If you need to some interior inspiration or you’re just a magpie for beautiful styling, you need to subscribe to Victoria Harrison’s interiors blog ‘Style Made Simple’. Victoria is an interiors writer, editor and stylist with a passion for craft and DIY, vintage finds and country living. She’s spent the last 10 years working for many of the leading homes magazines such as The English Home, Real Homes, House Beautiful and many more. Her design blog Style Made Simple explores craft, country living, travel and beautiful homes. “I’m always looking simplify the process of home style and I always try to keep this in mind whether I’m writing about craft, design or travel. My dream home would a whitewashed cottage in the country with light-filled rooms, original floorboards, big fireplaces and rambling gardens. One day!”
We distracted Victoria from her busy schedule to extract some of her insider knowledge. We’ve asked her advice on dealing with trends, enduring style and what furniture she simply couldn’t live without…
The Cotswold Company are advocates of classic, timeless style; What’s been the most enduring trend you’ve come across during your time with interiors…one that’s come and never really gone?
“I’m actually anti-trends! I’m a big fan of simplifying the design process and I try to live by a handful of design rules that are guaranteed to create a happy and peaceful home. So with that in mind, I would say that the key ‘trends’ are to invest in at home are the timeless classics. Things that will never date such as beautifully-crafted furniture, crisp white cotton bed linen, natural materials and calming colours. Stick to those and you can’t go wrong”
What would your advice be to someone who wants to get longevity from of their décor and to avoid it looking dated quickly?
“Think of your furniture as the building blocks of your home. Choose well-made pieces with a timeless appeal and invest in quality and you’ll have a strong starting point to build from. Once you’ve got the basics right you can then add colour and personality by layering up artwork, textiles and lighting – all the fun stuff! But you need a timeless and classic backdrop to add these to. You need to create longevity and that needs to be done though your flooring, wall colours and furniture”
Tell us about your favourite piece of furniture and explain why you could never part with it?
“My favourite piece of furniture is a Victorian church pew that I rescued from a local church. The church had decided to replace all its seating with modern chairs, so they were getting rid of the original pews. Heart-breaking! I bought one as a birthday present to myself and had to drive it home in the back of a friend’s car (I didn’t realise until I went to collect it that it was 2.3m long!) It has such a wonderful history and the surface of the wood has a wonderful patina where it has been worn smooth after years and years of use. It’s huge and weighs a ton but I just about managed to fit it into my dining room and I now use it as a bench for my dining table. It has a little shelf along the back that I use to store some of my books. It’s a beautiful piece of furniture that I feel privileged to own and if I ever move house it is definitely coming with me.
Oh and that’s a Cotswold Company bookshelf in the corner of the photo too… I absolutely love the soft grey colour of it”
If you were going to recommend a friend to the Cotswold Company, how would you describe us?
“I already do – on a frequent basis! I describe your furniture as modern country style”
We love Victoria’s simple interiors ethos; classic building blocks that you can freshen and embellish with texture, colour and print. To get even more of Victoria’s expert advice, visit her Style Made Simple blog. Read even more about what she thinks of The Cotswold Company, in her article ‘You Need to Know About The Cotswold Company’
