Desig House: Let our editor introduce you to the May Issue

Our May issue is out. Let our editor Hatta Byng talk you through the highlights...

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There is one frustrating thing about being the editor of a magazine like House & Garden. You see so many ideas and wonderful things that inspire - be it a curtain detail or beautiful joinery - that you want to create endless new rooms. But I can't. We have one house that we decorated fairly recently and small children. I am increasingly resigned to the fact that, for now, our house revolves around them. The latest addition is anything but covetable - a brightly coloured toy kitchen in our actual kitchen. I wince, but it is loved.

That said, inspired by Elizabeth Metcalfe's 'Design ideas' on specialist finishes - and having just been to the new Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler showroom on Pimlico Road (a showcase of, among other things, the chicest of paint effects) - I would love to commission a decorative painter to give the walls of our sitting room, or perhaps our hall and staircase, a specialist finish. They add depth and richness and, in the case of lacquer, glossy sophistication. Can I manage to get my children, not to mention my husband with suitcases and our cleaner with her vacuum cleaner, not to mark the walls? I am tempted.

Brown is also a wall colour I am increasingly drawn to - as illustrated by Charles Rutherfoord's smart dining room, which graces the cover of this May issue. It can be a surprisingly uplifting colour, or certainly cosseting, and a very good backdrop for furniture and pictures.

If you, like me, have decorated your house but long for other means to apply your creativity, or harbour a secret desire to turn your talents into a profession, please consider the competition we are running this month. It is the chance to win a three-month course at KLC, which provides a good basic training in all things needed for you to become a fully fledged interior designer. It is a brilliant opportunity, so please do apply.

Finally, I have to draw your attention to a slightly unusual story for us. It is an unfurnished house - in fact, an unfurnished palace. When editor-at-large Liz Elliot and I went to visit Baron and Baroness von Pfetten at Apethorpe Palace in Northamptonshire, we were so enthused by their story that we felt it needed to be told, even at this early stage. Their vision is remarkable; neither is English, but both show a deep love and understanding of British history and architecture, and sensitivity to the building's past. They are their own advisers, working hard to bring this important and - for most of us - dauntingly large house to life in a way that truly befits it.