A modern take on the conversation piece

Displaying personal possessions and objets is an art form – and also key to achieving a room with plenty of panache

Sharon Ingoldby takes furniture painting to a new level, transforming old and neglected pieces with charming folk art-inspired pattern and colour

From George Stubbs’s golden vision of the labourer’s place in society to Ford Madox Brown’s heroically monumental celebration of manual labour, artists gave individual interpretations of work, as Michael Hall reveals

Your indispensable guide to the capital

Exhibition of the week Anna Ancher: Painting Light ...

Musicians, astronomers and artists all played a part in the story of this historic Surrey Hills home, which has begun a new chapter with the help of design studio Gunter & Co