Every Autumn, my desire to move to a country cottage deepens and with it comes thoughts on how best to decorate. I had every intention of sharing with you some of the country-inspired earth tones and textural burgundy browns that are emerging for interiors. But, the power of the colour palette I mentioned in Interior Design Directions for 2024 has, rather like an irresistible Lewis & Wood vine, taken hold here at blog HQ.
Continue reading “Modern Country Style”
Amongst all the nature-inspired greens for interiors this spring is an unfurling palette of mood-boosting colour. From global colour forecaster Pantone’s colour of the year Viva Magenta 18-1750, to refreshing citrus shades, floral pinks and sea-hued turquoise, you might find yourself inspired to do some decorating this year. But how to use this uplifting palette and where? I talk to top interior designers Penny Morrison and Kate Guinness for a feature in Saga magazine and take inspiration from new UK paint, flooring, fabric and wallpaper collections.
Continue reading “Bright spring colour”
Occasionally, the elements for my bespoke interior Styling Box service sound more like the ingredients for a cook’s recipe or episode of ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ than for a decorating scheme! A client’s brief to find a contemporary country scheme for an open plan living/dining room in Wiltshire recently found me doing a bit of time travelling in my research. On the design journey I found exquisite new wallpapers and fabrics whose design DNA comes from the berries of Swedish forests, to the spicy hues of English 13th Century cob houses and Renaissance Italy.
Continue reading “Winter spice decor”
Just as the IPCC ‘Climate Wake-up call report’ is published this morning, I thought I would repost an updated version of this blog from January 2020. It feels like a drop in the ocean perhaps but every little helps, I hope.
Adopting sustainable interior decorating ideas really doesn’t mean that ‘style’ has to exit stage left! Quite the contrary. I believe a new sustainable approach based on a few old school values means that interior style is having a healthy rejig. With a little inspiration from the past, here are a few sustainable interior decorating ideas with a focus on some inspiring companies who are not only making changes about how they do things but who are sharing it quite vocally too.
After the year we have had, does your home need a bit of a refurb? Our homes have nurtured us, been our school rooms, places of work and even our gyms. And just like us, are now perhaps in need of a little care and attention. Maybe you have decided to move house and are looking for some new ideas? For whatever your stage of life, Styling Box is my affordable bespoke interior design service (in person or remotely) that provides you with a bespoke interior design scheme with fabric, wallpaper and paint samples.
When a press release dropped into my inbox for a forthcoming attic sale at Dunrobin Castle in Sutherland, I think my jaw also dropped, just ever so slightly. Sales like this don’t happen very often. A recent decluttering of the attics and cellars at the Scottish castle revealed generations of long forgotten treasures of domestic life. Prior to the sale on 20 April 2021, Bonhams auctioneers in Edinburgh have curated a selection of some of the 450 lots with an evocative set of photos.
Continue reading “Dunrobin Castle attic sale”
At the beginning of the year, interior design trends were set full steam ahead for an Autumn/Winter 2020 season of bold colour and pattern. But then the pandemic happened and stopped us all in our tracks. With all the anxiety and uncertainty, it was almost as if a pastel-sized iceberg crept into our interior psyches reminding us of the calming decorative qualities of pale blues, pinks and greens …
Continue reading “Autumn/Winter 2020 interior design directions”
In its second year, The London Interiors Show (15 – 17 September) at The Chelsea Harbour Hotel offers interiors companies who don’t have a presence at The Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour a very welcome three-day opportunity to present their new collections to press, interior designers and the trade. Complete with camouflage of West London uniform of tea-dress-and-trainers, I have hot footed it around the show to share with you some interior design highlights…
Charis White Interiors 