A man's best friend is his shed

One is a makeshift studio crammed with paints, jars and brushes and rigged with an old desk light that hangs from the roof. Another is for storing the finished originals and the last is a packing station for the paintings to be sent out to clients, including John Lewis.

"People expect me to have a massive studio, but I love my sheds. They're very basic and practical," says Kris, whose original abstract cityscapes are best-sellers. After shutting the door on the colourful chaos of his main shed, Kris walks home across the timber decking to a perfectly ordered home.

"It's funny, the sheds are where I can be very messy but in the house I like order and I am very minimal in my tastes. I don't like anything too fussy."

Kris and wife Emma bought the house after renting a flat nearby. Emma, a bio medical scientist, works at the local hospital and has family nearby. Kris is originally from Nottingham and they met at university in Huddersfield. He was studying car design before spending three years at the Royal College of Art.

"I love Hull. There's lots going on and this area has a real community and a river at the bottom of the road." Though it was relatively new and needed little work, Kris and Emma have completely changed the dcor of their home with the help from their DIY fathers

"It wasn't to my taste. The ceiling rose was the first thing to go because I really don't like them, then we've pretty much changed everything else," says Kris.

The kitchen is from Cooke and Lewis range at B&Q and is complemented by a glossy Smeg fridge. The dining area is small so the couple chose a glass table from Habitat and sprayed the white chairs orange with Plasti-kote to bring some colour.

"The table is big but it doesn't crowd the space and when you look through from the sitting room it's unobtrusive and you have a clear view onto the garden," says Kris. The sitting room has just been redecorated in a grey and orange scheme with wall stickers from an Italian website, sofas from Dwell and lights from John Lewis.

"I have very definite ideas about what I like and don't like. I hate knick knacks, but Emma keeps sneaking a few in. The latest is some twigs in a vase. You have to compromise a bit although I won't have a rug, which she really wants. She keeps saying: 'Why can't I have a husband who doesn't care about interiors?'"

His paintings – which he does to match the dcor – hang in most of the rooms and go with the colour schemes. They have led to more commissions from interior designers and property developers, who want paintings in specific colours. With a background in design, he enjoys working to a brief as well as creating his own work

"I worked for Lotus for a while designing and I taught drawing. But I have always done my own paintings and drawings and knew that's what I wanted to do full-time. I knew John Lewis sold original art and I contacted their Nottingham store. They took some of my work in 2003 and I sold 120 paintings in the first year.

"The collection went nationwide in 2004. My dad makes the frames for me, I stretch the canvas, do the paintings, package and deliver them myself. Last year I did 550 originals based on three cityscape designs, so it keeps me very busy. It doesn't feel like a production line and I don't mind that it is very commercial. I'm pleased people like my work enough to buy it.

"Even great artists like Caravaggio and Michaelangelo had to make a living that way, rather than spending everyday just painting their own thing."

Kris also supplies Dwell and enjoys working on his own figurative oils and portraits. His latest is of London Mayor Boris Johnson. Working at home can get lonely but Kris has a constant companion in the shape of Alfie, a Shih Tzu/ Lhaso Apso cross.

"He's my best mate. I talk to him and take him for walks where we meet other people and dogs. It's very sociable and gets us out of

the house.

"He comes in the shed with me too and comes out spattered in paint. He's been all colours, which means he gets a few stares when we go out, but luckily he doesn't care."

Kris's work can be found at www.krishardy.com and at John Lewis stores. www.johnlewis.com

YP MAG 9/10/10