Starting a business is seldom easy and doing it in the midst of a pandemic definitely doesn’t help.

However, this did not stop Katie Gordon setting up her new interior design company Kreative Living last year, which is now making the most of a growing hunger for home improvement.

Katie - who is married to Nicky Gordon, managing director of Penrith-based Genesis Homes - studied interior design at Leeds Metropolitan University and worked in a number of jobs before setting up her own business last January.

Before this she had already undertaken a number of renovation projects and work on new-builds, including in some of Genesis Homes’ show homes.

She says the interruptions brought about by the coronavirus shutdown actually presented an opportunity to reinvent the fledgling business.

“At the time it was a massive disappointment to suddenly be thrown into that situation, especially when you have young children to look after as well,” she says.

“But on reflection it just allowed me to sit back and just replan.”

Katie adapted by creating an online shop, selling specially chosen furniture, fixtures and fittings.

She has also developed an online interior design package for those on a tight budget.

“It's just a case of the client completing a questionnaire or submitting pictures of their existing survey dimensions,” says Katie.

“Then we just have a video call to look through their brief and outline what it is they require and then I put together a design. Once that is agreed and they're happy with it, then they will be sent a document which lists all the items and links for them to go and purchase them.

“It’s something where people can spend hours and hours searching and searching for things to update the look of a room and not really get anywhere and they just need a little bit of help sourcing the right goods to create the look.

“The long term plan was always that I would introduce an online store at some point to complement the designs. Obviously I speeded that up because I just saw how much people are shopping online and during lockdown it went to another level. It just came a bit sooner than planned.”

As coronavirus restrictions have eased over recent months Katie has also been able to get back to work on more bespoke projects in people’s homes.

The business, which has offices on Penrith’s Gilwilly Industrial Estate, looks set to continue to be busy as more and more people move to overhaul their interiors following enforced time at home.

“I think everybody's spent a lot of time identifying areas of their home space that don’t work for them,” says Katie.

“And I think because it's gone on for so long you don't suddenly just snap back out of it and go back to your day-to-day life and then forget about all the things that you've learned.

“It's still continuing now and all the various trades are just overwhelmed with work so it looks like it’s going to carry on for some time.”