Edinburgh's St James Quarter: Revamp of John Lewis definitely has the wow factor – Hayley Matthews

I was due to go to a few openings in the very swish St James Quarter earlier in the week.

Hayley Matthews is more than a little bit impressed with the revamp of John Lewis (Picture: Michael Gillen)

However, as tonsillitis (or “tonsil lettuce” as my wee one calls it) is rife just now, we've had a few days at home.

With a high temperature, sore throat and a very upset two-year-old, I knew I had to cancel my brow tint at the new Superdrug and make a doctor’s appointment instead.

I'm not complaining, I'd do it a million times over because that's what parents do, isn't it? We put these little cherubs first over anything and everything.

It's actually 1am as I'm writing this and I'm sitting eating pasta and sweetcorn at the request of my two-year-old who hadn't eaten in a few days. I'm just delighted he's eating now and I'm happy he seems a bit better as he picks his nose telling me it looks like watermelon!

He’s sorting out his pasta from his sweetcorn as I'm sifting through the John Lewis sale, trying to gauge if I could take him round in the buggy over the weekend, to get my fix of the And/Or sale. Only if he's feeling better, and promises not to pinch any candles (he must have taken one off the shelf and put it in his buggy last time we were up the town – as I discovered when I got home).

But, in all seriousness, John Lewis has totally knocked it out the park when it comes to the revamp. The place is just wow! I was in at the start of the week before the New St James Quarter opened and I could see the gleaming signs of the new shops from inside the newly redone John Lewis home department.

However, I have to be honest, all I wanted to do was go up a few more levels and see what else was new in JL.

A member of staff said they're excited about the next few weeks and how they're looking forward to welcoming customers in to discover the newly done-up department store.

He also told me they'd moved it all about to encourage people to discover other parts of the store, and I told him it had worked with me. I felt like a kid in a sweetie shop and with Jenners closing, it's lovely to be treated to a nice shiny new John Lewis in the city.

I've fallen in love with all the new Somerset by Alice Temperley prints and, with light blue leopard-print jumpsuits and beautiful floral dresses, I'm saving up my pennies for a good shop.

The oversized 90s vibe throughout the Kin range takes me back to my youth and I could stare at the crisp colours and patterns in the women's wear level all day.

I've been joking with a friend about how I've been dreaming of the scones in the cafe and can't wait to get back in soon!

It's the little things in life that keep me going, well, scones and nice dresses.

I might not have made it to the opening day of the new St James. However, I'm just delighted that the decoration fairies have been in to give John Lewis a new look. I'm not sure how they did it in between my visits, they seem to have used a magic wand.

If I could borrow one for my own living space to magic some new decor in here, as well as a never-ending supply of scones and leopard-print dresses, then I'd be very happy.

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