A Room of One's Own

Firstly, a proper hello - It is such a thrill to already have real subscribers, so thank you so much and welcome to my first article. Do please comment and ask any questions, I’d be so interested to know what you’re curious about. Things That Go Together is where I’ll be discussing the beauty of interiors; who and what makes them great and how, as well as enjoying beauty for beauty’s sake, you can also get a bit of inspiration for yourself and whatever you call home.

I’m beginning with a bit of a reflection on how I decorated my rented Bloomsbury flat back in 2018 as I think it sums up a lot about me and my style and it will hopefully give you an idea of what more might follow. Some of you might already know about my much-loved little set of rooms, but for anyone not familiar with it or the neighbourhood it inhabits, WC1 is a charmed little area of central London where universities, barrister’s chambers and a host of independent shops and cafes jostle side-by-side much as they have for the last 250 years. It’s taken a leaf from the fairy-lit Nora Ephron / Meg Ryan playbook of city villages and it is here that I found myself the grateful recipient of a little Georgian flat back in 2013. The last, and only, time I wrote about it was for House & Garden in 2019 which you can read here, and see a video tour here (I just re-watched this the first time in 7 years and gah! What a different time of life THAT was!) So, while I ponder what has stood the test of time decoratively, I must also try not to fall headfirst into the canyon of introspection…

For a rapid catch-up; In the 7 years since that article was published, I met my partner, largely left London for Devon (but kept the flat), started my own business, left House & Garden after 17 years and now spend half the year in Jaipur where I work on my brand, Daydress. Last week, while staying in the flat, I found myself clearing a couple of kitchen cupboards and in doing so, remnants of my previous life fell out to greet me, (What ho spriraliser! Greetings bag of pistachios from 2016 - unopened, tasted OK but reader, I chucked them) and I thought to myself, ‘I don’t live here anymore’, which made me really sad, because in that video I’d just turned 40 and was living about as committedly as I’ve lived anywhere in that totally precious, first space of my own.

So, I was in the luxurious position, of decorating just for myself, I didn’t need to give two hoots about anybody elses taste, opinions or budget; All that mattered was how I wanted to live and what I wanted to look at. Whenever I go to the flat now, there’s a familiar little rush of joy when I first step in. Ahead of me is the tiny bedroom and my small double bed arranged in front of the large sash window, swathed on three-sides with block-printed Genevieve calico from Les Indiennes. Les Indiennes is one of my absolute favourite companies for textiles, chic and true - they have been block printing with natural dyes on unbleached cotton for decades. My ancient, faded-to-perfection bolster cushion from TOAST sits at one end of the bed, and pillows at the other. I really like that there’s no obvious top and bottom, this makes it a great conversation pit for good friends, esp with the window wide open in Summer.

Bedlinen is almost universally from Cologne & Cotton, these, this and this are my faves. The big silver ceramic lamp base was from a freakish time when Debenhams had an amazing homeware collection about 20 years ago… The beautiful shade is from Susan Deliss.

So much in the flat began with textiles, especially the bedroom and sitting room where I just wanted to be cocooned in beauty and softness; A desire which hasn’t changed with the years and thankfully my partner’s enthusiasm (almost) matches my own.

When I decorated this flat, I had recently returned from a life-changing 3 months in India which is where my flourishing textiles habit really sank its teeth in. The balancing, clashing and happy partnerships between all the colours and patterns are what brings me joy. It’s a very gentle pleasure to lie in bed, while your eyes roam across the combination of the curtain fabric, with the Namay Samay covered headboard and the colour of the wall, which I ‘think’ is Archive or Old White from Farrow and Ball (it feels like being wrapped in a sheet of very high-quality writing paper).

Next door to the bedroom is the very cosy sitting room painted in Caddie from The Paint and Paper Library. One of the big successes of this room, are the many places to sit comfortably, given its diminutive size. Very rarely do we need to drag in a hard chair from the kitchen to accommodate a percher. I love my big oblong ottoman; Nice and plain, no buttoning, no legs. You can toss a new fabric over it and instant uplift is achieved! Currently it’s black, which is making me feel restrained and a bit chicer than usual.

When I think of decorating decisions I made back then and which perhaps I’d now change, it’s not necessarily that I’ve gone off whatever it was, but I wonder what I would be brave enough to do now. Working full time at the magazine and being surrounded by bold and beautiful interiors gave me the confidence to execute my ideas, but I’d be curious to know if I would still bring in a scenic artist to paint a tromp l’oeil curtain on my fireplace. I hope I would!

There’s a wonderful big Indian kantha-stitched quilt which is wall-hung over the sofa (you can see it much better in the film) there’s a snippet in the pic below. It’s a real treasure and rare to find one composed of plain colour blocks as they’re often made from old saris - I think the reverse is a riot of lime green and orange…

It was the discovery of this quilt which let me to wallpaper the hall in 15 sheets of Japanese screen-printed paper from Choosing Keeping because they looked so great together and I loved looking past one to catch a glimpse of the other. I can’t see that exact paper design on their website anymore, but there are some nice ones here - be warned, it’s a faff, you have to trim and pattern match every sheet! BUT worth it, and I got a kick out of the unique process.

I did choose the colours really carefully for this flat, thinking a lot about how the spaces connect to each other and where the eye takes in more than one room at a time. The right colours can work brilliantly to expand our experience of a small space, bringing a strong sense of identity to each part. The kitchen is painted in good old Pink Ground and the tiny hall leading to the bathroom is Brinjal; both Farrow & Ball. Now I KNOW Pink Ground has probably had its day, so actually would I change it….? I have to say - I wouldn’t say no to a good milk white in there now. I think with the brown table and dresser and artworks, it could feel clean and gallery-ish, although it’s North facing and a bit gloomy.... Perhaps I’ll just treat myself to a much coveted yellow bookcloth blind from Marianna Kennedy for the window which is pure sunshine.

And finally, the little bathroom. As with the kitchen, I kept the existing white tiles as this was a step beyond which I was prepared to go… plus they’re totally fine, and I let the wallpaper do the heavy lifting. I still love this pattern, and no - thankfully it hasn’t peeled, but then I do have good ventilation thanks to the massive window which allows me to watch the clouds from the bath.

So that concludes the tiny flat tour! I’m actually delighted that it has settled into itself so well, any dramatic life changes have been mine alone, the flat just needs a fresh fabric for the ottoman every now and again.

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