\n Frankie Ratford, who lives in Brighton, said it was amazing to take part in the seventh series of the hit BBC show.\n<\/p>\n
\n The 42-year-old is one of ten contestants vying for the title of grand interior design master.\n<\/p>\n
\n The contestants of this year’s Interior Design Masters (Image: BBC\/DSP\/Chris Lobina)\n<\/p>\n
\n A graphic designer by trade, Frankie had a design platform that helped graduates gain jobs in the in the industry, which she has been a part of for over 20 years.\n<\/p>\n
\n She said her \u201cbold and colourful\u201d design style is inspired by her extensive travelling, which has seen her visit 100 countries.\n<\/p>\n
\n She embarked on a six year road trip and worked with other designers.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI would say my eye is well trained visually,” said Frankie.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI’ve also been renovating my own properties for the last seven years.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Frankie said she found the prospect of being on television challenging but was encouraged to apply by Banjo Beale, who won the show\u2019s third series, while she worked with him in Australia.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI applied, I didn’t think anything of it,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI went to hike the Camino de Santiago.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI was halfway in and I got the phone call to say I was going on the show and so I flew back and we started filming a week later.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n She said she couldn\u2019t believe it.\n<\/p>\n
\n Frankie describes her design style as \u201ccolourful, graphic and playful\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
\n Frankie Ratford (Image: Frankie Ratford)\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cAnd maybe a bit nostalgic,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cAnd incorporating travel.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI’m nomadic, so the plan is to live in Brighton every summer and then travel the rest.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI was born in Kent and then I lived in the New Forest and then I’ve been travelling for the last 20 years, but I’m here every summer.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Frankie said she is inspired by Brighton.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI love how lively Brighton is,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot happening here.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI love the short commute to London, but the fact it’s on the beach.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI love that you can jump on a plane to anywhere in Europe.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI just think the visual side of Brighton is bold, colourful and fun, which aligns with my style.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n She described her time on the show, which is hosted by comedian Alan Carr.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cBeing on TV was quite challenging and a little bit outside my comfort zone, but I wanted to push myself,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Mood boards from previous projects (Image: Frankie Ratford)\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cAlan was wonderful.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe was an absolute dream to work with.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cAnd the rest of the crew were so kind and welcoming and they really make you feel comfortable.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cSo it doesn\u2019t feel that scary.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWhen we wrapped the filming, I went up to Scotland to work behind the scenes on Banjo’s show, the Grand Island Hotel.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt was a very good experience to be a part of.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s been phenomenal.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Following on from the show, Frankie wants to do a giveaway for a local business that would see her refresh its interior. The business would cover the cost of equipment and materials while Frankie would do the work.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI would love to work with someone in Brighton that would benefit from that,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n
\n She\u2019s also using her marketing, design, photography and social media skills to help small businesses.\n<\/p>\n
\n The first episode of Interior Design Masters will air on BBC One tonight (April 21) at 8pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Frankie Ratford, who lives in Brighton, said it was amazing to take part in the seventh series of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-545774","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}