BB: I spend most of my time in my kitchen/diner but I have made it into a library and kind of sitting area too. That's where I like to sit and watch my husband cook dinner. I like little nooks, so it's been about creating cosy spaces that you can kind of nestle into. Describe the view outside your bedroom window BB: Well, my dog, for starters. And then my yellow kitchen. I've just moved into a newer place, so I'm trying to add lots more character to it. And it's so gloomy here outside that I wanted to paint a little bit of sunshine inside. It was actually like a kit home, so it came with lots of standard things. I'm wanting to just add a bit of personality to it. Tell us about your childhood home Also, maybe Wes Anderson, actually too. If his movies look like that, I mean, imagine what his home looks like. From a family-owned fish shop in Tobermory, a bothy on the remote island of Ulva to a bookshop and café on Skye, Banjo and the team rise to the Hebridean make-over challenge. BBC/Darlow Smithson Productions Doing two storeys of a Soho bar – some challenge! How did you even start to come up with an idea for a scheme?

I won a reality TV show - but disaster struck my new telly job

I’ll say yes to everything and see what happens and make something of it, and then everything came true, so be careful what you wish for.” Also on the agenda for the interiors pro is his book, Wild Isle Style: Resourceful, Original and Inventive Design Ideas, which is due out in October. And Banjo has a project in the pipeline for another Scottish star. Other authors at the festival included Isabella Tree, Natalie Sanders, Sarah Ross Thompson and Jane Smith. Sophie Allen, senior commissioning editor, acquired world rights from Ben Clark at the Soho Agency. Wild Isle Style will publish on 12th October 2023.BBC/Darlow Smithson Productions Out of all the schemes you've done on the show which has been your favourite, and why? BB: I think that would be when I was on Interior Design Masters. Michelle Ogundehin told me that I just have to trust my gut and you know what you like and you know what works. Sometimes you've just got to go with that feeling. What is the best home bargain you've ever snapped up? The Isle of Mull – the second largest island of the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland – has been home to Banjo for over eight years with his husband Rohan, a cheesemaker, who often helps out on the show. But it’s perhaps not an ideal place to launch an interior design business? Especially when he has the world at his feet after winning Interior Design Masters. He read the poem out loud at the festival’s gala dinner night on Saturday at the Western Isles Hotel.

Banjo Beale fronts new six-part series Interior designer Banjo Beale fronts new six-part series

Fresh from the success of his TV series, Mull’s best-known interior designer Banjo Beale will be there to launch his first book. But what was it like to be on the side of the judging panel? ‘I thought it would be really hard because I have empathy for anyone that throws themselves open to judging. But when that camera rolls and then you see someone’s house, you have a visceral reaction, good or bad and there’s no hiding that! If I tried to lie, I’m wearing it on my face anyway. It’s a very lovely show, and all the houses are quite beautiful. But I’m not afraid to give my opinion on it.’ Sustaining local craft Banjo Beale Banjo’s passion for design, and his love of island life really does shine through in Designing The Hebrides, as he breathes new life into properties across the Islands. Banjo has bold plans to utterly transform both the inside and outside of the shop but Sally is worried that her family will disapprove of the radical makeover. With his band of trusty locals including Eoghan the carpenter and handyman Tom, Banjo takes huge risks in realising his design ambitions but will the family feel approve of the new look?

As part of our interview series, My Happy Home , we talk to Banjo Beale about his worst decor trend, life on the Isle of Mull and why his yellow kitchen is his 'little bit of sunshine'.

Wild Isle Style: Resourceful And Sustainable Interior Design

Kathie Griffiths Updated: 31/10/23, 2:44 pm Best-selling author Alexander McCall Smith chatting to Sir Lachlan Maclean at Tobermory book FestivalBanjo says: “My hometown of Tobermory is one of the most colourful in the UK but on the inside, some of the spaces are crying out for character. Thankfully, some brave locals are handing me the keys to their places, from a bothy two hours walk from the nearest road to a remote lighthouse, castle turret and beloved community rugby club. They’re dream properties to design but logistical nightmares to deliver. The following year, Chris invited Ro and Banjo to lease the café and farm shop - a gorgeous vine filled barn erected by the Reade family in the 80's. Ro was the cook and bookkeeper and Banjo, the stylist behind every plate, picture and latte art. The Glass Barn is a playground of curios and collections and a constant canvas and it was here that Banjo learned the art of reimagining whatever was at hand, into something useful or unusual. ​ I never mentioned why I like a light fitting on the show, and perhaps I should. It's a big like this. You know if you put on a few extra pounds, you might buy yourself a nice pair of shoes to give yourself an instant boost? A light fitting is like that, it's the fastest way to get a really easy result, a nice big result in a room. The judges praised your 'intuitive' grasp of interior design – when did you first realise you might have this?