A prison cell So my daughter's room in Villa Ardilla was a bit of a prison cell. Stark white, a cupboard and bars in front of the window. It's not terribly big, so we couldn't exactly go nuts with funky styling either. The cupboard is huge (yay) but fixed. The bed was intended (I guess) to sit against the back wall, judging from the light switches and electricity points on either side of the wall. Except that, if you did place a bed there, with a bedside table (to operate said light switch) you couldn't open the cupboard anymore. Not sure about the spatial planning capabilities of the previous builder / electrician. Either way, my daughter (9) preferred her bed against the window anyway so that immediate problem was solved. Except for the prison cell bit. Given it's a summer country home, the last thing you want to feel is as if you're being locked up! So we urgently needed to inject some personality into this space. Girly yet sophisticated If it had been up to my daughter the entire room would have been hot pink, but given others might want to sleep in this room too, we settled somewhere in the middle upon relatively neutral colours, with some added drama and some girly art. We opted for the same base colour as we had already used in the dining room (read more here). Stunning, and it adds instant warmth to the place. My daughter already proved to me she was an excellent painter, and a true helper, so together we set off to paint. My son decided that the roller was great fun. So the girls did the cutting in (me high, she low) and my son followed with the roller. Very efficient! Now for the drama My daughter had her mind set on an arch on the wall. Now I have to admit that drawing perfect circles is not my strong suit! But surely I wasn't going to tell her and fall off my motherhood pedestal. I took a pin, a string and a pencil. We measured out the middle of the wall, where we wanted the centre of the arch to be. That's where we pinned the string, and (while holding the pin in place) drew a perfect circle on the wall with a pencil attached to the other side of the string. Then I grabbed a spirit level and drew perfectly straight lines down from the outer points of the circle. Then I coloured in the outer lines with perfect precision (even if I say so myself) with a dark egg plant colour. My daughter thought I was a super hero. Winning on many levels! From that point onwards it was easy. We filled in the arch, added a second coat and voila, visual interest added! Skateboard art My daughter had already picked her art for this room, many moons ago. Hanging the skate board art is super easy, with the easy mounting system, if it wasn't for the massive stone walls of a Mediterranean Villa that makes the drill smoke in disgust. But we got there in the end, and mounted the three chosen skate boards in perfect fashion. End result The end result is a completely transformed room. And all we did, in the end, is paint, and hang some artwork. A piece of cake but the room went from drab to fab in a matter of days. No more prison cell, but my daughter still won't leave her room now. She loves it! It's girly yet sophisticated and she's feeling very grown up. This room doubles as a guest room and I personally would be very happy sleeping here. What do you think?

Why my Instagram reach plummeted overnight Let me tell you what happened to me. I received a DM from a random stranger, let's call him 'a dirty old sleaze bag' or 'Rob' for short. It never ceases to amaze me how many people seem to confuse Instagram with Tinder. Anyway, Rob sends me this message, offering to be my sugar daddy and spoil me with his money. Of course he wants nothing in return, he'd be happy to see me shop up a storm on his account. All he wants is some online companionship. This is nothing new. I get these random messages all the time. Rob was actually quite polite and the language wasn't too graphic. Obviously Rob never received an answer and received a firm 'block' in his online face. I generally have a good laugh about these messages with my online community and often share them in my stories. Now, I am a civil person, so despite the sometimes incredibly inappropriate messages, I always blank out the account name and profile image. And so I did this time too. Shortly after I posted this story, I received a notification from Instagram that they removed my story as they found it to be against community guidelines. ' Whatever .', I thought. Personally, I figured Rob should be the one being reprimanded, and found the reaction a little over the top, but it didn't really bother me if the story ran or not. So I didn't give it another thought. Then things started to change. Instagram reach is always up and down. That happens. I was just having a good run however. My previous posts in the weeks prior generally racked up a couple of thousand likes, with a reach of anywhere between 20 and 170k. The moment Instagram removed my stories it was as if all stats and my mojo were reset. Only a handful of my followers got to see my posts. My statistics plummeted. I figured it had something to do with that story. It simply had to, as it happened immediately after. It was as if my Instagram reset my stats and mojo. I did my research into shadow bans. 'It takes a week, sometimes two.' , they said. ' Check your hashtags .', they said. ' Create engaging content .', they said. ' If all that fails, take a break .', they said. I reluctantly resigned to the fact that I'd be going nowhere for a week or two, cursing Rob and of course myself for sharing that story in the first place. It wasn't a shadow ban But after two weeks nothing had changed. I had great engagement on my posts from my loyal followers (at least from the ones that got to see them), but my posts were hidden for anyone else. Then one of my followers sent me a message and told me that I didn't even came up in search results anymore. That they had to type the full @whisperingbold and only at the 'd' my name would pop up, where normally they'd only need to type 'w' for me to show. That made me so sad, and I realised that maybe things weren't going to change in a hurry. I try not to whinge on Instagram. Your audience doesn't like that. People resort to social media to be entertained, not to get caught up in other people's misery. But I decided to tell what had happened to me in my stories, and if anyone had any brilliant ideas. Why did I not know about Instagram account status? Very soon after I posted my story, one of my Instagram contacts sends me a message and said: 'Did you check your Instagram account status? Perhaps there's something wrong there.' Excuse me? What's my Instagram account status and where do I check this? So it turns out that account status is a way to find out if you've posted something that goes against community guidelines and if it may lead to your account being taken down. Go to your profile. Tap in the top right, then tap Settings. Tap Account, then tap Account status. I checked my status, and WTAF! There's my stupid story with stupid Rob's message! I was put on notice as allegedly I had shared something that contained nudity or other inappropriate sexual content. So Instagram turned off all my privileges and ensured the world was protected against my so-called inappropriate content. Now, you must know, I have an interior decorating account; the nudest thing I show is my dog at my home without a doggy jumper. Even Rob's message I thought was a bit of a stretch to be reprimanded this severely. Request a review to remove Account Status tag Instagram kindly suggested to request a review if I disagreed with their decision to remove my content. Did I disagree? Absolutely! I pressed that button as soon as could, and figured it would be weeks (if ever) to hear anything from Instagram again (customer service is not their strong suit, see what happened when I got hacked ). But low and behold, within 2 minutes I received a notification saying they had reviewed my content and had approved it, thanking me for my feedback. And instantly I was back, people could search for me and find me again, and my reach instantly went beyond my follower base. I was elated. But why did I not know about this before? Quickly checking what my Account status said now, it revealed nothing out of the ordinary: Phew. Now you know about Instagram account status I am a firm believer that Instagram is big enough for all of us. And your successes won't need to bring anyone else down. So I am telling you this now, in case you ever find yourself in the same position, as I wish someone had told me earlier. Clearly it's not the same as being hacked , but the end result isn't necessarily all that different when, through no fault of your own, all your Instagram efforts and activities get blocked. I lost many followers over those couple of weeks, without having the chance to rebuild anything. And when you're a content creator by trade, that's pretty much the same as finding yourself suddenly unemployed without any income. I am so grateful for the girl who told me to check my account status. I wish I had known about this weeks earlier. I take pride in sharing my Instagram knowledge with other people and feel quite silly for not being aware of Instagram Account Status. However, I know for a fact that many, with me, had no idea about these measures that can be taken by Instagram. I hope that this blog helps others who find themselves in a similar situation in the future. Apart from all the Robs of course. They can get slapped with all the protective measures and worse as far as I'm concerned.

We all get fraudulent emails; it's what you do with them that matters Hackers are after your Facebook or Instagram account We all get them. Particularly if you're very active on social media. Emails that generally either a) freak you out (something terrible is about to happen to your account) or b) make you jump for joy even though deep down you know it probably is too good to be true (for example: ' Wow, this company is offering me an amazing collaboration .' or ' Yay, I qualify for the blue verification tick behind my name !'). Scammers are everywhere unfortunately. And they're getting better and better in pretending to be someone they're not. I've fallen for it too (read here how I got hacked). I think most of us however are getting pretty good at spotting fraudulent emails (funny email addresses, content that isn't quite right or simply having ' feeling' about it. But when a reputable company seems to be sending you a legitimate email for a legitimate reason, particularly when security is concerned, our heart still skips a beat. They are being sent all.the.time. however. Even just today, I had three. Two telling me there was a 'Facebook' security breach and I should log in asap to ensure nothing bad would happen, and one telling me I qualified for a verified account. The latter was already filtered by my email client and had landed in junk. The other two however simply appeared in my inbox. How to verify whether an email is from Facebook or Instagram How do you recognise fraudulent Instagram / Facebook emails? As it turns out, verifying that an email came from Facebook or Instagram is incredibly simple but you need to know where to look. Here’s how. On Facebook (desktop): Go to Account Settings on your own profile page, find the down-pointing triangle icon at top right. Click it, then choose Settings & Privacy > Settings to open the main Settings page. Find the emails that Facebook has sent you. Near the top left you should find Security and Login. Click that and scroll down to the Advanced section. Click the item titled “ See recent emails from Facebook .” Match Your Message. If you see a match for the questionable message’s subject line, you can be pretty sure it’s legitimate. Be sure to look both in the list of Security-related messages and in the list titled Other. On Facebook (mobile app): The process on the mobile app is pretty much the same (Settings > Password and Security > Advanced See recent emails from Facebook ). On Instagram (desktop): Go to Settings . On your own profile page, find your small profile picture icon at the top right. Click it, then choose Settings to open the main Settings. Scroll down to “ Emails from Instagram .” Match Your Message. If you see a match for the questionable message’s subject line, you can be pretty sure it’s legitimate. Be sure to look both in the list of Security-related messages and in the list titled Other. On Instagram (mobile app): The process on the mobile app is pretty much the same (Settings > Security > Emails from Instagram ). Most Facebook or Instagram emails I receive are fake Obviously the emails I received were fake. I pretty much guessed at much but I was still a little thrown by the email address, as it had a @facebookmail.com address, which sometimes is used by Facebook. Hackers really are master spoofers these days. I checked my accounts and no emails had been sent to me recently. So I went from being 99% certain I was being targeted, to 100%. Don't take the risk, always check. My default is to NEVER trust any of these types of emails, unless proven legit. Don't fall for it If this blog post has prevented even only one of you from being hacked it's been worth writing it. Were you aware you could do this simple email check to verify a Facebook or Instagram email? Be safe!

Follow these 6 general Instagram tips and grow your account You are excited about your passion or business and would like to share it with the world. You would like to grow your Instagram account but you’re not sure how. You can’t figure out why your account isn’t growing as fast as you’d like and would some extra insights. Let me provide you with some basic general Instagram tips and tricks that have helped me starting out and will help you grow your account and increase your engagement rate. Choose the Optimal Instagram Account Type Instagram allows you to have different accounts both personal and business, public and private. The first obvious step is to ensure your gorgeous pictures are there for the world to see and to set your account to public. What you perhaps hadn’t considered yet is to convert your account to a business account, or a ‘creator’ account. A business account is, as the name would suggest, for companies, however, it was until a year ago or so the best tool available to influencers. If you do not sell any products, perhaps a better choice for you is the ‘creator’ account, which has a range of tools useful for a large-scale active Instagram user. These include: Growth insights such as data around follows and unfollows Direct messaging tools that allow users to filter notes from relevant people Flexible labels that allow users to designate their preferred method of contact The growth insights give you detailed data about changes to your account. These include statistics relating to daily and weekly changes in your follower numbers. This works across all parts of Instagram – your traditional feed, stories and reels. This makes it easier to spot any spikes or troughs in your following, and perhaps helps understand the reason for any changes. Analysing your account, and keeping tabs on what works and doesn’t, is always a good idea. There are free (and paid) tools available to analyse your (and other) accounts. You’ll find a few of them on my influencer tools page on my website. Just type in your username and the sites will provide you with a raft of useful information. To switch your personal account or Business profile to a Creator Account go to your Instagram account settings, choose ‘account’ and follow the prompts to switch account type. You can choose to connect a Facebook page but (unlike for a business account) this is not mandatory. My personal experience switching from a ‘business’ account to a ‘creator’ account is that my reach per post increased significantly, in particular the exposure to non-followers. Perhaps Instagram limits exposure of company accounts in order to increase revenue from paid advertisements with guaranteed exposure, but this is speculation from my side. Tip 1: SWITCH TO A CREATOR ACCOUNT AND START ANALYSING YOUR DATA Instagram Username: only searchable criteria of your profile! You may have chosen your account name when you were a teenager and into unicorn sparkle rave parties. Or when you were sharing pictures of the puppies of your mum’s dog. Or when you were totally into fitness and posted every run. Or you may simply not have given it much thought if it is a match with your intended strategy and audience. The reality is… your name and username are two of the most important components of your Instagram profile because they are the only two searchable criteria of your profile . When users type a keyword or name in the search field on Instagram, the app looks at only the username and name fields of accounts to determine if an account is relevant to that search query. Choose a username that represents your brand, is recognisable, and, if possible, distinguishes what you do. Your username might be simply your (business) name or an adapted version. Or you might also include a word or two that describes you, your industry or niche to further define who you are. Keep in mind that when people want to tag you, they are not presented with a list to choose from. They will have to remember your name, and start typing the first letters, before the first options appear. I have seen so many interior accounts named housenumber12345 or something along those lines that I just cannot remember which one belongs to who. They are simply not identifying. Try and avoid too many special characters, simple words are much easier to find and remember. Choose something that stands out, something that grabs attention and makes people want to click through to your bio to see what your feed is all about. A house number will not do that. But for example, a made-up name of @cornershopwiththeweirdfrontdoor might. Instagram hands out names on a first come first serve basis. Many good names are taken. Avoid the temptation to add a special character to an already existing username to create your own, it only leads to confusion. No one likes to be tagged in feeds / stories unrelated to them, or vice versa. Consider your target audience and choose your language accordingly – can everyone understand and/or pronounce your name? Tip 2: CHOOSE YOUR USERNAME WISELY AS IT IMPACTS YOUR VISIBILITY! Pay attention to your Instagram Bio & Profile Picture Pay attention to your bio! It is often one of the first things prospective followers will see. If it grabs attention, you’ve just bought yourself another glance at your feed. Explain who you are and what you do, target your audience with a few niche words, share your personality with a (funny) light-hearted personal detail about you, and provide a way for followers to get in touch and make use of the website. The latter is important because this is the only place you can add a clickable website link on your own page. Make the most of it! If you have a website, add it here. If you’re working with other companies, place a link here. If you are featured on somebody else’s site, mention it here. There is only room for one website so use it wisely. A handy tip is, if you do not have your own website, is to use www.linktree.com or any other landing page builder site. These (often) free websites allow you to create a landing page on which you can add as many links as you wish, which means you do not need to replace old links if you want to add a new one. Even if your feed isn't directly about you, and perhaps you don’t love being in the spotlight yourself, do consider a profile picture with your face in it just as you should add your (first) name or an alias. Followers like knowing they’re dealing with a real person, and address you by your first name (and so should you, when you leave comments elsewhere). It is all part of creating engagement and relationships, which is what you are after when you are growing your account. Tip 3: OPTIMISE YOUR BIO – IT IS YOUR INSTAGRAM BUSINESS CARD Optimise Feed Appearance & Strategy for Instagram Growth Have you considered a strategy for your feed? What would you like to show your users? What do you look at when you’re checking out other accounts? Consistency is key; it should be obvious what your account is about. Is your thing plants, ensure a plant in every picture. Are you obsessed with the colour pink? Make that obvious in your feed. Do you schedule your posts? Do you have a specific order topics / items that you’re showing? If not, perhaps it is time to think about that. Is the lighting the same in every picture? Do you use a consistent filter? I operate in the interiors space of Instagram. Sad but true, detailed pictures and close-ups notoriously do not do well in interior account feeds. Likewise, (too) personal pictures or pictures taken without natural light tend to perform badly in interiors. What's the situation in your niche? For a while, there was a trend to add some quotes, blank spaces, or other ‘filler’ pictures in your feed. Granted, they add value to the overall look and feel, however generally don’t go very far in reach (sometimes hashtags are not even used). If this is a strategic decision for aesthetic reasons then by all means, go for it. However, do keep in mind that the engagement rate (what companies are looking at in selecting collaborators) is calculated on a series of your last posts. So they all count. In summary, take a good and objective look at all the squares on your feed and ask yourself if something stands out (a winner or a sore thumb) – and then take it from there. Are you communicating what you stand for? Tip 4: TAKE AN OBJECTIVE LOOK AT YOUR FEED AND CONSIDER THE OVERALL AESTHETICS Instagram Captions & Commentary to grow engagement Instagram isn’t just about pretty pictures or reels. An engaging caption is just as important. Outsiders often wonder why it is so exciting to follow people who keep on posting pictures of (in my case) the same room in the house, with perhaps a minor change, or a different angle. Well, you’ll know as well as I do, that the people behind the accounts make that happen! You get a virtual relationship with loyal followers who like to hear from you, and what your next story is. I have followed users with fantastic homes, drawn in by the beauty, but the captions bored or annoyed me. So after taking inspiration from their homes once, I quickly unfollowed them. Be personal in your captions but be careful with oversharing. In the end, most of your followers are not your real friends. They are phone friends and generally prefer to hear something uplifting, light-hearted or recognisable. Adding a call to action in your captions is always good, it gives followers something to answer, which increases your engagement rate. Don’t be too transparent. I personally am not a fan of the generic ‘So, what are your plans today?’ as an attempt to add a call to action to a caption. I highly doubt these people are genuinely interested in me going to the supermarket, having a work meeting and having to pick up my kids after school. Instead, ask something about your picture for example. Or create a caption so engaging, it simply calls for commentary. Also, consider your language and your target audience. People are often inclined not to read a caption they do not understand (or press translate). So, if your own language is not a common one, consider adding a translation into English to widen your target audience. The use of hashtags is probably the most important part of your caption (or to add to your first comment, whatever you prefer) and only with the proper use of hashtags will you widen your reach. Research hashtags of similar accounts and change them up. But don’t be afraid to copy a list from a previous post if that one turned out to be a winner! ALWAYS RESPOND TO COMMENTS, and then preferably using the name of the person you are addressing. And while you are on their feed checking their name, leave a comment on their latest post. You want to increase engagement and the only way to do this is to start a conversation, and actually talk to people. Don’t be afraid to share a post you really like in your stories, or send people you admire a message complimenting them on their feed. The only way to get people to follow you is to grab their attention and make them look! As a general rule, and it sounds so obvious but it so often gets forgotten… be kind. Tip 5: IN AN ONLINE WORLD WHERE YOU CAN BE ANYTHING, BE KIND Time your Instagram Posts In your Instagram insights, you can see what days of the week and what times your users are most active. Theoretically, this would be when your posts could be most successful. Personally, I take this with a grain of salt. I like responding to my followers as soon as I can. For that reason, I post in the morning. Then I can follow up during the day and be social with my family in the evening (and not drive hubby mad and to a divorce). Do whatever works for you as long as you’re consistent. I post daily, but not often on Saturdays. I have noticed that when I have better things to do than being on Instagram, generally my followers do too. Tip 6: CHOOSE A TIMING THAT WORKS FOR YOU AND YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE I don’t profess to have all the answers. Nor do I have access to Instagram’s trade secrets (I wish!). I am sharing my tips, tricks and insights for you to take advantage of. And even when you do everything right, things don’t always pan out as you wish. And then when you think you’ve nailed it; Instagram changes its rules or algorithm again and puts you in the naughty corner. It is not always fair. We all need a bit of luck sometimes, or a nice share from a bigger account for an instant boost in follower numbers (just grab their attention, you might just be surprised what comes from it!). You’ll have purple patches and low points. Focus on the things within your control and be prepared to put in the hard yards. Being an influencer on Instagram means being in it for the long haul; it takes a lot of time, rejection and can sometimes be ungrateful. It can however also open up a whole new world not privy to before, forge great relationships and provide opportunities you may not have thought of prior. The most important thing is to have fun!

Exactly two years ago I wrote my original blog post to explain how my Instagram account got hacked, and how I got it back . Having quadrupled my following base on Instagram since, I have a lot to be grateful for. In particular for the fact that I was miraculously able to recover my Instagram account with 27k followers at the time. I am one of the lucky ones. Many people never get their accounts back after a hack, and have to start over. I still get many phone calls and message of people desperate to get their accounts back, asking me for help. Let me tell you straight up, I cannot help. I am not an expert, I do not work for Instagram and I no longer have any contacts within the Meta group. All I can do is share what happened to me so you can learn from it, and provide you with tips to avoid getting hacked on Instagram in the first place. How I got Hacked on Instagram It was an ordinary Friday in July 2020. Well, ordinary for corona times of course. It was my day off from my work in medical project management. I had just posted a picture of my kitchen on Instagram, describing my failed attempt to recreate my mum's curry, which was leading to hilarious conversations. Allowed to go to the gym again, I jumped in the car and sped off. Upon arrival (I was a little early) I thought I'd quickly read my mail before going in. In my inbox was a collaboration request, of which I receive many. It outlined a barter deal with suggested content, and a link to the Instagram account in question. The email didn't spark my interest but I was curious to see what account it was for, so clicked the link, logged into Instagram and viewed the account. Looked pretty cool actually, albeit totally not my niche (fashion and lifestyle, rather than interior). I would answer them later to decline. I do remember thinking: a) why would they want ME to promote their products as it's not my section (but that happens more often if target audiences overlap) and b) why (as a large American account / company) don't they employ someone with fluent English? However, you must know, I work daily with people from all over the world. Not everyone speaks perfect English. I don't judge second language fluency, it is usually a sign that someone is particularly literate, often knows even more languages than I do and makes an effort to communicate with me. And as I mentioned before, I get these types of emails all the time. Little did I know it was a phishing mail. And of course this particular company had nothing to do with it. My Instagram Account was Hacked Instantly I completed my work out, walked back to my car and checked my phone. There were a number of new emails, but a few stood out. A number of them from Instagram in rapid succession: a new login attempt, I apparently changed my username, changed my email, and allegedly removed my phone number. And to please let them know if that hadn't been me making all those changes. Then a 5th email: Good day! We apologize for the inconvenience. Your account has been temporarily blocked! It's perfectly safe and we haven't touched it. We are waiting for your reply 2 hours! If you do not respond, we will start to clear your account (delete photos) and sell your account! We are waiting for your reply ! I felt my stomach drop. Surely this wasn't real? I tried to open Instagram but couldn't. Log in denied. No user found. I was whatsapping with an insta girlfriend that same moment and asked her to quickly check. She confirmed my worst fears; account gone. Please tell me this wasn't happening? Years of hard work, relationships, partnerships, my interior design business and creative projects gone, just like that? I raced home, told my husband to drop everything to help me, and jumped online to contact Instagram. Obviously I couldn't revert the changes. Was it me that made the changes to my profile? Of course not! But when I pressed the link to let Instagram know it just showed an error message. I researched how to report a hack, how to contact customer service, how to get this undone, but simply got nowhere. All methods listed on the site required some sort of identification, and the hackers had changed every single thing. There was nothing in their system anymore relating to me. I was on the phone with another insta buddy to work out the steps required, and in the meantime cursing myself for not having the 2-step verification security measures on. Why oh why did I not have that turned on? I have no idea! Didn't even realise it wasn't. I originally created my personal account many many moons ago, never used it, and converted it to a business account a few years back. Instagram never prompted me to review my security settings (or make it mandatory which I think they should) and it hadn't even crossed my mind to check. So dumb, I know. Do Not Trust any Third Parties to Help you with an Instagram Hack - they are scammers too At this stage I am visibly trembling, shaking and crying all at the same time. Close to vomiting really. Hubby found an Instagram customer service phone number online that offered assistance in these types of situations. I called, and yes! They could help me! They could help me log back in and get my account back. I was surprised, as Instagram is known to be impossible to contact, let alone speak to an actual human. Could it be as simple as a phone call? As they were requesting access to my screen, I got suspicious and did a quick google. I wasn't going to be scammed twice. Of course they were criminals too so I slammed down the phone (figuratively of course, as I wasn't actually going to smash my iPhone). Defeated. Angry. So so upset. And that feeling of being personally violated. The cheek of those hackers to wish me a good day, and 'apologies for the inconvenience'. Inconvenience? This is my business you've just shut down in a matter of minutes! It may as well have been a shop that burnt to the ground. In Contact with the Hackers I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. And decided to contact the hackers. They were very polite actually, and of course very responsive, Assuring me that they had no real interest in my account, all they wanted was money. If I paid up I would get my account back. Clearly the initial thought was to tell them to F*&k off. But I was desperate. They wanted 285 USD. 285 dollars for my entire business; I wasn't sure to be relieved or offended. Of course I knew full well I was probably never going to see that money again, but I figured if there was even a 1% chance they would do as they said, it was worth it. We had a little kitty of bitcoin of which I had forgotten its existence (set up during the rise of bitcoin, and left to its own devices after the rate did a nose dive). I figured this was my rainy day. So I paid. And waited. They emailed me back, telling me they were restoring my account and to give it 15 mins. That became thirty. An hour. And they kept responding to my emails. Politely. Telling me what there were doing. So I remained hopeful. Until I realised it really was never going to happen, and gave up. I felt defeated I was sitting on the couch completely numb. That same couch that's featured on Instagram so often. Blaming myself for being stupid and clicking on a link from my mobile, stupid for logging in again, stupid for not having my 2-step verification on and stupid for paying up. Thinking of the lovely conversations with my contacts on Instagram that now would think I just vanished. Thinking of the collaborations I had coming up and how I would explain my commercial partners that my platform was gone. Thinking of what to do next, but my head was so foggy. Insta buddies would start phoning and messaging me, offering me their support, suggestions and contacts of people who'd experienced the same. Wonderful people, and I am eternally grateful for their instant offline support. Real people, who I've met in a virtual world. How I got my Hacked Instagram Account Back Then hubby messaged me and said 'Quick, I need all your insta details - there might just be a way!' He remembered an old primary school friend who's made it big within Facebook (who owns Instagram - now Meta). He contacted her in California, she responded very quickly to say she could submit my case to an internal system reserved for friends and family of staff, which apparently then jumps the queue (or actually puts the request in a queue in the first place). She was heading off on her holidays however, and soon to be out of WiFi, so we had to get it in quickly. She had no idea what could be done, how long it would take, or what would be left of my account, if anything. She also added that everyone was snowed under due to corona. People get hacked on Instagram all the time. And then the wait started. People get hacked all the time I learnt. By then, I had read pretty much any article on the web about Instagram hacks and what to do, every possible scenario of what could happen (ranging from full recovery to everything lost) and the fact that Instagram is not really much assistance (if at all). I ended up finding a link on the log in page, where you get to after a few clicks, that says 'need more help?'. There I could tick a box that I had been hacked and submit a form with my original email address I signed up with, as well as a contact email address. It didn't matter which email address I entered (even complete dummy ones), the automated reply always came back with the same answer: How devastating. Could everything really be gone? Surely Instagram has some sort of back up system in place? And the email itself was weird too. No subject. No logo. Twice hi. Even our friend who works for the company thought it was spam. But it wasn't. I didn't hear anything for days and was a blubbering mess. I would even wake up hubby in the middle of the night to go and check his phone to see if there were any messages (which wasn't received with thanks mind you). Considered chopping his finger off to use the fingerprint ID to check his phone while he was sleeping. Because I wasn't. I was a walking zombie. We couldn't exactly keep bugging our contact either. She was on holidays, did the best she could, hubby hasn't seen or spoken to her in many years and I don't even know the girl (but boy do I love her). I started receiving lots of messages through other channels. People found me via my website, or facebook, or had been given contact details through mutual friends. It made me even more determined to get back, I was actually being missed! Yes it's a virtual world, but it's the real people behind the accounts that are so lovely, and make it such a great community. I didn't care if I lost all photos, or nonsense bot followers, all my chances for commercial projects, as long as I could get back to my followers who genuinely like what I have to say and show every day. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger A few days later I decided this wasn't going to bring me down. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I'd be back. I wasn't sure yet how or when, but I was going to make a come back. Some said the forced break would do you good, but it didn't. I missed the Instagram world terribly. I had decided for myself I was not going to start anything new, until hubby's friend would tell me all is lost. The Process Through Official Meta Channels Took Time It was two weeks later when hubby's friend let us know she received notification that they had 'picked up the case'. Oh Em Gee. Butterflies. But what does that mean? Overnight I received a standard email from Instagram saying: you've changed your email address. It was changed back to my own email address. Username still garble, but the email address was mine. They asked me to confirm my email, but obviously that didn't work. I had no password! Plus, it still said that funny username didn't exist! No instructions or anything. Useless. I was at a loss. It looked like progress, but now what? Then I remembered that backdoor way of reporting a hack. I hoped that, because there was now an email address in the system that was mine, perhaps I would receive another automated email rather than the 'sorry nothing we can do' one. I submitted my details and yes! I received an automated email asking me for some more details, such as previous usernames, timing of hack, how it had happened etc. I submitted it thinking nothing would come of it, as I had read in so many other blogs. Or, I thought, perhaps I would be asked to submit one of those personal photo's holding a picture with a code. I couldn't ask our FB contact as it was the middle of the night on the other side of the world. But then, very soon after, I received an email from Facebook, a proper one, in Dutch this time, that said: 'Thanks for verifying your identity. You're almost done with recovering your account.' And with instructions on how to log back in and adapt my account information. Were they for real? I was in the car and didn't dare trying on the mobile. I waited until I was back home and jumped on the laptop. Logged in and there it was. My account, fully in tact, with all my pictures and 27 thousand followers. As if nothing ever happened. Other than stats and concepts gone, everything was there. I was able to change the username back into my old one, changed a few details, changed my password and of course turned on the 2-step verification security measures. Just like that, I had my hacked Instagram account back! I was elated! Never did I think all my work would be fully recovered! I took a screenshot of my profile page to text to my friends, contemplating my first move back, thinking I would take my time to properly consider. But the news had already gone viral. My lovely online community picked up the news, ran with it, shared with all of their followers and celebrated together with me. It was as if I had come home again. The comments on my first post back were heartwarming and I cherish them so much. I also had the best sleep I had in weeks (after downing a bottle of wine). The 5 Things I Learnt from Being Hacked on Instagram Things I learnt from this ordeal are... Get your safety checks in order. Set up the 2-step verification. Change passwords. Don't have unnecessary log ins, or links to third party apps you don't even use. Don't click on dodgy links! Below I will give you 4 Ways to Avoid getting Hacked on Instagram . Don't pay hackers. They are c*nts. Instagram customer service is absolutely useless. I guess they can afford to lose a biggish account here and there. Truth is, they don't really care. I wonder what they had done though if Kylie Jenner lost her account. It's not what you know but who you know. Having an internal contact is absolutely gold. And in a case of a complete hack and takeover seemingly the only way to recovery when everything else seems a lost cause. My instafriends are real friends. And bloody good real friends. Humans made from flesh and blood. The support I received from fellow Instagrammers, some who I've met in person, and some I haven't, was simply overwhelming. My commercial partners willing to set up campaigns to help me get back on my feet. People providing me with log-in details of their cat's account to get back into Instagram (which I didn't by the way, but it's the thought that counts). It's a super nice community of which I am proud to be a part of. It's not what you know but who you know. 4 Ways to Avoid getting Hacked on Instagram It's not just me. There’s a wave of people getting hacked on Instagram lately. I somehow managed to get my account back but obviously prevention is better than cure. So what do you do? 1. Whatever you do, DO NOT click on sneaky links. This is how most people get hacked on Instagram. These links come from anywhere and invariable ask you to log into Instagram. This should be an instant red flag as most of us would already be logged into Instagram on our devices (I should have known better). These links can be sent in a variety of ways: You could receive an email from a fake Facebook or Instagram email address. The email address you see that appears as the “sender” could be sneaky and fake. ALWAYS check the email address it is coming from by revealing the real email address (click on the email address or name you see as the sender to reveal the real address). Check my blog 'How do you know an email from Instagram or Facebook is a fake? ' to verify whether an email from Instagram is real or not. Fake brand collaboration (this is what happened to me). You might receive an email or DM from a fake brand (who appears to be legitimate). And they are inviting you to collaborate. They might send you a link to their Instagram account, website or for you to set up your profile on their “system”. If you are being asked to login with your Instagram account: Stop immediately. Always remember: Never log in. Direct Message from a friend who got hacked Fake Direct Message (DM) from an Instagram or Facebook account that pretends to be a real Instagram or Facebook employee or team. I receive these messages all the time: “We can help you get your account verified!” or “You have violated Instagram’s Rules and Policies. Your account will be disabled in 24 hours if you do not reply. Click this link now if you think this is a mistake”. NEVER click on their link. Instagram will NEVER send you a DM. Instagram will ALWAYS send you an email. Clicking on a fake link. You could receive an email from a brand or person, with a link to click. The link might appear to be real. But links can be very easily faked. Here’s how to check if it is a real link: Right click on the link > Copy the link > Paste it in your Notes app > You will see what the link truly is. Sometimes, the text of the link in the email appears to be a real link like “https://instagram.com“. Or it can be a different word, like “Click here to see my account”. But in the “backend”, the link is actually something completely different. This tricks you into thinking it is a real Instagram link. Playing games (and the game asks you to login to your Instagram account to play). 2. Update your Instagram email address and phone number Go to your Instagram settings and make sure your email address and phone number are up-to-date. Your email address and phone number are how Instagram can contact you and send you information to get your account back. So make sure they are up-to-date. 3. Set up two-factor authentication I cannot stress this enough. This would have made the difference for me. Two-factor authentication is a security feature that helps protect your Instagram account and your password. If you set up two-factor authentication, you’ll receive a notification or be asked to enter a special login code when someone tries logging into your account from a device that Instagram doesn't recognise. To turn on two-factor authentication from the Instagram app: Tap profile or your profile picture in the bottom right to go to your profile. Tap more options in the top right, then tap Settings. Tap Security, then tap Two-Factor Authentication. Tap Get Started at the bottom. Choose the security method you want to add and follow the on-screen instructions. When you set up two-factor authentication on Instagram, you’ll be asked to choose one of two security methods: Login codes from a third party authentication app (such as Duo Mobile or Google Authenticator). Note: Two-factor authentication through an authentication app can only be turned on using the Instagram app for Android and iPhone. Text message (SMS) codes from your mobile phone. You'll need to have at least one of these set up in order to use two-factor authentication. 4. Beware of third-party apps that are NOT approved by Instagram Not all third party apps are bad. Some are even quite useful. Just be selective in what you use and if you cannot verify its authenticity, and if they're approved by Instagram or not, ask yourself if you really need to use this app or not. If the answer is no, don't take the risk. Forewarned is forearmed: Prevent Yourself from Being Hacked on Instagram Two years ago I wrote my blog on how my Instagram account got hacked, and how I got it back from a cute AirBnb in Cabañal in Valencia, while we were house hunting for our own place in the Valencian country side. I had just about giving up ever getting my Instagram account back, and was reconsidering the future of my newly set up interiors business. Now, 2 years later, I am writing this blog from my house in Valencia, the property we found on the very day I got my Instagram account back. Since that day, my Instagram account quadrupled in size, I got offered a job as a tutor with The Interior Design Institute , quit my career in the medical industry and grew my Instagram presence as interior influencer with commercial partnerships stretching from my home in The Netherlands to our paradise in Spain. I realise I was very lucky and I am very grateful for the second chance I have been given. In the end I was only 'off air' for 2 weeks, but it felt like 2 years, accompanied with lots of stress and tears. And as I am now getting close to celebrating the magic number of 100.000 followers of my Instagram account I feel it's only fitting to give back to the community that has given me so much, by providing tips to prevent people from this heartbreak. Hopefully my story helps prevent a hack or two.

How to make the most of your Instagram stories Since 2016, Instagram lets users post photos and videos that vanish after 24 hours. Nowadays more than 500 million Instagrammers use stories daily. If you’ve ever thought about experimenting with stories to boost your reach or engagement, now is the perfect time to consider your story strategy. I cover why you should use stories, how to analyse them, what content strategy to consider and how to expand your reach. Why Instagram stories? Instagram stories don’t show up in the Instagram news feed and only last 24hrs. This means that you can post easily and rapidly to your followers without worrying too much about the longevity of a post, the fit in your overall feed or bombarding your followers with content. Also, compared to the polished nature of newsfeed picture, the vibe is definitely a little more rough around the edges. So, you can breathe a sigh of relief, you don’t need to invest in fancy equipment, courses or personal staff to create engaging stories. Even billion-dollar companies are posting iPhone videos occasionally. Key Instagram Stories Statistics in 2022 Here are some key Instagram Stories Statistics in 2022 ( Earthweb ). More than 500 million Instagram users use Instagram stories every day. 86.6% of Instagram users post Instagram stories every day. 60% of millennials view Instagram stories or publish them. American brands allocate 31% of their budget for Instagram for ads on Instagram stories. 61% of Instagram users have used the ‘support small companies’ sticker in their Instagram stories. The reach rate for Instagram stories is between 1.5% and 6.2%, and this is compared to 12% to 25% for Instagram posts. Interestingly, accounts with fewer than 10,000 followers enjoy a higher reach rate (6.2%) while the ones with more than 200,000 reach just an average of 1.5% of their followers (source: Rival IQ). Pay Attention to What You Are Doing with Stories It's probably a good idea to start paying a little attention to what you’re doing (or not doing) with stories. As you probably know, Instagram stories appear in a bar at the top of your feed. Everyone is able to share stories, whether they are bloggers, business, private accounts, it doesn’t matter. When anyone you follow shares something new, their profile photo will have a colourful ring around it. You click on the profile photo and voilà, there appears all of the content they’ve posted in the last 24hr in chronological order from oldest to newest. Once you’re viewing a story, you can tap to go back and forward or swipe to jump to another person’s story. Unlike regular posts, there are no likes or public comments. So, posting stories keeps your profile at the top of your followers’ feeds, which is what you want, right? Then it’s up to you to create Instagram stories that are so engaging that it keeps your followers coming back for more. Encouraging followers to reply is a great way to boost your overall engagement. Pay close attention to what content drives your audience to connect with you, and continue to take advantage of these opportunities to connect with your followers in the future. Stories are a great way to visually share real moments. People love stories because they're a playful and authentic peek behind the curtain into your life. The way I use Instagram stories I use stories all the time. I find them a quick way to interact with my followers without always overthinking it. If I stuff up a story (which I do regularly), I simply delete it and post another one. I use stories to: Share content that didn’t quite make my feed Share pictures that I love but traditionally don’t perform well on my feed (for example close ups) To build more of a story around my collaborations and invite product purchase To share jokes, news items, funny pictures that evoke an emotion (but may have nothing to do with my feed) To share my current style situation at home which isn’t always styled, sleek or polished To share what I am doing, including videos of myself (so my followers get to know me in a way that doesn’t happen via my feed that generally only contains pictures of my interior) To share another user’s content To ask questions, invite comments, create polls and invite feedback To ask viewers to read my blogs This is Why I Like Stories I like stories. I like the variety. If it is just an extension of your feed it may get boring, unless you offer lots of new info. If there is no ‘story within your stories’, it also gets boring. And people quickly swipe through. Pretty pictures can be found on your feed. It’s about finding the right balance between communicating what you stand for, and striking a chord with your followers. I’m in a dilemma on what to recommend; polished, good-looking stories that are so pleasing to the eye, or the more insta-reality shots that show a more vulnerable you. The answer is probably a bit of both. When I am showing off whatever is on my feed in more detail, I like my stories to look professional. The same goes for collaborations; I like making an effort for my clients. In these types of stories, I am targeting new followers; those who get drawn in by what I have to offer on my feed and landed on my stories, and get curious enough to then hopefully press the ‘follow’ button. I am also targeting readers of my website, and invite them to click further and visit my own content, rather than just my content on the instagram platform. The more raw, unpolished stories are intended for my long-term followers, to have a laugh, a chat, and give them a little insight into my daily life. How do you know if you’re using stories like a pro? Analytics. Two words: your analytics. Please note: before you start looking for the Insights section, make sure your profile is set to a business account or a makers account (the latter is my preferred option if you’re a blogger / influencer, see my article 6 Tips to Boost Your Instagram Account & Grow ). Once you do this you will get the Insights option in your Instagram profile. There are a few ways how you can view your stories statistics, depending if you want to view the insights for the current/live story or you want to check historical data about the previous stories. To access the Instagram stats of the active story, follow these steps: Tap on the current story Swipe up the story you are viewing It will open a bottom drawer view with the story insights Tap the (eye) icon to view the actual Instagram users who have viewed the story Tap the (chart) icon to view the insights for the story If you want to access the insights for Instagram Highlights, the above steps are the same. Just go to your profile and tap on a Highlight, swipe up and tap the chart icon explained before. To view Instagram stories analytics and insights for all your previous stories, follow these steps: Go to your profile Tap the top right (menu) icon Tap the Insights menu item Next, you can see how to access the historical data about all your stories. Just follow these steps: In the Insights screen, go to 'Content You Shared' Click on the Stories section In this section, you are able to view insights for each particular story (in subsequent chapters I will cover what they actually mean!). You will notice that in this layout the stories are organised based on the slides and a metric is displayed in the bottom middle. Each metric can be changed by clicking on the drop down menu. You can also access story stats through your archive, and tap the eye icon. Back Up Your Story Stats if They're Important I discovered last year (to my shock-horror), that Instagram decided to no longer display detail story stats post 48hrs with all stats displayed per story. Try and explain that to your clients, who you’ve promised to provide screen shots of the details on how your stories covering their products performed. Instagram also had a bug that changed story views the longer it was since they had been life. I have seen stats reduced from over 2k viewers per story down to 400, even though the story had been off air for weeks. Disaster. And cause for heated discussions with unhappy clients who, in turn, had to report on their return on investment. I have a couple of best-practice tips to avoid any of these types of scenarios: If stories are an important element of your collaboration agreement, ALWAYS screenshot your stats shortly after the 24hrs has passed. That way you’re sure you’ll always have the right data. Use Facebook Creator Studio and link it to Instagram for stats on all your Instagram content, including stories. It’s brilliant, and web-based, which makes life so much easier sometimes, if you like working from your computer instead of always having to do everything from your phone. Propose collaborations with companies that use third-party apps that link into your story content behind the scenes, and view the stats themselves from afar. Facebook Creator Studio is a Good Back-Up Analytics Tool Did you know that the Facebook / Instagram Creator Studio dashboard is packed with the analytics influencers are looking for. This data will give influencers insights to daily and weekly analytics, and will work across posts, IGTV and Instagram Stories. Go to: https://business.facebook.com/creatorstudio/ to get started. You can also use this website to schedule and manage your newsfeed content from your desktop or download the app to plan for content when and where you want. How to interpret your analytics Let’s dive a little deeper into your story insights. Instagram divides your story insights into sections such as reach, engagement and navigation. All matter for different reasons. Reach measures the number of accounts that view your Instagram story with the impressions indicating the total number of times your story was viewed. Instagram cautions that this metric is an estimate, and may not always be exact. Under engagement , story interactions measure the actions people take when they engage with your account, while navigation tells you something about the completion rate of your story. You can find the following stats with useful info: Replies : The number of times people reply to your story (similar to engagements for photos and videos, replies are the number of times someone has directly responded to a portion of your story but unlike comments within your feed, these responses end up in your inbox and don’t appear publicly) Link Clicks : The number of times people click the link in your story Sticker Taps : The number of times people have tapped on a geotag, hashtag, mention, or product sticker on your story Profile Visits : The number of times people visit your profile from your story Follows : The number of accounts that started following you Why do these stats matter? These analytics measure viewer engagement with your stories. Positive replies and profile visits are a good indicator that viewers like what they see and are keen to share and learn more. A good way to boost interaction metrics is by sharing a poll, questions, or emoji slider sticker. These stickers offer quick and easy ways for viewers to engage, and also deliver valuable feedback to brands. Particularly the questions that just require a click (e.g. yes/no) are often fun for your readers to participate in, because they see the results of the poll instantly. Reach and impression metrics are key to helping you appreciate the scope of your audience. These metrics can be used to calculate the rate of engagement with your stories content. More importantly, they track how many people are discovering your content. New followers gained through stories show you how stories are contributing to your visibility and reach. Using stickers can increase the discoverability of Instagram stories. They can help stories show up in more searches, or be included in larger stories that are curated around certain stickers. Navigation stats track the overall completion rate of your Instagram Story. Under Navigation, you’ll see the total number of navigational actions people have taken from your story: Back : The number of taps to see the previous story. When a viewer taps backwards, it can mean they think content is worth re-watching or that it caught their attention while they were speed tapping through their Stories. If a post has a lot of taps backward, make note of the type of content and keep testing it in your future Stories. Forward : The number of taps to see the next story (before the current story was completed). Taps Forward is the number of times a viewer tapped the right side of the screen to jump to the next story in the queue. Since a lot of people “speed tap” their way through watching Instagram Stories, Taps Backward, Next Story, and Exits are all better indications of how your Stories are performing. Next Story : The number of swipes to the next account’s story and is more of an indicator that the viewer was over watching your story and wanted to skip to the next one. This data can help you determine how long your optimal Instagram Stories posts should be, whether it’s 3 slides or 13 slides. Exited : The number of times people closed your story. While this is a similar metric to ‘next story’, exits have a less negative connotation. For example, if someone exits your story, it could just mean that the viewer was running out of time to watch stories. Also, if you included a link in your story, they may have swiped up to learn more. Like other engagement analytics, navigational stats also track actions viewers take, but they tend to be less positive. The more people who forward, exit, and skip your story for the next one, the more likely it is your content isn’t connecting. If a lot of people are clicking back, it could mean they want another look, or they feel like they missed something. Including a call to action in your Instagram stories can help audiences stick with them. Who has viewed your story? Click on the little eye and find out! If your story gets featured in a hashtag or location story by Instagram, you can also track the number of viewers who viewed it through the Instagram explore page. When your story is added to the search results for a location, Instagram let you know by sending you a notification, or you can view it at the top of your story stats. When someone views your story from a hashtag or location page, you’ll see the name of that page when looking at who watched your story your Instagram Stories analytics. Using Links in your Instagram Stories If you’re collaborating with businesses (or are a business yourself), you’re often asked to add a specific link to your stories. The reason they’re doing this is because they want to know what internet traffic towards their site is coming directly from your instagram account, thus measuring return on investment. Adding this link used to only be available to business or makers account with more than 10k followers but as of the end of last year everyone can add a link sticker to their stories. This is also useful if you want to link blog articles, or recent purchases or basically anything from the internet you wish to share. As Instagram Stories continues to grow in popularity, it’s important to look at your feed and stories as two separate platforms. While the strategy and content for your feed and stories should work together, it’s important to track traffic and other important KPIs separately to figure out what works best for each of these channels. Work out how to use stories to our advantage and don’t solely rely on the pictures and reels in your main feed. If you really want to go a little OTT with your story analytics, or if you have a large website with many visitors, you could consider creating trackable links to add to your stories. They’re a great way to help you determine exactly where your traffic is coming from. You set this up in Google Analytics of your site by using UTM tagging (UTM is short for ‘Urchin Tracking Module’). In other words: a UTM is the piece of unique code you’ll add on to the end of your URL. With UTM tagging, you can make sure Google Analytics is tracking your Instagram traffic with complete accuracy. Now, I could pretend to understand exactly how this works, and bamboozle you with coding language. Truth is, I have no idea! Luckily Google wouldn’t be Google if they hadn’t created a tool Google’s ( Campaign URL Builder ) that would do all that work for you. Phew. All you have to do is decide what website or specific webpage you want to send your followers to. It’s best to send your audience to a website they can take a “next step” — whether that be signing up for a service, making a purchase, read your blog, or to simply continue the conversation. Timing and duration of your story; what works best? Buffer.com conducted research into how people are engaging with instagram stories which resulted in some interesting findings and conclusions. Post between one to seven stories each day: Posting between one to seven stories is best for keeping a high completion rate (over 70 percent). Completion rate is determined by calculating the number of times your stories were watched from the first story frame all the way to the last story frame within the given 24-hour time period. This means that if you post between one to seven stories, the chances are 70 percent of your audience will stick around until the end of your last post. However, if you do want to post longer stories, the drop off isn’t too bad. You can still see completion rates above 50 percent for posts longer than 20 stories. Post stories at optimal times: Given that stories only last for 24hrs, you’ll want to maximise the reach of that content when you post it. The best time to post will vary for every account based on its audience and when they are most active. In all fairness, I should probably pay more attention to when I post my stories. I usually let it coincide with my feed post and then when I think of it. I can probably gain some traction by optimising my timing strategy. Post consistently: Consistency is key to social media success. And that’s especially true for stories. Because stories only last 24hrs, you need to post new content daily to keep your audience engaged. The more stories top Instagram accounts post, the more median reach and impressions they get. This doesn’t mean you should go nuts and publish stories the sake of it, but if you want to increase your reach and impressions on Instagram, well thought-out and structured stories could be a great way to go. Are hashtags as important as in your newsfeed? Short answer: no. Read on for the longer answer. When you add a hashtag to Instagram stories, you can place the hashtag in a sticker, in text, or by way of a location tag. The hashtag goes directly on the image and can be formatted just like all text and stickers. When posted in text, linked hashtags are often underlined (don't forget to click on them in the list, else they don't work). Adding a hashtag to your story makes it discoverable to a wider audience, as it may be selected by the Instagram algorithm to appear on the page for that hashtag. If it does, you’ll know because that hashtag’s page will show up in your list of viewers in your analytics. Having said that, in my experience (and as my research suggests that isn’t unlike other user’s experience), they do not make up the bulk of your viewers. By a long shot. When you place hashtags in your Instagram story, your images or video will not always be accepted into the hashtag aggregation, even if your profile is set to public. Hashtags in stories therefore do not appear to be terribly useful. Therefore, one option is to just not worry about them. So why would you consider using hashtags in stories? Keeping all of the above in mind, adding hashtags to your stories is worth a try, most of all because it's easy and not that much extra effort. With hashtags, you have the potential to reach thousands of Instagrammers in your region, within your industry, of a similar mindset, or across the globe. The question is not if you should use hashtags in your Instagram story, but how. You could opt for one (or multiple) of the following story hashtag strategies: Geographically: In this case I am considering the location tag as a hashtag because why not. It acts the same way with the exception that you can only add 1 to a story. But I have noticed a fair few viewers of my location story so I’d say go for it. You could always hide the sticker. This tag is also your best bet to make it into an aggregated story, particularly useful if you’re seeking a local audience. Supportively : Use a campaign hashtag to generate a buzz. You’ll often see this in give aways or a public affairs message. I’m not sure how effective this is as you’re in fact asking Instagram to create an aggregated story based on your own created hashtag. But hey, all credit to you if it works! Strategically : Find your niche and make use of it. To me this is a useful one. My nice is interior and I find that when I utilise hashtags specific to my niche, particularly those my followers follow, I have more chances of being featured in an aggregated story. Creatively : Tell a story with hashtags. Surprise people. Engage people. Excessively OR Sparingly : You could opt for either! As number of hashtags don’t really seem to matter as much you could decide that they say something about you as a person, a brand or a personality. Do you go over the top, and scream your message off the roof tops? Get noticed by bold use of hash tags? Or are you going to subtle, let the image speak for itself and hope your message comes across that way? Now what? Create Amazing Instagram Story Content The world is your oyster! You have virtually unlimited options to go nuts with stories. Almost anything goes. Decide what matters to you on the day, what commitments you have, which strategy you wish to pursue, and post accordingly. You can create a quiz – they’re always fun to participate in. You can promote deals and articles, and they don’t always have to be yours either. If you read my 6 Tips to Boost Your Instagram Account & Grow I tell you about sharing other people’s content to increase your own engagement. You can repurpose great content. You spend ages taking gorgeous pictures, why not recycle them? Particularly those close ups you wish to share but don’t quite fit in your feed. And have you considered sharing content your audience will screenshot? Just tell them to! Stories may last only 24hrs, but you can create content your audience will want to screenshot and keep on their camera roll for reference. This will help your stay top-of-mind. Instagram Stories Need to be Engaging & Speedy One thing to keep in mind is speed: people consume stories content much faster than other mediums. Therefore, it is important you create ads that capture the audience's attention from the first frame and use speed to keep their attention. Use it to your advantage and build your story upon clicks! Create stories with multiple scenes. Stories that have short, concise scenes perform better than long, slow scenes. Get to the point and make it easier for viewers to consume. Did you know that 70% of Instagram stories are viewed with sound? Statistics show that Instagram users like to watch Instagram stories with the sound on. Use it to your advantage. Enhance with motion and music : Ads that use motion and music perform better. Consider adding motion and music to your static images. Go pro or laid back depending on your objective : Both organic videos shot by a mobile phone or professional studio shots work for stories. Mobile shots outperform studio shots for ad recall and intent, while studio shots tend to drive higher brand awareness.. Save the best to last! Create Instagram Profile Highlights You’ve just made all this effort to make the most fabulous stories as part of an amazing story strategy, and then they disappear after a day! Good news, in 2017, Instagram introduced stories highlights as a way to keep your stories around for more than 24 hours. Stories highlights appear on your profile below your bio, instantly giving your profile a boost as well, if you make clever use of them. To create a highlight: Tap the ‘New’ circle at the far left Now you can choose any stories from your archive Select a cover for your Highlight and give it a name. Personally, I like customised covers so it’s a nice clean look on your profile. Take a look at my profile to see what I’ve done with highlights. Note: you can also create highlights straight from live stories by selecting the ‘highlight’ button in the bottom of your screen. Once you’re done, your highlight will appear as a circle on your profile. You can have as many highlights as you like, and they will stay on your profile until you remove them. To edit or remove a highlight, just tap and hold that highlight on your profile. Keep in mind that you cannot manually change the order of story highlights. Whatever highlight you added last, will appear first on your profile. So, in order to change the order, you may have to add extra pages. Have fun! Stories are generally great entertainment, and allow for instant gratification. As you hopefully would have realised upon reading this article, Instagram is not just limited to your news feed and getting likes. There are many more ways to grow your engagement and reach. Stories is one of them. I hope I have given you inspiration to play around with your stories, and use them to their fullest potential. I would love to hear how you have implemented any of my tips. Happy Posting!

I offer playful, offbeat, and anti-gloom interior designs that are completely unique. I met Justine Guillermou a few years ago when she was one of my students at The Interior Design Institute . It's been an absolute joy to mentor someone who thinks totally out of the box, is not afraid of taking risks, is bold in her use of colour, questions convention and, at the same time, has a great eye for design. Justine graduated with distinction and has since then made a name for herself as an interior designer in London. Her Interior Design & Event Planning Studio Rainbow Shaker aims to literally shake things up with colour, and targets anyone whose also done with boring and bland interiors. Meet Justine below, while she takes us on a home tour through her own home in London. Meet Justine, the creative mind behind Rainbow Shaker Hi! I'm Justine, founder & creative mind behind Rainbow Shaker . I offer playful, offbeat, and anti-gloom interior designs that are completely unique. Back when I was an aerospace engineer, I always had to look outside of work to feed my creativity. A few years ago, I graduated from The Interior Design Institute and started my own business, putting my project management experience in the service of my creativity. I like having a very diverse skillset that I expand and strengthen continuously (#SwissArmyKnife). Above all, I am determined & I never give up before finding the perfect solution. Today, I would like to invite you into my home in London. Home Tour: a colourful eclectic London home A year ago, my husband and I came across this beautiful Victorian school in East London, and I immediately felt drawn to it. I've always been attracted to buildings with old souls. When I was a child, my parents bought a 1900s cottage in Brittany that they're still working on and I've always been at the heart of the renovation works. As soon as we got the keys, we began the hard work. Since its conversion in the 1980s, the flat had never been changed and needed to be freshened up. It got a full makeover from top to bottom, which was a chance for me to bring my own design ideas to life and put the Rainbow Shaker stamp on my new home. From a two-bedroom apartment spread across the first and second floors, I rearranged the entire space to transform it into a three-bedroom apartment with a primary suite. That's where my classes on spatial planning from The Interior Design Institute came to use. It was very important for me to visualise the flat as a whole and rethink the circulation paths. The home being south-west facing, one of the first thing I wanted to do was letting the light run freely in the flat to keep it bright and warm, and also to allow for energy savings. To do so, my husband and I removed most of the walls and replaced them with glass. We also got rid of the cumbersome former staircase to install a green spiral one closer to the entrance. A common thread is very important, like I am telling a story. In terms of design, I wanted to bring bright summery colours (blue, orange, pink, yellow, green and some notes of purple and red) to highlight the beautiful British brick work we spent so much time restoring to its original glory. It is always very important for me to have a common thread in the flat, like I was telling a story. This common thread was the use of those colours 5 main colours but using them differently from one room to another. (Read: How to choose a paint colour scheme for your home ) Living room makeover: mixing fun colours with raw materials When I first saw the living-room, I was in complete awe of this room's double-height ceiling and huge arched windows which gave it this beautiful volume and brightness. One key point of my style is mixing my fun colours with raw materials like wood and metal, as well as construction materials to counterbalance them. In this room, my husband and I built a bespoke OSB sideboard which turns into a little reading nook. I love to work with this kind or material because it's not only stronger than other composite materials but also has a lower environmental impact, which makes it a better sustainable choice than real wood. I created an accent wall which remained white to set up a colourful female empowering artwork gallery. As a final touch, I installed an electric fireplace with an industrial vibe to make the room cosier. Creating an open-plan kitchen in a majestic space In the former space arrangements, the kitchen was located on the mezzanine and was used only as a living-room. As a French person, I would say that the kitchen is THE most important space of the house; it's the heart of a home. So it was obvious for me to design an open-plan kitchen on the living-room in this majestic space. My husband loves to cook and recently passed his French bakery exam. However, being 6'4 tall, he never felt at ease in the kitchen. My mission was to design a whole new kitchen completely tailored to his needs so that he can exercise his passion without worry. I decided to go with a terracotta and lemon yellow colour palette, to make the space as warm as possible and makes it stand out from the bricks and parquet. Creating a Memphis style pantry I always say that you can never have too much storage, especially in the kitchen! I decided to transform one of the bathroom adjoining the kitchen into a pantry, where we would also be able to store our extensive wine collection. In my signature design style, I love creating optical illusions with paint to change the volume of a space. In this room, I created a mural which plays with the eye and intertwines arched shapes with straight lines to create a balance, somewhat similar to the Memphis style. For the flooring, I wanted to preserve the original hard wood parquet while fooling my guests. At first sight, you can see metal sheets used on construction sites. But it's in fact...vinyl! I chose this particular flooring for its durability and hard-wearing characteristics. A lively and motivating multi purpose fitness room In my free time, I enjoy doing kickboxing quite extensively. I'm a very sporty person and always take the opportunity to do a workout between two calls. I've set up my personal fitness room with all necessary sports equipment (punching dummy, fitness mats, kettle bells, dumbbells,...). In this room, I decided to use 3 main colours: purple, yellow and orange to create a split-complementary colour palette which makes the room lively and motivating. The room is facing south but has a very small window so I wanted to avoid darkening it when I removed the white paint from the bricks. Hence, I replaced the door with a glass one and added a window to have a through light. Fitness room by day, guest bedroom by night As expatriates with a large family abroad, it was mandatory for us to offer sleeping options in our home when they come to visit. However, I didn't want to give up my fitness room! So I installed a day-bed which converts into a double one to accommodate my guests when they're here. On this side of the room, I used the whole split-complementary colour palette for the bed sheets and cushions, but also in the geometric rainbow form on the wall to highlight the bed and make it stand out. A bathroom to wow guests This bathroom originally had a nice retro bath tub, which I loved, but wasn't really convenient in such a small space. I chose to replace it with a shower and moved the toilet further from the sink, on the other side of the shower. I wanted to do something different from what I usually do and wow my guests. As for the design, I wanted to do something different from what I usually do and wow my guests. I created an analogous colour palette by using green and blue. What I wanted to do was have 2 monochromatic sides: one painted in electric blue with the shower and toilet and another one covered in green zebra wallpaper and green paint with the sink. I also mixed patterns with the wallpaper and vinyl flooring to add texture. The outside walls of the bathroom were completely removed and replaced with OSB to create a pocket door and accentuate the feeling of having a little cabin in the jungle. Master bedroom makeover into a jungle cocoon This space was formerly being used as a kitchen and dining area, which I decided to move downstairs. The staircase was removed, and we closed the space using glass walls to let the light shine through completely. I wanted to make the room as cozy as possible and create a little jungle cocoon, to echo the guest bathroom downstairs. I used green and blue as main colours again but took a brighter tone for the blue beams and glass walls, and a darker tone for the green (forest) of the bed to make you want to jump in when you see it. Because of my husband's height, we needed to have a super king size bed. It fits just perfectly and occupies almost the entire space, which makes it the central element of the room. As for the bedside tables, I reused some wired baskets from Mustard with a wooden shelf, that I installed on the wall to put our books and night essentials, as well as clip-on lamps. A feminine ensuite with a geometric pop twist We transformed the former kitchen into an ensuite which is directly connected to the main bedroom through our dressing corridor. I've always wanted to have a huge walk-in shower, so I chose this kind of design here and added a bench to allow my husband to shower without banging his head in the shower head. For this ensuite, I wanted to bring a geometric pop twist while keeping it very feminine. I selected pink tiles from Porcelain Superstore that I arranged vertically and painted my signature patterns. My husband tiled the bathroom himself while I took care of the painting part. I added some more geometric patterns in the selected vinyl flooring and towels. This ensuite is the only room to use red as one of its main colour. By doing so, I wanted to make this room feels unique and stand out from the rest of the flat. The red works harmoniously with the pink and gives the room a bit more elegance. Step into my office As I am working from home, I needed an office where I could work efficiently and welcome my clients. Hence, I transformed this former bedroom into my office which is also my craft station for sewing, crochet and woodwork. I wanted to create a dynamic yet cozy and natural space where the original features were emphasised. I wanted to create a dynamic yet cozy and natural space where the original features were emphasised. Hence, I used a terracotta pink that echoes the bricks and added raw elements like plywood and wicker (chairs and pendant light). The paint effect above the desk makes the ceiling feels higher and plays harmoniously with the central desk. The light in this space is simply wonderful as the big window is facing south. To bring in as much light as possible, I removed the opposite wall and replaced it with a glass wall. On the other side I installed a catamaran net as a nook platform so I can take breaks and rest...when my cat lets me! Tips to create a playful, offbeat, and anti-gloom interior Do you want to recreate Justine's style? Here are her top tips! It's really important to analyse the features of a room before doing an optical geometric paint shape so you know which feeling you want to give to the room. When rearranging your space, you have to consider yourself living in it on a daily basis and map your general circulation patterns. In my designs I always mix curves with straight lines to create a balance between 'feminine' and 'masculine'. Don't be afraid to experiment with colour and paint and do something that makes you happy; you can always correct it. If you're a bit skeptical about too many bright colours, start with a few accents colours and 1 or 2 additional colours in accessories. Feeling inspired? Visit Justine's website Rainbow Shaker to see more of her work.

Display cabinets are back! Or maybe they've never left? Either way, they have become sexy again as a means to store our most precious items for the world to see. You'll find display cabinets in all types of interiors, from sleek modern to modern farmhouse, from eclectic maximalism to Wabi-Sabi. Display cabinets are more versatile and no longer just conjure up the image of your grandmother's antique kitchen hutch, displaying the fanciest tableware, that's not to be used. There will be few households where you cannot find some form of open storage cabinets or shelving. I am using the word 'storage' in jest because, frankly, if you are really in need of storage space, I suggest you do NOT use open or glass shelving. This is where most people go wrong; their display cabinets are stuffed to the brim and an eyesore. It achieves the exact opposite of what display cabinets are supposed to do: attracting the eye to a carefully curated selection of items. Instead, it shows the viewer your lack of organisation and storage space and draws the eye exactly to what you actually wanted to get rid of; the mess. Style a display cabinet with intent. I’m going to show you how to style a cabinet in a balanced and artful manner, but most of all, with intent. Styling is not about buying new things, but about how to purposely arrange them. With careful consideration, you can repurpose and rearrange the items you already have in your home and make them shine. Of course, it's always fun to shop for something new. Or, if you're like me, change things up all the time. That's the beauty of a display cabinet; you decide what to display and when it's time for a new collection. You are your own stylist. I consider my display cabinet a constantly moving art form, changing it with the seasons, festive holidays or simply when I fancy a new look. Below I am giving you tips on how to style your display cabinets. Obviously, all these tips are also valid for bookcases or open shelving and any type of items, you wish to display. The world is your oyster and creativity knows no boundaries; I am merely giving you suggestions. Have fun with it. Yes, styling is a skill, but it is also an art form. When you style a display cabinet, you decide what is pleasing . First things first: Where do You Place Your Display Cabinet? The perfect way to position your cabinet is opposite a window, in an alcove (those awkward spaces you never know what to do with) or on a back wall. If you’d like to look at your precious items often, make sure it’s in your line of sight. If it contains items you need to use on a regular basis, ensure it’s easily accessible. Glass-fronted cabinets often work well in small spaces as they don't make the room feel overcrowded. Decide How You Want Your Display Cabinet to Function Display cabinets are relatively easy to style. But they definitely need a function and purpose. What would you like to display? What would you like your guests to be drawn to? You could for example style your display cabinet with a certain collection in mind. Perhaps you collect certain vintage items, books, trophies, art, baskets or other curiosities. Perhaps you like items in a certain colour. Perhaps you like to match the old with the new and refer to a certain specific interest. I recently saw a display cabinet with the most fantastic collection of vintage Disney figures. One of those figures alone would have seemed odd in an adult home, as part of a large collection it was an amazing artwork display. Display cabinets provide you with a chance to get creative and experiment with the art of display. Don’t be afraid to use your display cabinet in a more practical way too though. You can easily display decorating books or magazines, linen storage, craft and sewing supplies or home office supplies. As long as they are carefully arranged, and with intent. Display cabinets provide you with a chance to get creative and experiment with the art of display. Approach your Display Styling with an Open Mind Consider each shelf like an incomplete sketch that requires you to combine artistic pieces, books, and different aesthetic objects you love to complete the picture. Make sure to develop a focal point in every compartment and coordinate colours for harmony. The charm of a display cabinet is that you can be as flexible as you want in your approach. Display books with photos, or set artwork next to decorative plants. They don't all need to conform. What truly matters is creativity, individuality, versatility and style. If you change your mind, you can always change the arrangement. Keep a Consistent Colour Palette When you style a glass display cabinet, consider the existing colour palette you have in your home. It will visually help to ensure a seamless transition from one space to the next. You can also do the opposite, choose one accent colour to work throughout the scheme of your interior and make your collection pop. A benefit of glass-fronted or open storage is that you can make the internal shelves a focal point within a room. Organise by Odd Numbers You might have heard it one million times before, but things really do look better in odd numbers – and three is the magic number! The number three is a number with a powerful aesthetic. Grouping things in threes, fives, and sevens tends to stand out. Play around with Scale and Height To prevent your composition from feeling flat, you will want to include items of different heights and varying scale. Displaying objects of varying heights helps to create movement and will prevent your styling from appearing one-dimensional. If you use i tems of the same size, stagger them so they feel layered. You can for example create height with picture frames, tall pitchers or vases, or objects that stack well together - such as bowls, plates, and platters or books. Layering Creating layers adds depth and interest to your styling. Think of layering in two ways; horizontally and vertically. You can simply pile things on top of each other (horizontal layering). Think of a stack of bowls or platters, a pile of linen napkins on top of each other, or by setting objects on a book, tray or in a basket. Vertical layering is by placing an item partially in front of another. By overlapping pieces, your styling will appear more visually appealing than having them displayed side by side. The goal of layering is creating dimension. Balance your Display Items To create the right level of harmony, ideally, you should incorporate a larger item on every shelf for balance. Play around with the positioning of big items around each shelf at the centre and the sides, so your collection does not seem disproportionate. There is a very thin line between collected and cluttered. There is a very thin line between collected and cluttered. Leaving a little bit of breathing room between objects is a good thing. Placing too many things on a single shelf will make it look chaotic, messy and untidy. Make sure to create a focal point in each shelving compartment, experimenting with different heights and colours for the best arrangement. Add Greenery My motto always is, when in doubt, add a plant. It adds life to any space. Using greenery is a great way to freshen up any space including in display cabinets and open shelving. It also adds a quick pop of colour. Create a Fabulous Backdrop If you wish to give a colourful effect to your display cabinet, consider adding wallpaper or painting the back of the unit, behind the shelves. This will entice the eyes and add an interesting dimension. Do you want your glass cabinet to look especially elegant? Get one that has a mirror on its back. Mirrors can play tricks on your mind. The mirror adds a certain sense of majesty to the glass cabinet. It will also make your room look more spacious. Whatever you put into a display cabinet a mirror will make it look as though it's multiplied. This makes your display cabinet look more full. The mirror will also allow you to see the back of your items (this is not always a good thing so be mindful!). It will also reflect light into the room. Consider Integrated Lighting for your Display Cabinet There are a couple of reasons why you want to consider having built-in lighting for your display cabinet. First of all, it makes your items shine. It literally puts them in the spotlight. The other reason is to simply add extra artificial light to your living space. This was particularly important to me as this particular corner in my living room was quite dark at night. You can set them to come on automatically to highlight the display items in the evening. Final Thoughts The beauty of decorating is that you have the right to change your mind, any time you want. After all, you never know when you’re going to strike the right balance of perfectly imperfect until you try. A display cabinet is like an empty canvas. Treat a display cabinet as an empty canvas; you are the artist. You can style them with different items, contrast their colours, and create an artistic combination to your heart’s content. You can use the tips and tricks outlined in this blog to ensure balance and harmony, but remember when you style a display cabinet, it’s all about you and your taste. I hope this blog has given you inspiration to style your display cabinet or open shelving in a way that's just perfect in your eyes. Enjoy!

It is not uncommon to be in between jobs As an interior designer working for yourself, it is not uncommon to be in between jobs. Of course, we'd all like to be successful and have an abundance of projects to simply choose from. However the reality is that sometimes life gets in the way, things change, or you're just starting out and still need to establish a network and client base. If you prefer not to work for yourself and are in the market for a job with an employer, you also might find it sometimes takes a while to find the right opportunity. Resume gaps are not unusual, so pay attention to how you spend your time between jobs. Potential employers want to know how job candidates spent their time when they were out of work. Learning? Travelling? Moping? Unless you demonstrate a can-do attitude, you're likely to have a tough time bouncing back from periods of unemployment. Or maybe you simply need a breather from official projects and deliberately decide not to take on any new projects for the time being. I've been there and done that. It's really refreshing when you have the opportunity, and recharges you for new ventures. Whatever the reasons you're not actively designing for clients or an employer, make the most of the time you have on your hands. Below I am giving suggestions on how to keep busy between jobs. Practice your design skills Why not go back to basics and work on your design skills? Put together a few mood boards in various different styles to broaden your horizon and stay in the game. You can read my blog on how to create the perfect mood board here. How are your CAD skills? Do they need some brushing up? How about making some renderings of designs you have created and take your spatial planning to the next level? Create new colour scheme's to wow future clients. Selecting the right paint colour scheme is often a challenge as interior colour choices are highly subjective. It can't hurt to have some colour ideas right in your back pocket, at the ready. For inspiration, read my blog on how to choose a colour scheme . Work on your portfolio Whether you're a seasoned interior design professional or a newly graduated designer, the one thing that is no different is the need to be able to show your body of work to prospective employers or clients. You need to build a professional portfolio to land a job at a commercial interior design firm or to sign up clients if you have your own creative studio. It's very important that your portfolio is up to date and shows your most recent, and most beautiful body of work. This is the time to update it, and add to it. Why not add a gorgeous mood board you just created to practice your design skills? Read my blog on how to create an interior design portfolio . Investigate new suppliers What's the status of your fabrics and fittings samples? Do you have the latest paint and wallpaper swatches? This is your chance to update your sample suitcase and investigate what's new. Do you regular suppliers have any new products? Are there some fun up and coming suppliers you should visit? Do your research and ensure that you have the very latest to offer to your new clients in the future. Find an internship Those early in their careers may want to consider an internship, even if they have previously held a full-time job. The same goes for people considering a career transition. You develop your craft by doing, and following an expert around in an established career might just be exactly what you need to se yourself up for success. Update your branding and company collateral Take a good look at your own business, and how you promote yourself. Does your business collateral truly reflect what you stand for as a designer? Is your website up to date with the latest imagery? Do all the links still work or does everything need a bit of a refresh? What's the SEO status of your website; are people able to find you through the internet? Dedicate the time to ensure a good administrative set up of your business, and it will save you time later. Work on your social media profile Did you know: Instagram has over a billion users (Telecrunch, 2018) 83% of Instagrammers say they discover new products and services on Instagram (Facebook, 2019) 50% of Instagram users follow at least one business (Mention, 2018) Brands can generate over 4x more interactions on Instagram compared to Facebook (Socialbakers, 2018) Instagram helps 80% of Instagrammers decide whether to buy a product or service (Facebook, 2019) If you don't use social media to profile yourself or promote your services, this is the time to do so. Let me provide you with some basic general Instagram tips and tricks that have helped me starting out and will help you grow your account and increase your engagement rate. Read the blog here . Attend networking events Can you join a group of like-minded people? Join a professional organisation. However, don't just attend meetings but consider taking your involvement to the next level by serving on a board or organising events yourself. You put yourself in the spotlight and through that people often end up finding jobs. Take a course Is there something you've wanted to learn but haven't found the time before? This is your chance! Are you up to date with the latest software? Would you like to specialise in a certain area such as kitchens, commercial design, garden design or perhaps property stages? Investigate what courses could work for you. The Interior Design Institute offers many advanced courses for graduates. Also, employers are often wary about job candidates with outdated skills, especially in technical and design fields. If you take a class, or even begin pursuing an advanced degree, you already demonstrate that you're willing to learn new skills and stay up to date. It shows your engagement in the industry. Stay up to date with the latest trends Read books, watch TV, follow trend setters, attend trade shows and engage with other designers. You may be in between jobs but that doesn't mean you can't continue the journey. Volunteer your services Why not doing some smaller jobs for friends and family? Document projects you've completed for friends or in your own home. It's not just paid assignments that make up your portfolio. You can give your own home a makeover, document it and use this for your portfolio. Have fun Sometimes we all need a break. Maybe this unintended career break is the universe telling you to take stock and reassess. Or maybe it's an intended break and it's time for some self care. Take the moment to do something fun, take care of yourself and recharge. Spend time with family and friends. Make it worthwhile and count for something. Before you know it you'll be back in the swing of things and regret not making the most of it.

Apple keeps updating its operating system, whether we like it or not. Many of the features I could often do without but iOS 16 has introduced one really useful feature which has to do with photo editing. Usually, when you have to remove backgrounds from photos, you need a specialised editing tool or software. But iOS now has a built-in tool to remove the background from a photo. It’s not perfect (yet), but can be very handy if you're looking for a quick way to remove an unwanted background from a photo. It works differently than in specialised photo editing software. iOS actually lifts the photo’s subject out of the picture. You can then paste the photo’s subject into another app, such as iMessage, WhatsApp, Facebook, etc, and it will appear without the background. This is how you do it: First, go to the photo in the Photos app and long-press on the subject of the photo. When it starts to shimmer around the edges, a small menu will appear. Tap Copy . Now go to the app you want to share the edited picture with. I tried it in Notes. Tap in the message box and select Paste . The app will ask for permission to paste from the Photos app. Naturally, tap Allow Paste . The photo’s subject will now appear, minus the background. If the iPhone background is dark, you likely won’t notice any imperfections. But if you make the background white, you’ll notice a grey border around parts of the picture. So it doesn’t do a 100% perfect job, but it’s close enough. Please note that (at the time of writing) you cannot make the edited picture into its own photo in the Photos app. The only thing you can do is paste it into something like Notes and then make a screenshot. Easy does it. I hope this was useful. If you'd like to learn how to remove the background of images using PowerPoint, please click here to read the article .

In this blog, I will show you how you remove the background from images using good old-fashioned PowerPoint using two different tools. Knowing how to use these tools is important because they give you more ways to use pictures in your presentations, including interior mood boards , sample boards, material boards and portfolios . Note : if you're an iPhone user, you're in luck, iOS now has a built-in tool to remove the background from a photo. Read here how. Tool #1: The Set Transparent Colour tool This technique works best for pictures with 100% solid backgrounds (for example images with white backgrounds you often find in stock photos). If your background is not 100% solid, you’ll have to use the Remove Background Tool instead. Tool #2: The Remove Background tool This tool works best for removing complicated backgrounds from photos and images. Also, this technique gives you the most flexibility when deciding what parts of the background to remove. Removing a Solid Background from an Image The fastest way to remove an image background is to use the Set Transparent Colour tool . The only catch is that it only works for removing solid colours, like white backgrounds. To remove a solid background from an image in PowerPoint, simply: 1. Insert and select a picture on your slide 2. Navigate to the Picture Tools Format Tab 3. Open the Colour dropdown menu 4. Select the Set Transparent Colour tool (your cursor becomes a little pen with an arrow) 5. Click on the colour you want to remove from your background PowerPoint turns that solid colour transparent throughout your entire picture. In this case, the white background is removed. This technique works best when you have a fairly simple background. If your background is more complicated, you’ll need to use the Remove Background Tool instead . When Set Transparent Colour Doesn’t Work The Set Transparent Colour tool works very well if you have photos with solid backgrounds. You will find these types of backgrounds on a lot of the stock photos you find online. Just keep in mind that the Set Transparent Colour tool does have limitations. This technique does not work well if the content of the image and its background are too similar in colour. PowerPoint also makes the background colour used within the picture transparent. This technique also doesn’t well with backgrounds that have shadows or gradients. Because the Set Transparent Colour tool only removes a single colour, gradients and shadows will be left in. It is also tricky when your image has a lot of detailing (like strands of hair, clothing, and skin). For any of these types of scenarios, you’ll want to use the Remove Background tool instead. Removing a Complicated Image Background To remove a background from an image, simply: 1. Select the image on your slide 2. Navigate to the Picture Format tab 3. Select the Remove Background command 4. Adjust your removal settings 5. Select Keep Changes Adjusting What Gets Removed from Your Image Imagine you would like to use the artwork pictured in the image below for your presentation. When you first select the Remove Background command, PowerPoint takes a guess at what you want to remove. In the picture below, that is shown in a magenta colour. PowerPoint usually makes a pretty good guess as to what needs to be removed. However, it doesn’t always get it right. You'll see it didn't quite get the whole canvas. PowerPoint thinks the top part needs to me removed. To fix this you need to specify what you want to keep and remove in your picture using the designated tools. 1. Mark Areas to Keep in Your Image If PowerPoint doesn’t guess correctly and removes too many parts of your image, you can simply mark the areas you want to keep. To do that, simply: 1. Select Mark Areas to Keep 2. Click and draw over the parts of your photo you want to keep (creates green marks) 3. Select Keep Changes PowerPoint readjusts the parts of your image background that are removed. You might need to repeat this a few times to get it right. 2. Mark Areas to Remove in Your Image If PowerPoint guesses incorrectly and leaves too much background, you can mark areas to remove. To do that, simply: 1. Select Mark Areas to Remove 2. Click and draw over the parts of your photo you want to keep in Red 3. Select Keep Changes PowerPoint readjusts what parts of your background are removed. Sometimes you need to do this a few times to get it right. When Remove Background Doesn’t Work While the Remove Background tool will work for most backgrounds you want to remove, there are some limitations. If your picture is too homogenous, even the marking areas to keep and remove may not work. Sharp crisp photos work best. It can also be hard to remove the background around small details or if the background is a gradient, is too complex or has shadowing. Summary While the Set Transparent Colour tool is the fastest way to remove your image background, it only works some of the time. It is best to familiarise yourself with the Remove Background tool . If you work with lots of images, this will become your go-to tool for removing backgrounds in PowerPoint. If you really want to professionalise your work, I would suggest you try a program such as Photoshop for more precision. While PowerPoint does a pretty good job, it cannot compete with dedicated picture editing programs.

Mediterranean interior design has long been admired for its relaxed and inviting ambience. Originating from the countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, this design style is characterised by a blend of traditional elements, rustic charm, and vibrant colour schemes. Imagine the romantic aesthetics of Southern European countries: light and warm tones in colour scheme, as well as the extensive use of natural materials such as ceramics, wood, wrought iron and cotton. This design combines boldness, simplicity and convenience. The boho and contemporary Ibiza influences have added a fresh, modern touch to this timeless design style in recent years. In this guide, I will delve into the various aspects of Mediterranean interior design, including its origins and influences, key characteristics, and essential materials. I will also explore the integration of boho and Ibiza elements, the importance of outdoor living, and provide tips for creating your own Mediterranean-inspired space. Origins and Influences of the Mediterranean Interior Design Style Mediterranean interior design is influenced by the Mediterranean region's rich history and diverse cultures, including countries such as Spain, Italy, Greece, and Morocco. These countries' architecture and design styles have evolved over centuries, incorporating elements from various historical periods, including ancient Roman and Greek civilisations, Moorish influences, and the Renaissance period. The Mediterranean's unique geography and climate also play a significant role in shaping its design style. With its sun-drenched landscapes, sandy beaches, and lush vegetation, it's no wonder that Mediterranean interiors are known for their warm, welcoming, and carefree atmosphere. Key Characteristics of Mediterranean Interior Design Traditional Elements Mediterranean interior design is rooted in tradition, with many of its key elements reflecting the region's rich cultural heritage. Some common features found in Mediterranean homes include: Arched doorways and windows Exposed wooden ceiling beams Ornate ironwork Decorative tile work Built-in seating and storage These traditional elements help to create a sense of history and charm, giving Mediterranean spaces a distinct character and warmth. Colour Schemes Colour plays a crucial role in Mediterranean interior design, with vibrant hues inspired by the region's stunning landscapes. Typical colour schemes include: Warm earth tones, such as terracotta, ochre, and sand Bright blues and greens, evoking the sea and lush foliage Pops of bold colours, such as red, yellow, and orange, inspired by the region's vibrant flowers and sunsets These lively colour schemes create a sense of energy and warmth, making Mediterranean interiors feel inviting and cheerful. Rustic and Carefree Ambiance At its core, Mediterranean design is all about embracing a carefree and relaxed lifestyle. This is reflected in the use of rustic and weathered materials, such as: Distressed wood Aged metal Worn textiles Rough-hewn stone These materials, combined with a laid-back decorating approach, help to create a sense of ease and comfort that is quintessential to Mediterranean design. If you want to create an authentic Mediterranean style,   choose damask fabric  in your interior decor. This fabric has beautiful patterns and a luxurious feel, adding elegance while still keeping the rustic charm that is key to the design. By pairing damask with the rough textures of aged materials, you can achieve a lovely balance that captures the relaxed yet refined spirit of Mediterranean living. The Boho Touch in Mediterranean Design Boho Interior Design Elements Boho interior design, short for bohemian, is characterised by its eclectic mix of patterns, textures, and colours. This style is all about personal expression, creativity, and embracing a sense of freedom and individuality. Read my blog on the boho interior style. Some key elements of boho design include: Layered textiles, such as rugs, pillows, and throws A mix of patterns and vibrant colours Vintage and antique furniture Handcrafted and globally inspired accessories Integrating Boho Style with Mediterranean Design The boho touch adds a layer of depth and interest to Mediterranean interiors, creating a more eclectic and expressive atmosphere. To integrate boho elements into Mediterranean design, consider: Adding colourful and patterned textiles to your space, such as Moroccan-inspired rugs or kilim pillows Incorporating vintage furniture and accessories, such as antique brass lamps or carved wooden mirrors Layering textures and materials, such as combining a rustic wooden table with plush seating and soft linens The Contemporary Ibiza Influence Defining Ibiza Interior Style Ibiza offers a diverse range of interior design styles, including refined rustic, worldly eclectic, cosy contemporary, minimalism, traditional countryside, and clean white-on-white. The popularity of this island, frequented by affluent tourists and expats has developed the interior design style, combining refined rustic styles with modern accents, while worldly eclectic mixes modern pieces with ethnic and oriental vibes. Cosy contemporary is defined by comfort and simplicity, while minimalism offers a serene and peaceful space with a clean, crisp look. While the traditional countryside combines traditional style and modern elements, while clean white-on-white creates a minimalist, modern space in the bustling centres. That Ibiza's interior style is characterised by its modern, minimalist approach to Mediterranean design. Drawing inspiration from the island's renowned party scene and luxury villas, these Ibiza-style interiors are sleek, sophisticated, and glamorous. Some key elements of Ibiza interior design include: Clean lines and minimal ornamentation A neutral colour palette with pops of vibrant hues Luxurious materials, such as marble, concrete, and metallic accents Contemporary furnishings and lighting How to Incorporate Ibiza Elements into Mediterranean Design To infuse your Mediterranean interior with a contemporary Ibiza influence, consider incorporating the following elements: Streamlined furniture with minimal detailing A neutral colour palette with bold accents, such as a statement piece of artwork or colourful cushions Modern lighting, such as pendant lights or floor lamps Luxurious materials and finishes, such as polished concrete floors or marble countertops Embracing Outdoor Living in Mediterranean Design Importance of Outdoor Spaces Outdoor living is an integral part of Mediterranean culture and design, with the region's warm climate and stunning landscapes providing the perfect backdrop for alfresco living. Mediterranean homes often feature spacious outdoor areas, such as courtyards, terraces, and gardens, which are designed for relaxation, dining, and entertaining. Design Tips for Outdoor Living Areas To create a Mediterranean-inspired outdoor living space, consider the following design tips: Use natural materials, such as stone, terracotta, and wood, to create a rustic and inviting atmosphere Incorporate greenery and colourful plants, such as bougainvillea, jasmine, and olive trees Create shaded areas for relaxation, using pergolas, canopies, or large umbrellas Incorporate comfortable seating and dining areas, using built-in benches, daybeds, or outdoor furniture Add outdoor lighting to create a warm and welcoming ambience during the evening hours Essential Materials for Mediterranean Design Terracotta Terracotta is a hallmark material of Mediterranean design, thanks to its warm, earthy colour and rustic texture. This versatile material can be used in various ways, such as: Terracotta floor and wall tiles Decorative accents, such as pots and vases Outdoor elements, such as planters and fountains Natural Textiles and Materials Mediterranean design embraces the use of natural textiles and materials, which add warmth, texture, and character to a space. Some popular materials include: Linen and cotton textiles for bedding, curtains, and upholstery Woven materials, such as rattan and wicker, for furniture and accessories Natural stone, such as limestone and marble, for flooring, countertops, and architectural elements Ceramic tiles Tiles play a crucial role in Mediterranean interior design, adding a touch of vibrancy and colour to the space. Mediterranean homes commonly feature eclectic tiles on floors, walls, and even ceilings. These tiles come in various styles, shapes, and colours, and are used to create striking decorative elements. Tiles can also be used as a splashback in the kitchen or to create a graphic effect on the floor. The use of tiles is also practical in Mediterranean interior design, as they offer a durable and easy-to-clean alternative to rugs. Tips for Creating a Mediterranean-Inspired Space To create your own Mediterranean-inspired interior, consider incorporating the following tips: Choose a warm and vibrant colour scheme, inspired by the Mediterranean landscape Incorporate traditional elements, such as arched doorways, exposed wooden beams, and decorative tile work Create a rustic and carefree ambience using weathered materials and a laid-back decorating approach Add boho and Ibiza influences for an eclectic and modern twist Embrace outdoor living by creating inviting alfresco spaces Use a mix of natural materials, such as terracotta, stone, and textiles, to add warmth and character to your space Final Words Mediterranean interior design offers a timeless and versatile style that can be adapted to suit a variety of tastes and preferences. By incorporating elements of tradition, colour, and natural materials, you can create a warm, inviting, and carefree space that reflects the essence of Mediterranean living. With the addition of boho and contemporary Ibiza influences, you can also achieve a more eclectic and modern aesthetic that is both unique and stylish.