A while back, Tim came to London to perform at the Isokon building in Belsize Park, and I managed to catch up with him to record this podcast.

As a small boy in the Seventies, Tim quietly absorbed the lessons of modernist architecture. He remembers accompanying his parents to a dinner party at a modern house, where the sound of laughter reverberated around the circular lounge; his career seems to have been about trying to recapture that heady moment.

In 2003, he bought his own modernist house in Sydney, a move which, he says, ‘changed my life for the better’. His fascination with architecture and design had previously been a solitary pursuit, but the house provided a way to meet like-minded people and a launchpad for his TV career.

Tim is really great company, and we talk about all sorts of things. He explains how he’s an outlier in his family, and what it felt like to perform on stage for the first time.

He tells me about the day the Beastie Boys came to visit and wouldn’t leave, why he’d rather learn to be a builder than go through the stress of another renovation project, and why he swears by the uplifting effects of tinted moisturiser.

This episode was recorded in person in Brick Lane, London.

For more:

Visit The Modern House website to see images of the spaces discussed in this episode

Discover more about Tim Ross and his live shows

See more of his Sydney home

Producer: Hannah Phillips

Editing: Oscar Crawford

Graphic Design: Tom Young and Ben Tucker

Music: Father

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Luke has kindly invited us to his house in the Cotswolds, which he shares with his husband, Duncan Campbell, and a pair of enthusiastic whippets.

I was intrigued to learn that this modern-day dandy comes from a bog-standard commuter town, and like many of the people I talk to on this podcast, his creative impulses offered a route out of mediocrity.

He tells me his very personal backstory of being estranged from his father at a young age, and what it was like to come out as gay to his family.

We talk about his witty, whimsical interpretation of the English Country House Style, why he believes you should invest yourself financially and emotionally in a rental, and why he chose to paint his London flat in ‘Pepto-Bismol pink’ before getting rid of it a few days later.

This episode was recorded in person at Luke’s cottage in the Cotswolds.

For more:

Check out the work of Luke Edward Hall

See images of the home he shares with Duncan Campbell over on our sister website, Inigo

Visit The Modern House website

Producer: Hannah Phillips

Editing: Oscar Crawford

Graphic Design: Tom Young and Ben Tucker

Music: Father

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the first time we’ve recorded an episode in a hotel suite, and that’s because today’s guest knows more about opening doors to glamorous guesthouses than anyone else.

James Lohan co-founded the travel company Mr & Mrs Smith with his wife Tamara back in 2003, and since then he’s visited nearly 4,000 hotels in the name of research.

James is a gregarious character with some brilliant tales to tell.We discuss his earliest experiences as an entrepreneur, from selling cheese toasties at school, to setting up a mobile disco called Your Mother Wouldn’t Like It.

He tells me about his refurbishment of a Dutch barge on the Thames – complete with flock wallpaper and a freestanding bath – and what he’s learned from hotels that we might apply to our homes.

This episode was recorded in person at The Nomad Hotel, London.

For more:

Check out Mr & Mrs Smith

Visit The Modern House website

Producer: Hannah Phillips

Editing and mixing: Oscar Crawford

Music: Father

Graphic Design: Tom Young and Ben Tucker

This episode was sponsored by Vitsoe.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.