A day in the life of Siobhan Lam, owner of interior store April and the Bear

5(ish)am

I have two daughters, Zoë and Autumn and I’m usually woken by the smallest at about 5.30 – if I get to 6am it’s practically a lie-in! I breastfeed my youngest Autumn in bed and then we’re up! After dressing the girls, we have breakfast and then out to school. My husband Jamie usually drops Zoë to school and I put Autumn down for her first nap of the day. 

8.30am

Our childminder Amanda looks after the girls in our house, so after she arrives, I’ll go for my run – sometimes in the gym, sometimes I’ll go along the canal. It’s so beautiful this time of year! After my run, I grab a coffee in our local coffee shop Brindle in Portobello and then get ready for work. I can work from home but I also work in-store, so it really depends on my schedule and our staff rota where I’ll end up! 

10am

Any day in-store usually starts with a couple of meetings – with our store manager Louise about sales, social content, and what we have planned for the month, with our visual merchandiser Sorcha about shop moves and then I’ll try and catch up with our interior designer Emma. Emma is usually busy working onsite, so email is sometimes the best option! We mostly focus on residential renovation projects. 

April and the Bear sells all sorts of gorgeous homewares, gifting and furniture and each day in-store is different. I write all the content for our social media and online store so I’m usually typing away in the back of the store. I also shoot most of our products for the online store and social media campaigns – so depending on what our manager Louise has planned for the month ahead, I could be shooting for the day! Apart from this, my workday involves sourcing products for customers, speaking to suppliers, emailing clients, unpacking deliveries and packing orders. That is one of the great things about running a small business, each day is different – you might be out in a fabulous showroom one day picking product and the next you’re sweeping the floors. It keeps you on your toes! 

1pm

I collect Zoë from school and walk her home, her school isn’t too far from work. I usually eat on the go, I might get another coffee in Voici, around the corner from the shop in Rathmines and if I don’t have time for a sambo, I’ll grab a protein bar. 

4pm

I leave work at about 4pm if I can, so I can spend some time with the girls before bedtime. Autumn is one so she goes to bed pretty early so I make sure I get the maximum amount of cuddles in before that. Jamie and I do alternating bedtimes, and generally whoever does the earlier put-down also takes care of dinner.

8pm

With the evenings getting darker earlier, I’m all about lighting candles. So before any dinner prep, all my candles on the mantel HAVE to be lit. It’s so cosy and the smell just instantly relaxes me after a busy day, my favourite scent at the moment is Whitethorn & Sage by Somas – absolutely gorgeous. I might have a glass of wine with dinner, or a cocktail, and then we’ll watch Australian Survivor for a while before I fall asleep on the sofa…

Siobhan’s favourite cocktail

Siobhan’s go-to cocktail is an Amalfi Sunset Spritz – “It reminds me of my honeymoon, we stayed on the Amalfi coast and drank gin overlooking Capri!”

Ingredients

• 35ml Malfy Gin Rosa
• 50ml San Pelligrino Aranciata Rossa
• 50ml Prosecco
• Orange wheel, thyme sprig and strawberry slices

Method

Build ingredients in a glass over cubed ice and gently stir to combine. Garnish with an orange wheel, thyme sprigs and strawberry slices.

For the season’s most stylish cocktail inspiration, and to learn more about Malfy Italian Gin, visit malfygin.com