Interior Design

Notes On Design with Mary & Nicole

New English Style

How would you define english style?

English style is not contrived or overly coordinated; rather, it unfolds naturally, room by room, over time. There is an unapologetic love of comfort - generous armchairs, soft lighting, and deep, layered textures. At it’s core is a quiet reverence for history: the celebration of period architectural details, collections of well-thumbed books, worn rugs and antiques that tell stories, and inherited pieces that carry the gentle patina of age.

But it is never static. English style, as we see it, is about balance and constant evolution. A Georgian chest of drawers might sit easily beside a mid-century lamp or a playful contemporary textile. There’s charm in the unexpected. It’s this tension between the old and the new, the formal and the relaxed, that creates interiors with soul.

Ultimately, English style is deeply personal. It resists fashion. It grows, it adapts, but always with integrity and a sense of place. At Salvesen Graham, we believe it’s not about following rules, but about creating homes that feel loved, layered, and unmistakably one’s own.

How do you adapt New English Style to a home in the city versus the country?

The spirit of decorating - layering, using antiques, the importance of comfort is the same in whatever setting, town or country. The main difference is one of size and scale and the ability to distill the principles of a country house and apply this to a smaller space. Having said that the approach in town tends to be more tailored than the country. Rooms are often more flexible due to space constraints with dedicated rooms in the country so the rooms in town need to work harder.

Country houses tend to have more of a focus on indoor/outdoor practicalities with more attention given to the transition spaces between indoor & outdoor such as boot rooms or back of house spaces that you may not have in the city.

Style wise it comes down to how people live differently in the country vs in town. They might be squashed in a smaller space or work longer hours in the city and you need to design according to the difference in their lifestyle.

How do you choose colours and patterns with English style in mind?

The tradition of combining pattern & colour is one of the defining elements of English Style. The evolution of English Country House style has many global influences that are particularly evident in pattern, from Paisley and Chintzes from India to scenic hand painted silks from China. It’s interesting how you need to have these different elements in a room or throughout a home to feel properly “English”.

We will often select a patterned fabric that acts as a starting point for a room. They are chosen because of the potential they offer a room, or because they completely capture the imagination of the client and are something they absolutely love.

For harmony, we will look for an element within a hero fabric that can be drawn out, repeated or referenced in the secondary fabric choices. It might be a colour, motif or even a texture.

For those that don’t yet feel confident with pattern it doesn’t always have to mean bold, it can work equally well through muted or even tonal shades with a combination of weaves and textures or with a patterned plain.

If there is a lot going on in a room, we might use the same colour on the walls, joinery and architectural detailing to create harmony. This creates a balance of a colour puling the scheme together and creating a room that don’t feel too perfect and co-ordinated. Indeed part of the beauty of mixing these patterns is often in the element that slightly throws things off.

How would you make a new kitchen feel warm and English?

It’s all about the mix of materials in a kitchen - balancing out anything new like an oven or chrome taps, with the warmth you get from timber, marble, a hand painted cabinet finish, unlacquered brass cupboard knobs and of course getting some fabric in the room. Using loose furniture as opposed to fitted cabinetry is also a great way to get that quintessentially English look. If you want or need things that are newly made and integrated, they can still be designed in a way that makes them look as though they are loose. Then you’re really getting the best of both worlds!

Hanging pictures and plates on the wall, finding a spot for a table lamp and if possible a home for some kind of comfy seating, are all ways to ensure a new kitchen can feel layered and inviting.

How do you create continuity through your home with paint, metals etc.

One of the best ways to create a feeling of continuity through your home is by the colour palette you use. Often this becomes evident during the process of decorating, rather than something decided at the outset.

We always recommend designing a house holistically - looking at the whole first, even if you might be decorating room by room. With this technique it means you end up designing a coherent space with rooms that speak to each other, but all have their own individual identity.

Often at the end of a project we’ll find a common colour emerges and runs through the house like an invisible thread tying everything gently together. Blush pink in a Drawing Room might be followed by a deep raspberry red in the Dining Room, with touches of an earthly pink alongside pale browns and brass in the Kitchen. Then flashes of pink will appear elsewhere throughout the house; an Ikat shade here, a Suzani there, a collection of botanical prints….

We find that if you design with integrity, resisting trends, there will be a natural continuity in your home that happens without you really trying.

How do you choose your soft furnishing like cushions, do they come at the end of a project?

We always think about cushions and accessories from the very early stages of a project, because they can play an important role, but we often wont fully design them (or purchase them ready made) until closer to the end.

When you are designing a room with relatively plain fabrics and restrained colours you always have to think about what you are going to layer on top, and the impact that will have. A Howard style sofa covered in a brown glazed linen might look chic and elegant on it's own, but cover it in generously stuffed cushions - needlepoints, ikats and suzanis - and suddenly it becomes a vibrant, inviting, decadent focal point of the room, with a simple backdrop that sets of the colours in front of it.

Cushions are also a great way to tie a scheme together. If you have a long room with curtains only at one end for example, you might want to have a pair of cushions made up in the same fabric to use at the other end of the room to create a feeling of balance and continuity. You can also use them to tweak the feeling of a space; an earthy coloured heavy antique textile cushion can be used to great effect on a floral sofa, to add a harder edge to a pretty scheme and to “take the edge off it”. In the same way a delicate chintz cushion can look fabulous in a dark and traditional study, bringing a sense of softness and informality.

We tend to utilise a mixture of bespoke cushions with trimmings, and vintage textile cushions, to create interest in a scheme. These can also be bulked up with “off-the-peg” cushions which help ensure variety both visually and in relation to your budget!