Esther Freud

This is my study. When I first saw this room about two years ago when I looked at the house, this was a study, it was a study of the man who lived here and I remember thinking it was the most beautiful room. It has this very low window and I stood here and I looked out at this wonderful view and thought, can you imagine if this was your own room. Having a very beautiful room isn’t necessarily helpful. I think it’s sometimes useful to have a small cell like cupboard but I do appreciate it especially when I’m not working.

I come up here every morning. The earlier I can get here, the better but usually it’s about quarter to ten by the time I’ve you know done everything else. It’s really wonderful to work in this room if there’s no one else in the house because if there’s someone else in the house, there’s always the awareness that I might be interrupted and sometimes if there are a lot of people and it’s very busy, I actually can feel my heart sort of beating with anxiety that someone is going to come in through one of the two doors.

When I’m working I try not to look at anything in this room only at the screen in front of me but sometimes I do stop and look around at the things that I’ve put here, not really for inspiration but more just a sort of mood of distraction. I like knowing that this picture behind me is there.  It’s an etching by my father and there’s something very thoughtful and serious about it and when he had finished it I asked if I could have a copy of this etching because I liked the idea of it behind me looking over my shoulder giving me sort of gravitas as I worked. This sort of shelf here I sometimes look at and think one day I’m going to tidy it up, but then I don’t. The day it’s tidy is the day I stopped work for a week so it shouldn’t be a cause for celebration.

When I’ve written enough to print out, I sit in this little chair which it’s a completely mad chair really, I bought it in a market in Portobello, it’s a very good reading chair and I can sit here and just read and make notes and I always feel that’s a very productive time, I always feel that when I’m sitting and working here I’m doing work that will be really useful. I guess it’s because I already have something to work on so it’s sort of entering a different level and the sun shines through the window, I always feel I’ve rewarded myself when I’m sitting here for hard strenuous work at the desk.