I don't enjoy living in a white box flooded with light. I like shadows, small spaces, old furniture.

I like the absurd and the surreal: the Coen brothers, Bunuel, Kubrick.

I'm terribly fastidious. I like symmetry and neatness, but my house is as chaotic as any other family's.

I'm not too fond of really cool design. I've got quite kitsch taste really, in things like tableware. I'm quite a sucker for 1930s pressed glass.

I've had my fair share of colds, which last longer than they should and can cause wheezing, so I avoid people who are sneezing like the plague and am scrupulous about hygiene and hand-washing.

Building a house from scratch in the middle of a field is a bit like building a prototype car. As with all prototypes, if you're building a car you usually have the luxury of producing several prototypes before you arrive at the production line version - so the opportunity for changing things is quite rich.