Home Sweet Home: My Space - Huma Qureshi from Her Little Place

Huma Qureshi is a pretty prolific journalist who writes for The Guardian, The Times, The Metro and City AM. Her thing is home and lifestyle and my does she do it well with pieces on small space living, the demise of cupcakes and the trends in interior design. Her blog, Her Little Place also follows along the same lines of her freelance writing with the emphasis on creating beautiful things as well as a gorgeous environment. Huma started blogging last year after reading a article in the Financial Times by a fellow journalist and blogger, Caroline Taylor (from Patchwork Harmony) about the wonders of blogging. So Her Little Place was born where Huma can share her love of interiors and all other wonderful home life things. I caught up with her to discuss where she writes her blog.

Describe the concept of Her Little Place.
Her Little Place is all about inspiration and comfort, and a place for me to share my thoughts and ideas with readers, with recipes, photos and writing, as I love to let my readers know about my published pieces for papers and magazines. The boutique concept, selling mail-order cookies, is a lot newer, and is simply born out of my love for baking, and my friends' insistence that I make mycookies more available!

Where do you scribe?

I wish I could say I had some handsome vintage writing desk to write at; sadly, I don't. My apartment is small - so I either write sitting cross-legged on my bed (not the best for posture), or on the sofa, with my laptop poised on the arm rest. 

Why that place?

Well, I suppose I could write in a much more civilised manner by sitting at my dining table, but it gets too crowded with my papers and notebooks and besides, I can't plug in my laptop charger when I sit there!

What is on your sofa at the moment?

I have to say, my sofa is not in great shape at the moment - I bought it from Habitat only a year and a half ago and it seems to... sag. I bought it because I loved the indigo colour. I make it pop with bright coloured cushions - pink and purple when I'm feeling girly or I'll tone it down with olives. I've got a really lovely olive throw that I sometimes dress it up with too when I want to avoid it being too purple-pink.

What form of inspiration do you have on the wall ie photos, magazine cuttings or extracts?

Being a professional writer, I am always keeping my eye out for magazine or newspaper cuttings that might inspire a new piece - but I'd never stick these up on the wall. Instead, I keep my cuts in box files that I'll refresh every week. I like to keep the walls simple, keeping room for favourite framed artwork or prints instead.

Do you keep a tidy office or are you a messy worker?

I'm pretty tidy when it comes to work - I guess when you live in a small space you have to be. So even if I have my papers or magazines spread out when I write, I'll gather them together and file away when I'm done. I can't stand leaving the flat in a messy state; putting everything back in it's place signals the end of my working day.

You can read Huma's blog here.

You can follow her on Twitter here.