Grand Hall, Christmas Tree and lights 2018 at Castle Howard on Charis White Interiors blog

Christmas decorations at Castle Howard

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Christmas is the time of year that sends interior stylists into overdrive (even though they have often been decorating for Christmas several times over since July). We can’t resist it! However, nothing quite compares to the effort and scale that has gone into decorating Castle Howard in Yorkshire this Christmas. Respect goes to the three weeks of non-stop decorating that completed months of planning by Charlotte Lloyd Webber, Bretta Gereke and their team of 6.  The blog’s Christmas present to you this year is an edited highlights tour of Castle Howard’s celebration of The 12 Days of Christmas.
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Unknown photographer/Pinterest early 20th Century fairy on Charis White Interiors blog Christmas Gift Gude 2018

Your 2018 Christmas gift guide

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Back by popular demand is the blog’s Christmas gift guide. B-Y  J-I-N-G-L-E   B-E-L-L-S – I hear you cry! The blog’s very own Christmas Fairy has flown from the top of the tree to make light of your Christmas shopping. Dangerous, I grant you, with Panda our beardy mini schnauzer on patrol amongst the presents…

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Christmas wreath at The Little Christmas Fair 2018 on Charis White Interiors blog on wreaths

How to make a foraged Christmas wreath

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What style Christmas wreath will you be choosing for your front door this year? With so many to choose from, it can be a little daunting but I find myself with the foragers on this one …

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Collage of images of Shed Home office/Charis White Interiors blog

Turning a shed into a home office

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Rachel, a busy management consultant, asked me to convert her garden shed into a home office at the end of her Oxfordshire cottage garden. It needed to be a work space that Rachel really wanted to be in but also one she could separate from home at the end of the day. I have had some experience of shed conversions. I once turned our wooden summer house into a home office for a Marie Claire 101 ideas magazine interiors feature. There is something quite magical about creating outdoor rooms and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this one!
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Collage of images, Charis White, Holly Matthis interiors, Anna Spiro, Jane Cumberbatch, Jennifer Barron Interiors/Charis White Interiors blog

Is 80s interior decorating back?

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A perfect storm of social and political events took place in the early 1980s that completely changed the way people lived and dressed. It was the era that waved goodbye to Mid Century to 1970s furniture and beckoned in a national love affair with traditional Country House style. Peter York and Ann Barr wrote the Sloane Ranger’s Handbook and Min Hogg was the launch editor in November 1981 of The World of Interiors magazine. Lady Diana Spencer married Prince Charles, Brideshead Revisited was on the telly.
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Styling Tissus D’Helene’s colour window for Focus/18

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Where are you on the colour spectrum? Are you more of a neutral Kelly Hoppen fan or perhaps a maximalist colour lover such as Sophie Robinson? A celebration of colour in all its hues is a big interiors trend this Autumn and happens to be the theme of Focus/18 at The Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour in London (16 – 21 September 2018). I am really excited to have been again asked to collaborate on Tissus D’Helene’s window at the centre and the blog is going to share with you some of the ‘backstage’ styling secrets of how it came together…

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Pool side changing room with stripey curtain at Thames Lido on Charis White Interiors blog

How to achieve style cool in a heatwave

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As the temperature is again set to soar above 30 degrees in London and the South East, it’s high time the blog shared some practical style strategies on how to stay cool in Saharan Britain. Especially if you find yourself wishing to hang out in the refrigerated isles of your local supermarket for more time than is strictly necessary! Here then, to save you from such grocery ignominy, are 7 ideas for keeping your style cool high and your temperature low: 

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Howe London Collage by Charis White interiors blog. Four poster image by Paul Massey for House & Garden UK.

What’s the secret of Howe’s interior design recipe?

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Have you noticed how the idea of a ‘soiree‘ or ‘salon‘ has been emerging as a way of bringing together like-minded people in the worlds of art and interiors? Talks by specialists, dinners with gorgeous ‘grammable’ tablescapes all put together with small groups of people who are, of course, networking – albeit in a much more subtle way. I have to say I didn’t hesitate when PR Georgie Pridden invited me along to meet a group of extremely interesting guests for a Midsummer Night’s supper in June. As a special one-off for Georgie, the venue for the evening was Howe’s achingly stylish showroom in London.

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Collage for House & Garden Festival 2018 on Charis White Interiors blog

Best in Show at the House and Garden Festival 2018 London

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London is packed with inspirational art and interior design exhibitions at this time of year.  You really have to put on your jogging shoes to keep up with them all but there are a few I really don’t like to miss and The House and Garden Festival  (incorporating The Art & Antiques Fair) is one of them. This year’s show didn’t disappoint. It was full of bright summery colour and design – much of the best was from a few ‘stylish hunter gatherers’ who make it their business to bring international style to our shores.  Here’s my choice of Best in Show: Continue reading “Best in Show at the House and Garden Festival 2018 London” →

Collage including Molly Goddard dress and green satin ballet shoes for Charis White Arts and Crafts fashion and interiors blog

Arts and Crafts: Decorating with Head, Hand and Heart

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As a stylist/journalist I am often asked what I think the latest trends might be. At any one time, there are inevitably more than just one but there are sometimes a few trends which stand out more than others. Whilst I don’t personally adhere to every one, I do get a thrill when something comes along that has a meaningful design ethos, such as the current Arts & Crafts  interiors and fashion trend. This is set to be fuelled by a large retrospective of Edward Burne-Jones on now at Tate Britain until 24 February 2019. 

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