Elegant English Style

I never quite knew how much I truly loved the English style of decorating until I lived in Australia for a few years. At first I thought it was home sickness, wanting to create a little slice of England here in Australia.

As time went on though, I realised that even as a professional Interior Designer, who decorates many homes in many styles as per a client brief, I kept pinging back to English decorating style as it felt natural, and it felt very authentic to my own personal style.

The difficulty is that in Australia the love of the moderne is all encompassing, and anything traditional is not looked upon too favourably, and even the high trend of The Hamptons style gets pulled in many different directions and none of it truly authentic to the actual Hamptons Style on New York’s East Coast.

The other difficulty is resource, sourcing items here in Australia that truly fit the look is not easy, to achieve this look here you need to have deep pockets as its mainly supplied by high end establishments. With the loss of Laura Ashley too, I’ve had to be much more creative on how to achieve the Elegant English style in my home in Australia.

I’m quite an avid researcher when it comes to sourcing the look I’m after, whether that be Interiors or Fashion. There’s great inspiration from the UK and I have my absolute favourite go to’s that I’ll list below for you to be inspired by too, if this is a look you love.

What I have found over the years of curating an English look in another country, is that money does not always buy you style and certainly I find it can limit creativity too.

As the look I love is not really readily available here, I find myself having to search local car boot sales, ebay and charity shops. Always one for a bargain (that’s the Yorkshireness) these places I find wonderful because the items I find are at rock bottom prices and a little knowledge about china, porcelain and vintage in general means you can find absolute treasures over here.

The nicest thing to happen though are the amazing comments I get when people come into to my home, they are quite blown away that a modest bungalow or low set as they call a single storey home here can look so elegant, as if it stepped off the pages of a magazine.

I see them looking around the home, looking at the details, the ideas, the inspiration and it is rewarding knowing that your personal style is something they love too.

We have still to renovate the exterior of the home, but that’s on hold at the moment. I’ve chosen the style I want to renovate so we are hoping that this can be done later on in the year to make the house feel complete and connected inside and out.

Meantime, here’s some wonderful people you really must check out if you love Classic English Style:

Kirsten Wick, Kirsten lives in the UK and is originally from Germany. Check out her YouTube, she’s great https://www.instagram.com/kirstenandjoerg/

Alice Naylor Leyland, wife of Tom Naylor Leyland who helped put Malton on the map, her home is divine https://www.instagram.com/mrsalice/?hl=en

Ben Pentreath, a brilliant architectural designer he designed Prince William and Kate’s home in Kensington Palace and has a real love of the Georgian style https://www.instagram.com/benpentreath/?hl=en

Aerin Lauder, grand daughter of Estee Lauder , her style is impeccable https://www.instagram.com/aerin/?hl=en

Sibyl Colefax and John Fowler, the doyennes of English Country House Style and a constant source of inspiration https://www.instagram.com/sibylcolefax/?hl=en