skills it takes to bring a vision into reality or to help a client understand why some Pinterest dreams cost double or triple what they expect to spend, countless phone calls with contractors, site meetings, changing a kitchen layout, replacing products sourced months in advance because they are now out of stock. It takes patience, dedication and a true passion to do what we do.

Not everything is painful but there’s tremendous bravery that goes into showing up everyday with a solution focused mindset despite a mountain of responsibility and deadlines. Our role is to be calm to our clients chaos, their compass and their dream maker, but that the reality is that we have so much on in the background, it really comes down to ensuring we are good first and foremost. Clear communication, financial planning before the build even begins and scheduling is a critical part of that process and wellbeing in long run.

Just because Pinterest and AI make vision boarding exciting and just because DIYers on shows like Interior Design Masters or YouTube are MacGyvering their way on pennies. It does not mean the same for your £100k FF&E budget for 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, media room, entrance and open plan kitchen diner - and you want marble architraves with limewash walls.

I love that we attract clients who have impeccable taste. And I have learned that it also means that no matter what the financial bracket there always needs to be a long hard conversation about the investment it requires to make their dreams come true.

We are a creative powerhouse, small but mighty because we have refined our attention to detail. We are not afraid to tackle complex projects or hearing “no that is impossible” - everything is possible with the right investment, the right team and the right attitude.