Colour and decoration

Colour and Decoration

The furniture plan was the hardest thing to get right in the main room at The Temple, but once we landed on the right configuration, it has remained that way for 30 years. When I want to change the room now, I keep the same furniture plan but update the colours and decoration.

• When choosing colours, I looked to Palladian villas in the Veneto region for inspiration. Ochre is often seen, and this is what I chose for the exterior of The Temple.

• When I first came to The Temple, I painted the interior in Chinese Yellow, and punctuated this with props of white and blue across the soft furnishings. Later, I changed the interior to be a pale pink to be more in keeping with the Palladian colour palette. A friend of mine, Elizabeth Wynn, mixed the paint for me and gave the advice that a pink should always have an undertone of brown to avoid it being too sugary.

• In terms of materials, I always want to strike the balance between high and low, modest and grand, smooth and rough. This room has always been anchored by a woven rush floor, and I think the natural simplicity really works. Then the curtains are in a silk taffeta, and then the upholstery is in a mixture of linen, chintz and silk.

• The curtains are a balloon, pull-up design with an inverted pleat in a different fabric that reveals itself when the curtains are hoisted. The effect is elegant but simple and tailored rather than fussy and frilly. Behind the curtains are roller blinds for privacy at night.

• All of the upholstered furniture has fairly strict and linear silhouettes to keep the overall feel simple and in keeping with the Palladian principles.

• The chandelier is from Vaughan Designs, as a reproduction of an 18th-century style lamp.

• I love to put plants within the alcoves, as they bring life and vitality into a room. I typically opt for pelargoniums or geraniums in spring and early summer, plumbagos in late summer and lemon trees or datura trees in winter.

• Lighting is a hugely important consideration in any project. In this room, and in fact in every project of mine, I avoid downlights where possible. Instead, each chair has a reading light, and two of the corners have uplighters. I then have one major table lamp, which is on a dimmer and can be adjusted depending on the amount of light you require. The rest of the light is provided by candlelight.

Sourcebook

• 'Jardinieres Cotton', by Robert Kime
• Vaughan Designs