It’s known as the plumber’s tap syndrome – the person with the monkey wrench is so busy mending everyone else’s leaks that his or her own tap is neglected. Does a similar problem afflict interior designers? And when a designer finally does get round to working on his or her home, what agonies do these creative types suffer?

One interior designer says: “Doing my own home was the only job I’ve ever started work on when I found that I simply had no ideas and no inspiration. I nearly ended up copying something I’d recently done for a client – I just couldn’t think where to start.”