Want to learn to skipper a super yacht? Or have an intimate week-long stag party with a difference? Perhaps you’re looking to entertain your business associates with real panache? Or have a memorable off-site meeting? Or do you just feel like throwing everything in a weekend bag and jetting off to Greece for some last-minute sun and sailing? And perhaps doing some water-skiing, wakeboarding and fishing too?

Now you can enjoy this luxury for a price that fits wallets that may already be slim after a summer holiday in Cap Ferrat, buying a Saro-Gem custom watch or splashing out on the new Jaguar F type.

Welcome to Misty Blue – a 63-foot luxury motor yacht that takes six guests plus crew. She’s unique, built entirely to owner David and Sharon Waldman’s high quality specifications. Think wood panelling, three roomy cabins with their own luxury marble en suite bathrooms, a big saloon, leather sofas and the thickest of vanilla hand-made Indian carpet. She’s 2002 vintage but looks spanking new after extensive re-fitting.

There’s never been a better time than now to step aboard Misty Blue. Not just because she cruises the newly fashionable Ionian Sea – to the destinations of your choice. Not simply because you swop grey skies for weather that’s blissful from now until November and boasts blue heavens again from April. But because this is the Lusso deal of the century, and perhaps the millennium.

Instead of the boat and crew costing you £18,000 to charter for six people for a week, she’s being offered to the Lusso lads (and ladies) for £11,950. Just £166 per person per night (based on six people). If you want something short and sweet, take a day’s cruise and gourmet meal aboard for £150 per person. Or a special Stars and Drinks evening – about which more later – a snip at £75 a head.

The week’s price covers as much alcohol as you can drink 24/7, skippering lessons if you’d like them, loan of watersports and fishing gear and breakfast and delicious home-cooked lunch every day plus one gourmet five-course evening meal during the week. Included too are a personal tender to take you to shore whenever you choose, plus all the yachting services of David and Sharon, the delightful crew of two… He’s the Captain/engineer; she’s the first mate/chef.

What’s the catch? There isn’t one.

If this sounds like an advertisement, it’s not. A promotion? It’s not. It’s just happened that David and Sharon read Lusso – possibly the universe’s leading luxury lifestyle magazine – and knew they wanted to share their yacht with its readers. Their kind of people.

You’ll be in good company if you cruise the Ionian. Billie Piper just holidayed there and so too Giorgio Armani, the latter on his own boat. And it’s a magnet for Oprah, Spielberg, Madonna and Abramovich. It offers some of the best sailing in the world.

Hop aboard Misty Blue and you can visit emerald islands in an azure sea. David will teach you to skipper, helping you with boat handling and navigation. Afterwards you’ll pop onshore to dance the night away in the groovy nightclubs of Lefkada. Or jump in the tender to nip across the waves to quayside bars with live music in Meganisi’s Port Vathy.

You may drop anchor by the floating Russian palaces – the mega yachts found beside Skorpios, the new party island belonging to 24 year-old Ekaterina, daughter of potash buhzillionaire Dmitry Ryboloblev. And swim to one of its beaches. Or you can learn to scuba-dive. And who could resist water-skiing or wakeboarding beside these James Bond-style party islands?

If peace is more your thing, David will take you to hidden bays and secluded beaches and the best harbours. You’ll probably see turtles swimming and swordfish jumping out of water and dolphins playing in the bow waves as you cruise along gently. He’ll also guide you on walks through gorges and villages. Or you’ll hug the coast at Misty Blue’s leisurely pace of 10 knots an hour, sailing past Lord Rothschild’s own private peninsula for the rich and famous on Meganisi.

You’ll eat barbecued sea bream, succulent octopus and stuffed vine leaves and drink ouzo and retsina. Then feast on watermelon sweeter than the sun. You’ll find few places to beat the Taverna Stavros Family on Meganisi. It’s on the marina, the tables set beside the bobbing boats and owner Nikolaos will treat you like a long-lost friend.

But when you don’t ever want to see taramasalata again, you can enjoy Sharon’s cooking on board. Coronation chicken for lunch, perhaps? Or a gourmet dinner with homemade fish cakes, lemon and lime sorbet to clean the palette, salmon with crème fraîche and dill and then the lightest of sticky toffee puddings.

You’ll sunbathe on deck then lie on a recliner sipping cocktails in the evening as the sun dips behind the hills. Just when you think it can’t get any better, you can stretch under a limitless sky, watching shooting stars. Or invite Steve Clarke-Lens on board for a Stars and Drinks evening. An eccentric Englishman who built his own felucca (Egyptian ship), Steve now struts the deck of Misty Blue with thespian abandon, pointing his torch into the night sky and hammily divulging fascinating facts about….oh well, I’m not going to spoil it by saying. Just go see for yourself.

Once the Brits thought that professional style advice was best left to Desperate Housewives and Mad Men. Americans, in other words. Women in the UK ran a mile from beauty consultants wearing concrete-mix makeup and men legged it at the idea of skin care, moob jobs or a personal stylist. We women preferred instead to be amateurish in our clothes purchases – going for the DIY approach – or, in the case of men, electing to be, well, man-ish. But now that’s all changed and the stylish and wannabe cool are hiring Annabel Hodin, erstwhile model (talent spotted by US Vogue’s Anna Wintour) and the fashion editors’ favourite. She is the ne plus ultra of stylists.

Annabel offers a bespoke service, from £350 for an initial consultation to meet you and look at your present wardrobe and discuss editing and/or shopping and budget. She arrives punctually for my appointment – sporting model’s face and figure and Celine–style outfit. “I like clean lines,” she explains. (Wear your best knickers when you see her – you’ll be trying on your clothes. And chucking a lot out!) With frankness and a twinkle in her eye, she goes through my clothes, jewellery, makeup….. And then through my husband Adrian’s wardrobe (albeit with him as an additional consultation on a different day).

It’s an epiphany. I put on my favourite coat. “It’s too angular for you,” she says. “Not doing you any favours.” I slip on a dress. “It’s furnishing fabric,” she says, but tactfully. During Adrian’s appointment later, it is suggested that he jettison several particularly unattractive garments that he clearly inherited from Fred Flinstone. Annabel’s directness gets results. In between doing the wardrobe clear-out, she’s giving tips: where to get the perfect eyebrow created (“Threading gives too harsh a look”), best his ‘n’ her laser hair removal (Joanne Evans at Kensington’s Medical Rooms), brilliant facialist (Vaishaly), where to get great grooming or even Bro-tox (Botox for him).

As we do the wardrobe exploration, Annabel highlights my good points. Perfect Fifties silhouette and beautiful, sculptural face, since you ask. “So keeping to simple, classic lines will enhance your natural look. Which is why,” she reveals, “I’m editing out the masculine shapes….” She takes notes and sketches what I’m keeping. “In case you call and say I need something to go with Y..” (Later, I tell her I’m going to Marylebone. When I’m standing in queue to buy some fish, I get a text. She offers phone support as part of a follow-up package. ‘Remember to go to Matches to look at the plum and taupe sandals,’ it reads. ‘Very chic.’ Equally Adrian receives a timely and useful text reminder of a garment he actually needs – rather than an impulse buy – when he’s in the middle of having a quick peek at wish-he-could-afford-them cars in a Knightsbridge showroom).

Annabel identifies a person’s style and is great on colour, proportions and what’s age appropriate. For me: out with tagliatelle straps and shoes that look like a dead lizard – and that’s just for starters. For him: out with the shirts that make his complexion look as if he’s feeling sea-sick. “I want to help you assess how to convey – with what you wear – the message you wish to get across about who you are,” she explains. “We’re going to build a capsule wardrobe of 20 or so classic pieces which you can accessorise for work or play – a look that fits your life.”

We pull all the pieces out of my schizoid wardrobe – a combo of bloke-ish tailoring and boho-not-chic. Over our morning together, Annabel does what she calls an ‘edit’ – but which I’d call a chic cull. She’s aiming with me more for Grace Kelly meets ’50s Dior than my series of sales oopsies and unmatching separates. (And for him? Well, hmm, a sort of Colin Firth in Tom Ford’s Single Man look.) “You’ve wasted tons of cash buying the wrong things,” she says. “Getting your look right saves time and energy and money.” (Until now, we have both considered ourselves to be fairly stylish and well-groomed!) “You’ve certainly got a good eye,” she continues. “It would take a one-day shop for you to have a fabulous wardrobe and feel incredible too. Cut out buying uncordinated items on a whim. The secret to great style is an uncluttered wardrobe full of key pieces that you love and staples that work.”

We put aside clothes that are too small, too cheap or never worn (mostly sale) mistakes. Things that I’ve been holding onto because I wore them at my 21st/my brother’s weddings/on my first date. High fashion that is dated. Garments that are tired or marked. Hey, even a fair amount of Prada and Pucci goes to that clothes pile in the sky. But apparently we wear barely 20% of our wardrobes; and streamlining, well it’s just so very now, isn’t it?

After her phenomenally efficient edit, I have a thin wardrobe (and Adrian has piles ready to adorn the rails of a second-hand shop that sells Gucci. Get ye there quickly). Then Annabel puts my clothes into outfits to see what’s missing, identifies the gaps in my remaining material possessions and we set out to fill them. “You should never go shopping unless you are looking for something specific,” she counsels wisely.

Ah, shopping. If you’ve got more pressing things to do (i.e. take out your speed boat/go sailing/take your Ferrari out for a whirl) than traipse around fashion boutiques, then it’s worth hiring someone like Annabel. She already knows precisely what shops have in stock, understands what suits you better than you know yourself, and knows where to find everything – whether it be a big name designer or high street – because she researches so very well.

Our first stop is Browns, where we get treated like royalty and pick up Hollywood dresses, statement shoes and Norma Kamali. “Delicious costume colours,” says Annabel appreciatively. (His first stop is Selfridges. Under her expert gaze, he buys a zillion-ply cashmere jacket, which costs more than ten arms and ten legs. “Quality over quantity,” says Annabel, ever the sartorial economist. “It’s better to buy fewer and better”.) Then there’s Matches for everything under the sartorial sun, and more.

We proceed to Joseph (St John’s Wood), where we’re helped by the indefatigable Elly. “They’re great at doing designer inspired looks, at a snip of the price,” explains Annabel. “All the fashion editors go there.” Morphing into a fashion editor, I leave with a few carefully selected items: cropped trousers, Prada lookalikes, pieces of wonderfulness at reasonable prices. But it doesn’t stop there. Soon Annabel has also kitted me out in retro sunglasses from Cutler & Gross – which look better than anything I’ve ever selected; and shoes in enough colours to make a paint chart from Tod’s in Bond Street – helped by manager Simone Artuso. (There’s nothing he doesn’t know about feet and handbags.)

There are financial benefits to all this. I save days of trudging around stores like a demented bargain hunter simply in order to waste lots of money on ill-fitting, mismatched outfits in styles that suit Victoria Beckham or Kate Middleton. Annabel insists on buying key pieces that will last. “The simpler the cut, the more timeless it is.” She avoids cheap fabrics, cheap cuts and cheap colours. “Select something,” she explains, “that is or looks expensive and timeless.”

She goes for multiple buys. Not exactly two for the price of one. And not quite stack ’em high and buy ’em low. But you get the gist. Who ever thought of splashing out on more than one pair of the same trousers? Not me. “It saves time later,” she explains. “If it’s a classic, you can have it in more than one colour.” Sales? “Only if you already know it’s the right size and colour. But I prefer Refund Shopping – if you are at all unsure and alone – only go where they’ll reimburse.”

For the first time in my life, I end up with what the cogniscenti call ‘a capsule wardrobe’ that works and can be updated (inexpensively) with accessories. “It’ll take you just minutes to pack whenever you go away,” she says reassuringly, “because everything cross coordinates.” As for Adrian, he’s now got a fabbo closet and has followed the Annabel Plan For Looking Good Inside and Out – raiding her little black book secrets for everything from how to get naturally white teeth (“Super white is too American”) to where to get the best massage in town.

Annabel has a loyal following including ever increasing numbers of male clients. “They want the makeovers, grooming and tips they’ve seen women get,” she explains. “They know that successful men look successful, and they want the transformation they’ve seen in a George Clooney or Daniel Craig. A smart, well-chosen suit won’t get you the job or the partner – but it helps.” It is, she adds, less about fashion than style.

“When I’m dressed right, I look the part, feel more confident and do better,” explains a bond trader friend, later. “But you have to get the guys over a bottle of Crystal before they’ll admit seeing Annabel – unless they have lots of public appearances. Hell, who wants to admit they cannot dress themselves?!”

During these times when people are tightening their (Louis Vuitton) belts, Annabel has seen a ten per cent rise in business. She’s not someone you want in tough times, she’s someone you need. She’s the person who simplifies life. The one who helps women/fellas get or keep their guys/babes/jobs.

In the autumn, she’s launching a service specifically for well-heeled Americans visiting London. “To give them the unexpected style accent that the Brits do so well,” she explains. Barack Obama? He could already be one of hers, he’s so well dressed. “Well, is he?” I ask. She smiles.

As for me, she’s worth her weight in clothes that I chucked out. It’s (almost) the best money I’ve ever spent – making everything work in a different way and creating a functional wardrobe. Wherever I go, people tell me now how fabulous I look. “Annabel,” I reply knowingly. Do you remember what Carrie Fisher wrote in Postcards from the Edge? ‘The only clothes I like are the ones I’m about to buy.’ For the first time in my life, the only clothes I like are the ones I’ve just bought. And my Mr Fisher feels the same way too.

If you’re the type who has tons of clothes but never anything to wear, read on. Once we Brits thought that professional style advice was best left to our Transatlantic cousins. We legged it in department stores at the sight of consultants wearing knee-high foundation and extreme designer clothes: reincarnated Stepford Wives telling us which colours and styles of clothes (and makeup) to wear.

We preferred instead to be amateurish in our garment purchases – either going for DIY or stupidly relying on shop assistants to give us honest, objective advice. (Hello, who’s on commission here?)

Either way, all too often we ended up with expensive and uncoordinated items. Impulse buys and age inappropriate clothes. Rubbish sales purchases. And clothes that will fit one day, honest.

Now Notting Hillybillies, sharp investors and slebs are turning to professional help. “Personal stylists have gone big,” confirms Fiona Golfar, editor at large of British Vogue. More specifically, they’re hiring stylist Annabel Hodin to help them make their sartorial choices. She’s an erstwhile model – she was talent spotted by US Vogue’s Anna Wintour – and is the fashion editors’ favourite.

There’s scarcely a glossy magazine editor or newspaper fashionista who hasn’t sought her help. After all, the girl has pedigree: she has created looks for Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger and Bryan Ferry, styling their photo shoots. And the same for Helena Bonham Carter, Rachel Weisz and Mariella Frostrup.

Annabel offers a bespoke service that includes consultations, wardrobe edits, shopping trips and follow ups in person and/or on the phone. Initially she comes to your house or office – the latter for a consultation, ideal for those who feel shy about a lady going through their drawers within an hour of meeting. If she’s doing a home visit, you’d best wear good underwear – you’ll be trying on clothes.

With refreshing frankness and energy, she’ll go through your wardrobe –and with you, she’ll select looks that work for you, find gaps in your closet, identify what you think you want and need and discuss what she reckons would work. Yep, time to chuck the vintage if you’re old enough to have worn it first time round.

After her efficient edit, you’ll have a leaner wardrobe. (Mine was positively slimline.) Then she’ll put your clothes into outfits to see what’s missing, and together you’ll set out to fill them. So now to shopping! Yipee! She has already scoured the shops for weeks prior to meeting you, understands what suits you probably better than you know yourself, and knows where to find everything….whether it be designer or high street. She’ll whizz you through West London’s stylish boutiques and on to Selfridges or perhaps to St John’s Wood High Street’s Joseph – which has clothes not carried elsewhere – for core items. And all done with military precision and a brilliant eye.

Annabel helps you buy key pieces that will last: simple, timeless cuts. She avoids cheap fabrics, cuts and colours. She goes for multiple buys if it’s a vital core item. (Genius. It never occurred to me to buy more than one of something that suits me. “It saves one for best,” she says. “If it’s a classic, you can have it in more than one colour.”) She discourages shopping in the sales. “Only if you already know it’s the right size and colour.” And when you’re all alone and that shopping urge comes upon you, she recommends that you, “Only go where they’ll reimburse!”

Having an appointment with Annabel may be the some of the best money you’ve ever spent. It was for me. When I sold my ‘rejects’ to a second hand dress agency, I made more money than she charges for a consultation. Oh, and she gave me top tips on everything from beauty, my hair cut and colour to personal trainers. Friends keep telling me how good I look. For the first time in my life, I have a capsule wardrobe that works and can be updated (inexpensively) with accessories. For the first time ever, I can’t say that the only clothes I like are the ones I’m about to buy…

MUMBAI – as Bombay is now known – may not be the fist place that comes to mind when planning a shopping spree in search of homeware. But for about £1,000 (which includes return air fare, a Sheraton hotel room and a day with spent with a car a driver and a personal shopper), you can take a long weekend in the Indian business capital and come home laden with home goodies. Traveltakes about the same time as flying to New York.

Over the phone, Tanya at specialist firm reaves Tours sings the praises of Mumbaibased über-shopper, Monica Vazirelli. Vazirelli is a former interior designer with a packed contacts book and can, apparently snap her fingers and get things made, copied and shipped in an instant. She can find antiques in back alleys for next o nothing, and unearth silverware and raw-silk upholstered sofas.

Vazirelli is, by al accounts, the Trinny and Susannah of the sub-continental decorating world.

Mumbai is city throbbing with energy and is not an easy place to master. Britons find it almost impossible to buy prperty there and residential rentals can be sky-high. But shopping in the city – whichstarts with a Sheraton curry breakfast and an Ayurvedic massage in the fivestar hotel’s spa – ws never such fun in London.

I meet Vazirelli at 11.30am, the recognised start of any Mumbai shopping day. Resplendent in orange nd pink with long silver hair and gold sandals, she quickly plans my itinerary. I want bepoke leather ottomans (I’ve spent a year failing to find them in a particular size in London), three rough-silk blinds for our bay window, cushions with chain stitch, and Š well, I’m still waving my list as we drive off.

Vazirelli soon proves worth her weight in god (or indeed silver, if we’re talking about handmade, beaten, silverclad funiture). I could never have found these places on my own.

We are chuffeured from Phillips (perfect for kitsch iconography and Victoriana) to Moorthy’s Antiques Warehouse – just down that alleyway, past the banyan trees and tucked under an overhanging corrugated rof – for colonial furniture, spiral staircases and Kerala carved columns.

At Bharat Funishings I buy “antique rose” cotton damask (£8 a metre); in Kala Niketan, amid sais and bangles, we choose exquisite raw silk (£3 a metre). D Popli offers a mine f jewellery and great silver boxes, frames and candlesticks – at tin prices – and, at Pllate, there are acres of Asian contemporary design on display and, oh, such cushions hen there are the leather hides in the Muslim quarter, and the master tailor, Kishor, at Choice, wo makes my silk into beautiful blinds in four days (less than £250 for three blinds, incuding the fabric).

Vazirelli makes this so easy because, unlike me, she speaks Hindi, knows where places are (unlike the tai drivers), isn’t on commission, gets fair prices, stops me dithering, saves me from myworst style mistakes and even helps me cross the roads (a feat in itself). She also getsitems loaned (on approval) and persuades me to pay for items that will be delivered lter. Ah, such trust.

For lunch she takes me to the (members only) Willingdon Club, wher ladies play bridge and gentlemen ring bells for the waiters’ attention. In the evenig we attend a contemporary Indian art auction at the Taj hotel, where shouting “lakh” is a pice in millions and not a comment on the art.

On the way back, we must make our way in thedart through a 3,000-strong wedding party; there are fireworks, tambourines and raucus street vendors: Peter Jones this ain’t.

SHE will fire your cook in Portuguese and arrange for your shoes to be put into boxes with Polaroid shots of them on the outside; help you buy, decorate and let your houses; try to get your daughter into Francis Holland, organise dinner for three or 300, personally scrutinise your Bahamas holiday home or fly masseurs to meet you in Cannes and return in your private jet.

Meet Lady Cosima Somerset – Cozzy to her buddies and clients – director of Concierge London. She has blonde hair (colour by Sejours, cut by Robert Casson) and is wearing natural makeup (“Trish McEvoy, at Harvey Nichols, is the best – I always go there before a party,” says Cosima) and sexy Jimmy Choo boots with Agnes B clothes.

Aged 43, she has a great body, (“Tim Bean, who charges £5,000 for a 12-week programme, changes your shape,”) and may have sought the services of Dr Elizabeth Dancey (“Britain’s leading dermatologist – amazing skin prick nutrition treatments”) and Yannis Alexandrides (“tops for laser treatments for the skin and botox”). She is also sweet, professional and funny.

Her clients range from her aunt, Lady Annabel Goldsmith, to Jemima Khan, Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, Mark Birley and Tamara Mellon. Let’s have some gossip, then. “No way!” But she knows everybody, doesn’t she? “No,” laughs Cosima, daughter of the Marquess of Londonderry and former wife of Cosmo Fry and Lord John Somerset. “But I certainly intend to.”

Concierge London membership costs £4,000 plus VAT a year. For this, clients get two free requests (up to an hour’s work) a month. “We’ll research a hotel in Barbados or buy something for you.”

Services thereafter cost £30 an hour, charged in quarter-hour slots – so, booking a restaurant costs £7.50.

Relocating people and organising parties is their forte; the most frequent request is for hiring and firing, though catering is high on the list – “We use Organic Express. The food is superb.”

Concierge London was started in 1999.

Clients live mostly in Belgravia, Hampstead, Chelsea and Kensington. “They want help managing their houses,” says Cosima, a former television researcher and mother of two. She likes long-term relationships. “The more we know clients, the better the service works.”

She says the secret of her success is simple. “It’s the scope and quality of our service, attention to detail and absolute discretion. And understanding our discerning members’ needs.” Add to that the ability to deal with bizarre requests.

“I’m always flying facialists to Paris and jetting off across the world to view houses. It no longer seems unusual.” She claims to always succeed. “Even if things sometimes take a while.” She pauses.

“But rich people always want everything done by tomorrow, at the latest.”

Concierge London, Studio D3, The Depot, 2 Michael Road, SW6 (020 7736 2244; www.conciergelondon.co.uk).

INSIDER KNOWLEDGE: COZZY’S CONTACTS

Maria Clancy: Organic Express – Caterers Who Care (020 7277 6147; email maria organic-express.com).
Tim Bean: personal trainer at the Insitute of Physique Management (07947 329696).
Dr Elizabeth Dancey: dermatological treatments (020 7821 8257).
Yannis Alexandrides: for skin treatments (020 7486 8055).
Hairdressers Karl and Luke: the former for colour and the latter for styling, at Sejours, 3 Bray Place, SW3 (020 7589 1100).
Robert Casson: hairdresser who makes house calls (07956 810265).

IF YOU haven’t yet heard of Katharine Pooley, you soon will. Pooley, erstwhile banker, adventurer and author of an unusual cookbook-cum-travelogue, A Taste of My World, is launching her eponymous Knightsbridge shop.

Dedicated to luxurious living and interiors, it will sell furnishings from Vietnamese tableware to Japanese antique kimono cushions and offers an upmarket interior design service.

“You’ll be able to buy everything you see here,” says thirtysomething Pooley, sitting in her stylish home with its fusion of East and West, contemporary and traditional. “I’m opening the shop because people keep asking where I get these beautiful things.”

So where does she get them? A mixture of everywhere, from the Parisian Marche aux Puces (for Louis XIV) to Bangkok market (gilt Buddhas and suchlike) and Burmese shops (good for Cambodian nick-nacks).

Not to mention the other places she comes across when dog-sledding in Alaska, horseback trekking in Ecuador or visiting Cambodian orphans: this is a woman who flies helicopters, shoots, cooks professionally and intends to climb Mount Everest.

In a cream Ralph Lauren wool skirt, matching sleeveless cashmere jumper, large solitaire diamond and strappy snakeskin shoes, Pooley’s sartorial style matches the décor in her Belgravia home. It is tranquil, fresh, clean and sophisticated, with buttermilk paint, taupe suede curtains, atmospheric John Cullen Design lighting, old limestone and wood floors and almond carpet throughout. Plus lots of Eastern artefacts.

When Pooley and her investment banker husband, Rob, saw the Belgravia house, they instantly fell for it. It was made up of three early-Victorian mews houses that had been knocked into one and entered through a secluded courtyard. “We loved it because it was on two floors,” explains Pooley. “We only saw one other house before buying it.” That was three years ago, when the couple – who also own a Colorado ski lodge, Phuket villa and a Scottish castle – were living in their house in Singapore.

When they bought the property, two men had lived there. “It had just two bedrooms and one bathroom.

Their bedrooms ran the length of the (4,200sq ft) house.”

Pooley’s business partner, Kerry Stone, helped to transform the house into a five-bedroom home with ample entertaining space. “We rewired, knocked through three rooms to make a family room, put three French windows in the drawing room, extended to build a study, made two more bathrooms and a laundry room and drying room.”

THE renovation work took 18 months and the couple moved in, with their four dogs, only two months ago.

No children? “We’re practising making them,” laughs Pooley, who married in 2002.

The drawing room reveals an eclectic mix of first-edition books, 17th-century hats, comfy sofas, zebraskin coffee table, Eastern antiquities, modern Asian sculptures, a massive, contemporary Chinese painting of Communist Party members by Yin Xin and a grand piano. “Mozart played on it. I took piano lessons so that I could surprise my husband on his 40th birthday,” giggles Pooley. “But everyone begged me to stop playing.”

There are silver-framed photos on top of the piano: “That’s the lady who introduced me to my husband on a blind date,” she says, pointing.

“That’s my grandfather. He invented the epidural.”

The drawing room is big enough to incorporate most of the members of the Royal Geographic Society. “I’m hoping to host a party for them,” she says, excitedly. “There’ll be a chocolate fountain, lectures and lots of explorers.” And a £25,000 homecinema installed by then.

Next door, the £75,000 Smallbone family room has a central island and work surfaces covered in unfinished, textured granite, a bespoke Ralph Lauren chest as a coffee table, Sub-Zero and Gaggenau appliances and limitededition photographs of Edmund Hillary’s Everest expedition. It leads onto a formal dining room containing a mixture of Asian antiquities and English 18th century furniture: a Chippendale dining table sits alongside a Burmese chest and six Burmese Mantra statues and English antique dining chairs are stacked with Eastern cushions.

The eclectic mix is repeated upstairs. In their bedroom are antique Asian bedside tables and bench, Vietnamese art, their wedding music framed on the wall, a Louis Vuitton trunk and an antique Scottish voting box.

The D C Dot Company bathroom has black slate walls, walnut cabinets and a limestone floor fringed with beach stones. “Rob wanted dark surfaces for masculinity. I wanted light for femininity.” It boasts a wet-room with overhead shower and vertical water jets, and a Victorian roll-top bath. “Another compromise,” laughs Pooley, who hails from Scotland. “I wanted a bath. But Rob is American.”

The meeting of cultures, styles and interests is everywhere. There’s the planned-for children’s bedroom, with a Chinese opium bed and rare Emperor’s crib; a guestroom with antique European sleigh bed and an attic housing mountaineering and golfing equipment.

And in the courtyard? Well, there’s an old French fountain to aid thirsty dogs and for feng shui, an English stone bench and a red Hong Kong rickshaw. “I spent 15 years in the East,” explains Pooley. “I keep thinking I’m just on holiday here.”

Katharine Pooley, 160 Walton Street, SW3 (020 7584 3223; enquiries katharinepooley.com; www.katharinepooley.com)

Where Katharine Pooley shops

FOR MY LONDON HOME Lighting: Sally Storey at John Cullen Lighting (020 7371 5400) English 18th century antiques: Ronald Phillips (020 7493 2341; email ronaldphillipsltd.co.uk) Carpet: Ulster Carpets (0808 100 0979; www.ulstercarpets.com) Floors: Drummond’s Architectural Antiques (020 7376 4499; www.drummonds-arch.co.uk) Beds: Sophisto-Cat Furniture (020 7731 2221) Kitchen: Smallbone of Devizes (020 7581 9989; www.smallbone.co.uk)

EUROPE

In Paris, I love the antiques square Le Louvre des Antiquaires in Place du Palais Royal (0033 142 975 5212), especially Galerie Heritages, which sells the best range of antique clubstyle chairs. In London, I love Soo San, 598a King’s Road (020 7731 2063), which has a superb collection of antique Chinese furniture and art.

WORLDWIDE

Lotus: Singapore and Thailand (www.lotusartsdevivre.com).

Exquisite accessories and gifts.

Soul of Asia: Phuket (0066 7621 1122; email: info@soulofasia.com web; www.soulofasiathailandartgallery.com). Wonderful Asian art and antiques.

Pagoda House: Singapore (0065 732 2177; www.pagodahouse.com). Marvellous collection of art de vivre and antiques focusing on the south of Asia, Indonesia, Burma and Cambodia.