Insights into Interior Design: Designing in Style - Country Styles

Interior design has always been impacted by fashion trends - both historically and in the modern day. In this article series, "Designing in Style," I explore the meaning of style for interior designers. I draw on my experience working alongside many of London's best-known interior design teams. This fourth article in my series moves on from historic traditional/period styles to the country style - a timeless interior design classic.


The country styles are also sometimes known as the pastoral or rustic styles. The most prominent example is the cottage/farmhouse. Ask most interior designers to imagine being far away from London and they will envision an earthy farmhouse kitchen with rustic tones, wooden enclaves, solid and wholesome meals, and a welcoming brick fireplace. Pastoral styles in interior design contexts are as much practical as they are stylish. The restful comfort and lack of ostentation is appreciated not only by country folk but also by city dwellers. London interior design consultancies often work with clients who have large residences with expansive grounds in need of a rustic feel that harks back to quieter times.


The country interior design style relies on sturdy natural materials such as wood, brick, stone and textured or weathered fabrics. Floorboards are often left exposed to wear down over time, before being stained or varnished and softened with mats or rugged coverings. In general, furniture should be plump and inviting, with natural unvarnished wood frames or homely patterned upholstery. The fireplace is often a centrepiece of this interior design style, and hearths of stone or brick are often used together with copper or brass fireplace accessories. In London mansions that incorporate the country style, walls are often left rough and natural in appearance.


The English country house is a variant of the pastoral interior design style that is very English yet still well-known abroad. Interior designers in London will often be called upon to create designs in this style for the very wealthiest clients. The English country house style relies heavily on patterns. Interior design teams will focus on floral, large-scale motifs, perhaps based on historic designs from the eighteenth century. These patterns will be used not only for window treatments, but also on upholstery, loose covers, bedspreads, table frills, etc. Typical English country house interior design schemes use colours such as pink, white, cream, and highlights in green. Other options include yellow and blue, or muted shades of gold and brown.


In the latter half of the twentieth century, British rustic interior design became increasingly influenced by the so-called "American country" style. Although not often a focus of London interior designers, this style can include Shaker furniture and Amish quilts, together with stripped-pine cupboards, dressers and chests. Folk stencils are important to achieve the correct look.


In my next article for this "Designing in Style" series, I will look at something that is a major feature of London's interior design landscape today, namely the modern/contemporary style.



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Notes from a London Interior Designer: Lighting For Special Occasions - Illuminating Water Features at Night

Interior designers today are highly-qualified multitasking professionals ... it's not just about pretty fabrics and gorgeous furniture any more - design professionals need to understand flooring, structures, plumbing constraints, heating systems, security features, electrical outlets and much more besides. One of the most important parts of an interior designer's job is lighting, and this can one of the most technically challenging and complex elements of the profession. In this four-part collection of articles which I call "Notes from a London Interior Designer," I draw on my substantial experience from working alongside some of London's most celebrated interior designers to reveal the secrets of this fascinating field.


Water brings texture, sound and magic to an exterior space - even the most plain dripping garden tap has certain design aesthetics - but interior designers know that only light can truly bring water into its own. London's top designers will use a variety of vessels or modern contraptions to contain and channel water, many with links to history. For example, the Upper Lodge Water Gardens of Bushy Park, near Hampton Court and not far from Central London, were originally commissioned in 1710. The Earl of Halifax was no interior designer, but he did appreciate fabulous pools, cascades, basins and canals - all of which were featured prominently in the Water Gardens. Of course, some of us live in rather more modest London dwellings today, but even if you only have a small garden, an interior designer can help you create beautiful tumbling chutes or conduits, textured to glint in the morning sunshine and to beautifully project the noise of moving water.


Gardens like those of Bushy Park are perfect sources of inspiration for interior designers. Novel structures and accessories let us move and channel water in so many different ways, whether in formal shapes or as random, flowing chaotic forms. Top interior designers may recommend structures that cause water to race across pebbles or stones, shimmering with texture in the sunshine. Some London Interior Designers specialise in introducing water into urban garden spaces, where its reflective, expressive quality can refreshingly balance the overwhelming closed hems of tall concrete or vertical brick surrounds. The delightful sound of tinkling water can also quickly dampen out the sounds of cars and lorries in your neighbourhood.


In the next and final article in this collection which I call "Notes from a London Interior Designer," I will get a little technical and explain how light fittings can illuminate water.



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Notes from a London Interior Designer: Lighting For Special Occasions - Mystery and Theatre

Interior designers today are highly-qualified multitasking professionals ... it's not just about pretty fabrics and gorgeous furniture any more - design professionals need to understand flooring, structures, plumbing constraints, heating systems, security features, electrical outlets and much more besides. One of the most important parts of an interior designer's job is lighting, and this can one of the most technically challenging and complex elements of the profession. In this four-part collection of articles which I call "Notes from a London Interior Designer," I draw on my substantial experience from working alongside some of London's most celebrated interior designers to reveal the secrets of this fascinating field.


If you are outside London and have a beautiful mansion with expansive grounds, floodlighting may be a perfect solution for magnificent drama. This can also be a perfect choice for castles or temples and other places of worship. Interior designers will often select mercury-based illuminators, which cast a powerful bluish light into the air. This can be perfect on conifers and it creates a fabulous contrast when used alongside filament-based yellow bulbs. Many of London's best-known interior designers like to recess floodlights down into the earth or tuck them away in a group of bushes in order to reduce glare and make the garden environment more welcoming. These powerful illuminators are often recommended for extremely leafy areas of your garden or for the furthest corners of more expansive grounds.


Candles are magical because of the way the light moves with the wind. Interior designers can install burning garden flambeaus alongside a path in order to draw the eye along an arc. Occasionally, London gardens will have standing water features; I have seen interior designers create concepts that require candle nightlights to float glistening on the water during luxurious soirees. Windproof glass vessels protect the candles and make sure they won't be extinguished if the breeze picks up.


I would be remiss as an interior designer if I did not mention a few safety issues here. Most London Interior Designers are fully qualified in all the latest lighting design codes, but please do remember that open flames should never be left unattended and it is critical to make sure candles do not come into contact with leaves, branches or flowers.


In the next article in this collection which I call "Notes from a London Interior Designer," I will talk about how to bring water features to life using light.



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Interior Design in London Goes Exterior! - Sketching out a Garden Scheme

The work of interior designers professionals doesn't stop at the back door - increasingly, interior design teams are expanding to include specific garden design expertise. In this four-part collection of articles, "Interior Design Goes Exterior," I rely on my years of know-how gleaned from collaborating with London's finest interior design teams to explore the latest in garden design. This article discusses how to sketch out a suitable theme regardless of size - whether a compact central London urban garden or the luxurious and expansive grounds of a grand mansion outside London.


Interior design teams will often start by making a sketch to conceptualise the lighting design for a garden. In drawing rooms and reception areas, London interior designers will often choose a favourite painting as a focal feature. Similarly, for garden design it is essential to decide which are the most visually interesting plants, shrubs or flowers in order to create a ranking system for emphasis differentiation. Elements that need extra priority will have to be specifically illuminated - associated lights should all be placed on a single illumination control frame. If the interior design team recommends a soft wash on intermediate bushes and shrubbery, this illumination can be attached to a separate throw-switch. Alternatively, some London interior design professionals will encourage clients to include structural focal points on a separate circuit to the one used for winter, when flowers are no longer in bloom. In the winter, a planter, vase or perhaps an evergreen can be illuminated to increase the level of interest. In the London winter, bare branches and shrubs should be allowed to reside in the shadows. But above all, your interior design team will focus on creating a harmonious balance that is luxurious whatever the season.


Your interior design team will allow the feel of your London garden to be fine-tuned to suit your emotions by building or subduing the illumination levels. In the late afternoon the lighting scheme will be less apparent but after dusk the results will become amazing - perfect for the London summertime. Interior design professionals who are experienced with garden design understand that this natural process basically allows the intensity of daylight to shift a garden's mood almost effortlessly.


When your interior design team plans carefully and places the lighting systems on separate circuits, the ambience of the garden can be controlled across a range of moods. We can move from a minimalist, gentle well of light immediately outside the house - serving to soften the sensation of ominous blackness outside - to a theatrical lighting display that illuminates the entire garden during an extravagant London soiree.


In the next article in this collection which I call "Interior Design Goes Exterior," I will describe how London Interior Designers approach general, task and feature lighting in gardens.



Interior Design London - Global Interior Design Consultancy Company in London, UK for interior design services.

Notes from a London Interior Designer: Multitasking

London’s top interior designers today are highly-qualified multitalented professionals … it’s not just about pretty fabrics and gorgeous furniture any more (although those certainly remain as important as ever!). Today’s design professionals need to understand flooring, structures, plumbing constraints, heating systems, security features, electrical outlets and much more besides. One of the most important parts of an interior designer’s job is integrating so many different components into a coherent whole, and this can be one of the most creatively and technically challenging and complex elements of the profession. To do this effectively, the best London Interior Designers will work with a team of professionals – everyone from administrators to lighting designers to structural engineers. The quality of this collaboration often directly impacts the final results!