Lockdown: At Home - Sharon

What’s your name and what do you do?

Hi! I’m Sharon Watson and I’m a Hair and Make Up Artist. I work in the Film and Television Industry and I also have a salon space at home which allows me to cater to my hair clients.

Who lives in your home?

Usually just me and my Alexa, but my friend Aidan has come to ride out the rest of lockdown with me.

How would you describe your home?

I would say it’s pretty eclectic and colourful. I like bold and strong colours and being the magpie that I am there’s a lot of random furniture pieces, from an original G Plan unit I bought from Facebook marketplace for an absolute steal, to my Aunts old dining chairs that I reupholstered and resprayed. My favourite pieces would be my Chris Rivers print above my bed and also my gig posters from some of my favourite bands. These limited edition prints are created by different artists for each venue of the tour and each one I’ve bought and cradled like a newborn to get them home safe. One print from an Interpol show in the Olympia in Dublin was so hot of the press you could still smell the ink!

What have you enjoyed about your home during the lockdown?

My job means that I’m rarely at home for any long periods of time other than just to sleep so I’ve really enjoyed falling back in love with my house and appreciating where I live and taking things at a much slower pace. I’ve discovered after 7 years living here that I can get onto the tow path within 10 minutes walk so that’s been an absolute delight! There’s also an abundance of online tutorials and masterclasses for hair and make up that I’ve been really enjoying too.

Is there a DIY job you've got round to that you're proud of?

Not DIY but the mammoth job of reorganising and cleaning my make up kit was a big one. I’m about to reorganise the space of my walk in wardrobe too so I guess I’m more obsessed with organising rather than fixing.

If you could change anything about your home, what would it be?

The storage space is limited, whether that’s just because I have too much stuff is another matter! Also, since I was a child I’ve dreamed of having a house with a window seat (I blame Clarissa Explains It All for that one) and an island in the kitchen. I can’t explain why but I have an obsession for them and you can bet if I ever see one I will sigh and simply say “I’d love an island in my kitchen”.

What’s the most recent thing you’ve bought for your home?

The shoe rack for my wardrobe arrived just this morning and before that I got the lovely Meraki marble tray for my Haeckels soap in the bathroom. Trying to cut down on my plastic consumption and that soap is devine!

What’s been your go-to meal in the last few weeks?

I’ve actually been making a variety of different things because I have the time to look through my cookbooks and really enjoy the process. Thanks to The Adventurous Vegan Cookbook I made the perfect tofu scramble so that’s my favourite so far.

Is there anything you’ve started to do during lockdown that you’d like to continue as ‘normality’ resumes?

I’ve been reading for an hour or so every day. I was never really into reading and it’s something I never gave myself time for so that’s one thing I hope I continue to do. Also, and believe me I never thought I would say this but, I’ve been really missing my gym! Thankfully the trainers at Hench have set out remote training programmes for us to follow and these have been an absolute godsend for me mentally. It’s helped me cope so much during this time that I rearranged my dining area and created a designated space for training so I can simply roll out a mat and get started. Having the programmes to hand now mean that I can continue to train around my work schedule... whenever the time comes.