Welcome to the very first edition of Hatta Byng's Notebook, a monthly letter from one of the most respected voices in British interiors.
We're delighted to introduce something new. Each month, Hatta will share what she's been watching, learning and loving on Create Academy, along with a few things on her own list for the weeks ahead.
If you've ever picked up a copy of House & Garden, you'll be familiar with Hatta's exceptional eye. She joined the magazine in 2006 as a features editor and became editor in 2014, only the fifth in its long history, steering it for more than a decade before stepping down in 2025. Before that, she studied History of Art and Architecture, worked as an interior designer, and spent two years at the South African edition of House & Garden while living in Cape Town.
Now, Create Academy is lucky enough to call Hatta our Brand Director. Few people have seen inside as many beautiful houses, or met as many of the designers, gardeners and makers who create them. So we can't think of anyone better to guide you through Create Academy each month, and to remind us why we fell in love with all of this in the first place.
Over to Hatta.
November Notebook
At the desk, or on the sofa
Chatting to a member recently, she described how she watches some courses at a desk, notebook and pen in hand, while others she enjoys sitting comfortably on the sofa, perhaps with a glass of wine or a cup of tea. For me, her observation captures the breadth of what Create Academy has to offer, and the many different reasons for becoming a subscriber.
My 11-year-old daughter and I watched Tess Newall's An Introduction to Decorative Painting lesson by lesson, night after night, rather as you might watch a Netflix series, eagerly anticipating the moment when we could sit in front of the fire and immerse ourselves in the next lesson or two. Tess spent a decade painting sets for film before turning to murals and furniture, and it shows: she makes everything look not only very pretty but possible. We followed her to the private chapel at Madresfield Court in search of inspiration, watched her build up patterns from a handful of simple brushstrokes, and marvelled as she worked her way through a card lampshade, a mirror frame, a cupboard and, finally, an entire painted ceiling.
We had all sorts of plans to get out the paints, although a year later, nothing has actually been achieved. But we didn't watch in vain. We loved every moment of it. Watching Tess explain her art was a wonderfully relaxing way to wind down after a full-on day at school (for my daughter) or back-to-back meetings (for me).
Why we watch Create Academy
I suspect we all watch courses for a variety of reasons. Perhaps you're doing up your own house, hoping to become a designer yourself, or simply satisfying a hunger for beautiful interiors, gardens and decorating knowledge.
I've certainly followed some courses purely for the joy of it, or out of curiosity about something I'm never actually going to do. Others, particularly the garden courses, have genuinely helped me learn new skills and ideas, in my case for planning and planting our own garden. And sometimes I've dipped into a particular lesson to solve a conundrum or overcome a stumbling block, rather than watching a course from beginning to end.
The new Collections tab makes this even easier, allowing you to gather useful lessons from different experts in one place, ready to return to whenever you need them. You can - for instance -build one for a room I'm about to tackle: a lesson on layout from one expert, another on lighting, a third on choosing paint – a sort of personal masterclass, assembled to order.
Inside a designer's own home
The best houses are often a designer's own. Not only can they continue to add to and evolve them, but they tend to tell a more personal, layered story. So it's particularly thrilling to be invited into Michael S. Smith's remarkable houses in Los Angeles and Mallorca in his new course, Learn the Magic of Decorating. This is a designer whose oeuvre has included Obama’s White House, so to hear him talk so openly about the ideas and obsessions behind his own rooms is a rare treat.
As Michael says, 'the look should be the beginning, not the end': a framework on which to build something personal and, to use his word, 'energised'. It's less a how-to than an invitation to see your own home with fresh eyes, and to ask what makes a room truly great.
Make do, and make it beautiful
In rather wonderful contrast, Gabby Deeming's house tour is an inspiring insight into what can be achieved through a more piecemeal, make-do-and-mend approach, without sacrificing an ounce of thought or style. Gabby spent many years as Creative Director of Decoration at House & Garden, so I have long admired her eye, but there is something especially revealing about seeing it at work in her own house
In this 45-minute tour, she talks us through almost every detail of her very lovely, light-filled house. We discover that Dulux White is her go-to paint colour, that she's learnt to live with a kitchen floor that wouldn't necessarily have been her first choice, and how she's gradually transformed each room over the past five years, bit by bit, with plenty of eBay and Facebook Marketplace finds thrown into the playful mix. It’s a good reminder that a house needn't be finished, or perfectly resolved, to be full of style. If it whets your appetite, her course How to Style with Pattern & Colour shows exactly how she does it.
On my list in November
Watch Rosi de Ruig's The Art of Paper Lampshade Making. We already have a few of her pretty lampshades, but could certainly do with a few more. As we have perfectly good, if rather plain, lampshades already, I haven't been able to justify the expense of replacing them. Making my own could be the answer. Rosi started out making shades at her kitchen table because she couldn't find any she liked, which feels very encouraging, and the course takes you from choosing the paper and trim right through to a table lamp, a wall light and a large ceiling shade.
Plant the rest of my tulip and narcissus bulbs. Every year I add a few more. This year I made an early start, then rather lost momentum, so it's time to get on with it. There's still time if you're in the same boat: tulips are happiest planted in November, once the soil has cooled. For inspiration, Arthur Parkinson's Create a Perennial Paradise in Pots has a lovely lesson on tucking spring bulbs around a potted rose.
Start my Christmas shopping. I'm thinking Rita's new venture, Rita Konig Household Goods, could be a good source of presents for my sisters and brothers-in-law. And for anyone on my list who loves gardens, interiors or making things, a Create Academy course might be the nicest present of all. Our Christmas gift guide pairs ten of our instructors' favourite things with the courses that bring them to life.
Until next month,
Hatta