I can tell in 5 minutes why a room doesn’t feel right – here’s what I look for

Hallway with lower half painted coral and top salmon, with green radiator cover console table with vase of hydrangeas and blue and white striped lamp, beneath round mirror reflecting coat rack.

Home decorator and content creator Grace H is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on colourful home design, mixing vintage pieces with new and making personality-filled spaces. See the rest of her articles here.

I’m asked for advice all the time about why a room isn’t working. I can’t, for the life of me, use an electric saw (yet!), but to borrow the words of Liam Neeson, what I do have is a particular set of skills. Skills I’ve acquired over a very long career. And that particular skill is being able to walk into a room and, usually within five minutes, work out why it isn’t quite working.