A grand chinoiserie-swathed bedroom by Henriette von Stockhausen
The grand country house bedroom, while perhaps out of reach for some of us, has a timeless appeal. The idea of going to bed in a fabric-draped four-poster, while being equally enveloped in a patterned wallpaper, is rather magical. In this house in the Home Counties, Henriette von Stockhausen has created an especially enchanting space, with a chinoiserie wallpaper by Watts 1874 (the 'Walzin Chinoiserie’ design in viridian rose) setting the scene for a green colour scheme enlivened with touches of red.
Henriette has draped the four-poster in James Hare’s ‘Orissa’ opal silk with Samuel & Sons’ ‘Lancaster’ ribbed border in sea mist frame a sculptural headboard covered in Flora Soames’ emerald ‘Honeycomb’ fabric. The blue tones of Vaughan’s ‘Imari Vase’ lamp, with a Susan Deliss shade, provide a colourful contrast with an antique textile layered over a bedcover in Lewis & Wood’s cream/red ‘Stockholm Stitch’. The wallpaper is enhanced by a set of floral drawings from Etalage above an antique chest of drawers.
The colour scheme of apple greens and deep crimsons is unusual and very appealing, and one we'd love to replicate. Given that the wallpaper has enough pattern to hold the attention, Henriette has opted for plainer fabrics on the bed, which is a key lesson to take away when decorating with chinoiserie. If you splurge on the wallpaper, this means you can probably afford to get away with less expensive fabrics elsewhere. Using good antiques feels essential to the gravitas of this kind of interior, but that doesn't mean they have to be vastly expensive. Henriette has combined Georgian pieces with a mid-century armchair found at auction, while the bedside table is a more contemporary painted piece – this mix and match approach helps to stop the room from feeling fusty.
A tongue-and-groove-clad cottage bedroom
For a smaller country house, Phoebe Clive's Ledbury cottage is full of characterful ideas, using some of the fabrics and objects sold in her shop, Tinsmiths. Tongue and groove panelling is a perfect way to add homespun character to an interior, and the floor to ceiling panelling in this bedroom, painted in a simple white, helps to add texture (and also a sense of height) to the room. While the walls are simple, Phoebe has added plenty of colour in the fabrics, including a streamlined headboard in Ian Sanderson’s ‘Peverell Check’ in tarn, along with a 19th-century quilt as a bedcover.
Tinsmiths does a beautiful line in fabrics, and Phoebe has made a blind in ‘Clover’ linen union in honey by Angie Lewin for St Jude’s, which adds to the folky feel of the space. A simple wool kilim, meanwhile, adds interest to the carpeted floor. A few handmade objects add interest to the scheme, such as the rush-seated chair by Lawrence Neal, the slipware ceramics on the windowsill, and the folk art frame on the wall. ‘I’m interested in things that hark back to a pre-industrial era, when humble materials were turned into something completely beautiful and other,’ says Phoebe.
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The charming spare room in a Herefordshire farmhouse
Old beams and wallpaper make for an inviting combination in the bedroom of this Herefordshire farmhouse, which has lots of ideas to steal for an old country house. The colour palette is soft, with muted patterns, including the floral ‘Indienne’ wallpaper from Lewis & Wood', which provides the basis for the colour scheme of pinks and blues. For a farmhouse bedroom, a classic brass bedstead creates a real sense of warmth, and we love how this one has an old-fashioned eiderdown on it as well as some understatedly decorative cushions.
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