Reading isn’t just the Berkshire town that has missed out (4 times) on being awarded city status. Renowned for its annual music festival and IT industry, Reading was where Oscar Wilde was famously incarcerated but is perhaps less well known for its new film studios and connection to King Henry I? It is as a desirable place to live though that is maybe what makes Reading one of the UK’s best-kept secrets.
Continue reading “Town and country life in Reading”
18th-century Inverary Castle in Argyll makes a statement not only with its prominent position on Loch Fyne but with the powerful decorative message it portrays as the ancestral seat of Clan Campbell. Over the centuries, the castle’s interior decoration has been shaped by clan wars (1300 medieval weapons alone decorate the 21m high hall), by devastating fires and a marriage in the 1950s between the 11th Duke of Argyll and heiress Margaret Duchess of Argyll that infamously ended in scandal.
Continue reading “Inverary Castle interiors”
As is so often the case with fashion or interior design, it is the finishing touches that have the power to elevate a design into something truly special. Along with ruffles, piping and passementerie, bespoke covered buttons are once again being specified onto upholstery and smart soft furnishings too. With this in mind, the blog takes you behind the scenes of Button Covering Services, an inspiring artisan button covering business on The Roseland Peninsula in Cornwall.
Continue reading “On the button”
A very Happy New Year to you! The blog is taking a look at some interior design trends for 2022. Country House style (with sustainability always at its heart) looks again to the East for decorating inspiration. On the blog radar too is an interesting juxtaposition between Pantone’s Metaverse inspired colour of the year versus Mother Nature’s slow decorating palette. Let’s start though by opening the door to the new ‘Garden Room’ …
Continue reading “Interior design directions 2022”
Spring/Summer 21 interior designs offer more than a little playful joie de vivre for any lockdown decorating plans you might have. There are styling surprises at every turn from secret doors to extravagant country house style fabric canopies for both bed and bathrooms. No surface has been left untouched with decorative tromp l’oeil and room wrap-around wallpaper. There’s colour inspiration from artists and a final ingredient alongside all the frills is a spot of ‘matchy matchy’ styling.
Continue reading “Lockdown interior decorating ideas”
I am thrilled that the blog has been nominated for the prestigious Amara Interior Design Awards for the third year running, this time in the Best Interior Design category. The hosts for the awards night will be TV presenter and interior designer, Sophie Robinson with journalist Kate Watson-Smyth who writes the award winning Mad About The House blog. Voting has now opened so I would be most grateful if you and your dog (or any other pet that comes to hand) could please vote. Just press the voting button below for the blog to be shortlisted!
In our house, it’s written in stone that Sunday nights are spent watching the latest period drama or film. When The English Home magazine asked if I would like to recreate three rooms from Downton Abbey to coincide with the forthcoming feature film, you could say it was a bit of an open and shut case – albeit of the vintage prop variety.
Continue reading “Styling Downton Abbey film sets for The English Home magazine”
Textile design is as much about storytelling as it is about design for me. The storytelling is important because I want to know how the design came about and from whom. When it comes to the plot, the quirkier, the better. Especially when the protagonist has not only worked as a set decorator in the world of film, for at least two of Britain’s most treasured interior brands, but whose debut fabric and wallpaper designs for Lewis & Wood are currently lining the walls of an interior designed shipping container in the Cumbrian Hills.
As the film adaptation of Jennie Rooney’s novel Red Joan (directed by Trevor Nunn) opens across the UK this weekend, the blog has an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour with talented set decorator Tanya Bowd. The blog gets the low-down on the locations, where the film props were sourced and how the set team did a crash course in nuclear physics. All in a day’s work for Tanya who has worked her magic on many top film and TV series including The Crimson Field, Victoria, Howards End and more recently for The New Pope starring Jude Law.
Charis White Interiors 