The fog was beginning to clear when it came to finding companies to carry out the renovation work.  Over recent years, I’d come to trust local tradespeople to repair and upgrade my apartment – gas fitters, plumbers, painters and decorators, for example.  Of course, I could turn to them to carry out work for me but what I hadn’t utilised previously was their wealth of knowledge of other locally based, skilled workers.  They knew electricians, builders and joiners they’d worked with on a wide variety of projects and they were confident in making recommendations.  The answer to the question of who would do my work was closer to home than I’d realised!

The next stage involved on-site meetings with a succession of tradespeople to find out who seemed best suited to the brief and to begin to gather rough estimates of costs.  At this point, I had tried to focus on practical tasks such as plumbing and wiring and I’d avoided becoming side-tracked with more superficial questions.  Trivialities such as the wallpaper and furniture I’d like could not possibly be considered at this stage!  Or so I thought.

While discussing possible ideas for lighting and fitted shelving, the electrician and joiner I spoke with wanted to know more about my intended decor styles.  They needed to know that any fittings they would install would be appropriate and in keeping with the intended “look” which was to be achieved.

And that was the moment it all became exciting!  I began to understand that design, decor, styling – whatever we wish to call it – was absolutely integral to the planning and execution of the renovations.  Rather than dismissing thoughts of decor, I needed to know from the outset the style I was aiming to achieve.

This led to a further dilemma.  My natural inclination seemed to favour what I would term “English Country House” styling yet my thoughts kept gravitating back to the concept that homes look best when they are decorated in a style in keeping with the era of the building.  This was a nineteen thirties house, so did that mean I’d need to replicate the interior of an English pre-war dwelling and, effectively, live in a museum? 

I’d also noted – in more recent years – how much I was being drawn to Art Deco shapes and forms and it struck me that it would not be inappropriate to include some features evocative of that style.   This was no Miami Beach Art Deco building however, this was a modest structure built with the very particular features with which suburban housing of 1930s England is associated.  Would Art Deco features look contrived, too theatrical and out of place?  

Would I be restricted by a rigid formula of what an English “thirties” home should or should not contain?  Would I be allowed to blend in a few touches harking back to my love of the English Country House style?   What about my interest in the Arts and Crafts movement – could William Morris put in an appearance anywhere?  And how could I forget Charles Rennie Mackintosh?  Those stylised roses for which Mackintosh is renowned could be squeezed in somewhere, surely?

I realised that there was no one theme which would fulfil all of the decor features I’d love to have in my home.  However, I also realised that choosing an “eclectic” design ran the risk of ending up with a confused, cluttered mess.  I wondered if it could be possible to blend interior design styles in a restrained, controlled way and to produce an harmonious and balanced result.  

One sunny, early Spring day, I was enjoying a pre-lunch drink in the lounge of The Goring Hotel in London.  (Stay with me, this is actually relevant!)  For me, this hotel demonstrates English Country House Style (with a very light touch of eccentricity). Relaxing in the lounge, I took in the features around me and as my gaze reached ceiling level I felt a distinct change in atmosphere.  As I stared at the golden-bronze ceiling with its warm glow and muted splendour,  it seemed I was no longer sitting in a grand country home. I’d been transported to Paris at the end of the nineteenth century and I might well have had Toulouse Lautrec sitting next to me!  Whether this was the intended effect of the decor, I can’t say, but that was most definitely my response to it.  I was looking at a seamless blending of styles – of English classic styling set next to a feature which would have looked at ease in a fin-de-siècle Parisian café. 

So it can be done!  It is possible to mix styles and for the end result to look harmonious and really rather beautiful.  It struck me however, that you’d really have to know what you were doing to pull off such an interior design “mash-up” and get it right.  Unsure I had the ability to achieve such an objective, another question was raised:  who will help me to blend the styling themes I love yet achieve an harmonious integration?

A.P.

31 May 2021

Photo Credits:

The Goring Hotel Exterior: Photo 58984840 © Slawek Kozakiewicz | Dreamstime.com

The Goring Hotel Lift Lobby: A.P.