I live in a late Victorian farmhouse inEast Sussex. It’s set in the countrysideright by woodland. Inside I’veexpressed my love of colour so it’s verybright on the inside with lots ofmodern-country design references –tongue and groove and Victorianencaustic tiles in the hallway.
I’ve always been into colour. But overthe years my style has grown and gotmore mature. I’ve always liked mixingvintage with modern pieces. I don’tthink I have a go-to colour because Ilike every room and project to feeldifferent. But I do like to have an accentof yellow in most of my rooms.
When designing a room I start off byputting a whole scheme and moodboard together and I think about howI want the room to feel – what sort ofambience I want to create within aspace. Then I’ll put colours and patternstogether and play around with thosebefore I go picking paint and flooring.
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The oldest object in my home is aVictorian console table that belonged tomy grandmother. I really like havingelements of antique furniture in myhome because my colour schemes anda lot of the pieces I choose are verymodern and bright and I feel thatmixing them with antiques helpsto ground the look and keepsit sophisticated.
I collect needlepoint tapestries. I gave my collection to an upholsterer who patch-worked them and covered a bench with them, which is now in my living room. It’s quite a talking point.
Lots of people inspire me. Recently I’vdiscovered an Australian designer,Anna Spiro, who is great with pattern.Someone recommended her book andsaid, ‘You like colour and pattern, youshould buy this.’ And, wow, I love it.
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My favourite UK landmark is BrightonPavilion because the interior design iscompletely bonkers and lavish andOTT. I just love the crazy turrets andIndian-style architecture. It’s insane.
The interiors shop I couldn’t livewithout is Liberty London. I can’t affordanything in there but I just like goingthere for inspiration. One of myfavourite websites is Wallpaper Direct– I think it’s just brilliant. It has loadsof designs in one place and a really goodsearch engine. I rely on it heavily forchoosing wallpapers.
The interiors trend I’m glad to see theback of is grey. I think it’s a very deadand depressing colour. But all thecreams are coming back now. It’sall cyclical.
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I think Pantone’s colour of the year,Living Coral, is very warm andenlivening and a happy colour. It issomething you can use easily as anaccent if you have existing grey ornavy or any of those sombre shades. Idesigned a range of bedlinen withSecret Linen Store last year, includinga white linen set with a mini hot coralpom-pom trim around the edge. It’s thatlittle splash of coral that’s more liveablewith than using it as a wall colour.
While I’m working I love to listen topodcasts. I like Dolly Alderton andPandora Sykes’ The High Low just for anupdate and a bit of news and culture. Ialso love Desert Island Discs and SarahBeeny has a podcast called Round theHouses, which I’ve enjoyed.
We included Sophie Robinson's interior design course on our list of the best interior design workshops, courses and tutorials.