Spotlight on a Tranquil Home

No experience is needed — Reena Simon is entirely self-taught and learned everything on the job while renovating her first Victorian terrace and then transforming a 1960s bungalow into 'The Black House'. The course is designed for anyone who wants to be their own interior designer, starting from the very basics of understanding your space, mood boarding and drawing floor plans on pen and paper. It's ideal for complete beginners as well as design enthusiasts wanting to refine their material knowledge.

Both — while Reena shares her full renovation journey, the principles apply to any home at any stage. She covers small, budget-friendly changes such as swapping light switches for solid brass hardware, layering wool and jute rugs, adding textured paint finishes to a single wall and rethinking your lighting with table and floor lamps. You'll also learn how to celebrate existing features like ceiling roses, coving and period detailing rather than starting from scratch.

Rather than focusing on furniture and styling, this course is built around the idea that 'the materials do the work, not the objects'. Reena, founder of Hygge for Home and author of 'Scandi Rustic', teaches a sensory, feelings-first approach — designing from the inside out and choosing tactile, imperfect materials that invite you to touch them. You also get a rare, honest look behind the scenes of a real five-year renovation, including working with architects and the practical trade-offs she made.

Yes — Reena shares practical guidance on setting a realistic budget and timeline early, creating a to-scale floor plan by hand to avoid costly mistakes, and how to brief architects around feeling and flow rather than just function. She also explains real trade-offs, such as needing underfloor heating with polished concrete and losing kitchen storage in exchange for oversized glazing. You'll finish with a clear, step-by-step process for planning your own project with confidence.

All of our courses are online, meaning that you are able to watch them whenever and wherever suits you best. There is no beginning or finish date and they’re completely self-paced so that you can stop, start and pause each lesson to fit around your own schedule. You can begin watching a course as soon as you purchase it – simply login to your Create Academy account whenever you have a quiet moment to yourself.

Yes! You can rewatch each lesson as many times as you’d like. If you have purchased an individual course, you will have lifetime access to it, so you’ll be able to rewatch and dip in and out of each lesson forever - perfect if you have a busy schedule! If you purchased an annual subscription, you can enjoy full access to all of our lessons until you choose to cancel.

If you have purchased an individual course, you will have life time access.

An annual subscription gives you access to all courses for 12 months from the date of purchase, including those released during that period. Our subscriptions are set to automatically renew after 12 months so you have the benefit of uninterrupted access! If you choose to cancel, you will no longer have access to the platform.

Below each video lesson you’ll find the link to download the corresponding workbook pages. If you’d like to download the whole workbook at once, simply navigate to the very first lesson in the course and click 'Download Workbook'.

We’re on a mission to help you build your creative confidence and live a more creatively fulfilled life. Through beautifully curated video courses, we give you unprecedented access to the expertise of today’s best designers, makers, gardeners and chefs - allowing you to unlock your creativity whenever and wherever you want.

Yes – all our courses are available internationally. Please note, all our courses are taught in English.