Travel is one of the essential ingredients for inspiration at Tartan & Toile, and so I was thrilled to be invited earlier this year by Veranda magazine to attend Design Destination London, a three-day immersion into the English design world. The trip was packed with behind-the-scenes tours, panel discussions with industry leaders and a firsthand look at how some of the world’s most beautiful wallpapers, textiles, and furniture are made.

Perhaps what makes London so intriguing for me as a design destination is that it is both the repository of centuries of tradition and also an international crossroads where the most interesting design work from around the world converges. During my week in London I was energized and inspired by the hand-on view of both the most traditional and most eclectic sides of the London design scene.

A Uniquely British Cozy

I’m convinced that winter is the best time to visit London. Despite the freezing temps and limited sunshine, there was warmth everywhere! Crackling fires, hearty meals, endless cups of tea, and layered interiors that enveloped you in comfort. Every corner shop, and café was a lesson in how thoughtful layers of textiles, woodwork, and natural materials create an atmosphere that makes you want to linger.

But what exactly is it that creates this uniquely English feel, and how can we incorporate some elements of our spaces back in the states? A few observations:

Designing for small scale:

Most spaces in London are hundreds of years old and thus have more compact spaces and not the open floor plan of the American 90’s movement. Because of this the English use the traditional scale of furniture and traditional floor plans. In other words a standard size sofa vs. a massive oversized sectional. The English prioritize individual seating such as tufted lounge chairs or bamboo side chairs. Having both excessive individual seating and standard size frames creates an intimate setting to accommodate a cozy area for conversation. They often put the smaller scale chairs by the wall to pull into the conversation area when needed when more quests arrive. So instead of having a few oversized pieces of furniture they opt for more of a standard sized furniture that is layered throughout the room.

Layering of rugs:

One of my favorite parts of English design is layering of rugs! Instead of putting one large wall to wall rug or a massive large hand knotted rug they instead layer a series of different rugs in a room. Often it is a grass rug at the base to cover a large area of the room, followed by a few different woven wool rugs to signify the different zones of activity. Some of those areas may be a sitting area, a working pace or the entrance area to a room. All of these different patterns, colors and textures continue to create that warm cozy feeling.

Muted fabrics with florals or small patterns:

As with any English home the quintessential English patterns are often more cream based florals or small prints with various layering of patterns. Having the cream base vs. stark white is a natural warmth vs. the cool of the white and continues to create a calming atmosphere.

Moulding and paneling details everywhere to make the walls feel layered and not sparse:

Not only are they naturally creating warmth with their usual warm color but also the various patterns and intricacies create another layer to drape the room.

Side lamps, not overhead lighting.

This may be self explanatory but if you are not aware you may not know! Overhead lighting–often LED lighting–is task lighting. It is created to illuminate a whole area. Table lamps and floor lamps on the other hand are focused task lighting that create an ambient glow in the area instead of blasting a whole area with a harsh inflexible light.

Trying my Hand at Hand-Painted Wallpaper

The unique appeal of hand-painted wall paper is something that’s hard to wrap your head around until you’ve seen it up close and experienced the way its vivid colors and delicate brushstrokes can transform the feeling of a room. After all, printed wall paper comes in every color and pattern imaginable so why go to all the trouble of hand painting, you might ask? During our London trip we had a workshop of de Gournay’s unmatched hand-painted wall paper artisans. This was particularly special for me because hand-painting wallpaper has been a focal point of several recent projects.

I learned about the various collections The Mughal collection, the chinoiserie collection and The Japanese/Korean collection. This gave me a deeper appreciation of the artisanship and skill that goes into each stroke and knot. It is truly breathtaking to watch the flow of these artisans while they work. One of my favorites right now (and really always a favorite) is Earlham on painted yellow silk. The deep mustard yellows are really speaking to me these days because of my need for cozy warmth.

But the most impactful part of the experience was actually sitting down with a de Gournay artist and trying my hand at both painting a chinoiserie cherry and doing some of the needlework in a Mughal collection embroidery both beads and metal rods. This made me feel so proud and I came away from the experience even more convinced of the transformative impact of hand-painted wallpaper and eager to learn about more techniques and collections for future projects.

It’s been a whirlwind of a year with the London and Palm Beach trips already in the books. I am glad to be back at home working in my garden this weekend with spring just beginning to bloom, but will continue to be on the lookout for inspirations from near and far to share so stay tuned—some very big things will be announced in the next few weeks!

London Calling