This month is about finding top tips from Instagram by professional designers who are making extraordinary UK interiors.
The thing with Instagram is that it’s a window into global trends, and for most people in less than two scrolls down the page you’ve already viewed content from somewhere other than the UK in your feed. It’s one of the reason’s I love it so much, I can see what’s happening in Australia, in Copenhagen, in New York just at the tap of a hashtag or a location. It’s remarkable how connected we are, along with the other 1 billion users of the platform. It’s also easy to uncover some extremely helpful tips from Instagram, whether you’re looking for fashion advice, recipes or my field of interior design. One thing I have noticed is that some of this “help” doesn’t always travel well. Whether that’s because retailers don’t exist in the UK (please open in the UK Restoration Hardware!), or that measurements and building standard are completely different. Another noticeable difference is the colour saturation level of fabric’s and paint, they vary dramatically over the globe and mostly due to the quality of light each country has. It’s no surprise that we generally see warmer terracotta and ochre hues in the Mediterranean and cool cleaner tones from Nordic countries. So with that bouncing around my head, I thought I’d share some interiors tips from UK based interior designers that I have found on Instagram.
Sims Hilditch – Emma Sims-Hilditch is no stranger to accolades, frequently featuring in top UK Interior Designer lists like Homes and Garden, House and Garden as well as appearing in Tatler and Vogue. Her design studio’s Instagram account is filled with their beautifully shot projects and peppered with helpful advice.
“Darker deeper colours such as
Susan Deliss the antique textile dealer expanded her business into Interior Design projects after her customers kept coming to her for advice. Her highly textured, layered and often colourful projects can be seen on her Instagram account. She regularly shares her sources and also some design tips worth noting.
“The client loves @eb_naturalpaint “Invisible Green” which I used here on the walls. It’s strong but also calm and restful” ~ Susan Deliss
Phoebe Oldrey is the Interior Designer behind Smart Style Interiors based in Tunbridge Wells, she’s an advocate for wellness in design and holistic interiors. She encourages customers to repurpose and reuse furniture in their scheme and will even hold their hand through buying vintage and antiques – which is a great way to be ethical when designing.
“It’s staggering to find that the pollution in our homes is higher than outside and it can have a serious effect of your health, but how on earth do you design with ‘air’ in mind?” ~ Phoebe Oldrey
Swedish designer Beata Heuman has a playful colourful sense of style, and last year picked up Designer of The Year 2018 from House and Garden magazine. She’s not afraid of classical interior design references but always delivers in a fresh modern way.
“add intrigue and make spending time in the space feel enjoyable with wallpaper” ~ tips from Instagram by Beata Heuman
When I left the Inchbald School of Design having completed my PgDip in Architectural Interior Design, I went and interned at the Studio of fellow Inchbalder Staffan Tollgard. During my time there I learnt a lot and picked up an awful lot of practical advice. If you follow the Instagram account of Staffan, you’ll also come away with some top tips.
“The skylight dramatically enhances the overall feel of the space by allowing light to bounce off of the upholstered custom made bench” ~ Staffan Tollgard
More tips from Instagram can be found on the account of Alison Anderson Interiors. I love her take on using vintage and repurposing items, as I feel very similar about how society has moved towards a disposable or throwaway culture – particularly in a renovation project.
“It can be tempting to just chuck everything in a skip and start with a blank canvas, but you could be throwing away some real gems.” ~ Alison Anderson
With the enormous amount of interior-design talent on Instagram, it’s hard to whittle down to a select few favourites. Julia Alexander’s account has become of my recent favourites, she shares some real gems and her advice is practical – which is often seen as a dirty word on Instagram I feel. Yet we all know how important “function” is in design.
“When you think of a skylight what comes to mind? Dramatic expanses of glass perhaps… but you don’t have to always go big here.
One account that I go back to time and time again for is Todhunter Earle Interiors, who
Fiona Parke spent 10 years at Todhunter Earle above, before setting up her own design practice, Johnston Parke Interiors, in Berkshire. She’s another designer sharing plenty of sources in her Instagram feed, which I am forever grateful for. Especially as she shared the source of this sink (Labour & Wait) as it was just what I was looking for! It was an alternative I was suggesting to someone instead of the beautiful but expensive Kohler Brockway sink.
I’ve followed Fiona Duke Interiors for some time now and her feed always has some sound advice. “Bathrooms always require lots of planning and sometimes patience when plumbing doesn’t play ball!” ~ Fiona Duke
Gina Everett of Create Perfect regularly holds design clinics at events like Grand Design Live providing advice and tips on interior design. You can also access these tip over on her Instagram account. “Create a focal point and display your favourite things with open shelves” ~ Create Perfect.
You might know Sarah Mailer better for her blog Girl About House but her Interior Design business is what keeps her busy these days. You’ll find tips galore on both of her Instagram accounts with advice like – “Kitchens and bathrooms sell houses. But even if you’re not moving, there’s nothing like a little revamp!”
Harding and Read are responsible for the interiors of the Instagram famous hotel, The Rose, in Deal. It also happens that I studied at Inchbald School of Design with Orla Read. Harding and Read have a love of colour that just makes me smile from ear to ear. Turquoise on the walls and burnt orange velvet on the headboards is one of my favourites. There was also a rather fantastic Plain English kitchen they designed on their Instagram feed with green and blue cabinets that made me swoon. Definitely, an account to watch for colour palette
I hope you’ve enjoyed this months inspiration on tips from Instagram, to see more of my Instagram series take a look here.
This was such a fun blog to read this morning! Some excellent tips and I particularly loved Beata Heumans’ orange and blue combo! (A personal favourite!).
Fantastic round-up of tips, Mary. I was really interested to read Phoebe (SmartStyle Interiors) in particular – whilst I know about dangerous chemicals in paints, I had no idea so much pollution was in our homes.
I follow quite a lot of these but for the ones I don’t these are great new accounts to discover. I’ll definitely be following them from now on!
Such a good read and loved the tips from these amazing designers. Love your intro too Mary. Very thought provoking…
This is fab, Mary. Great to see so many tips about repurposing and sustainable-friendly sources.
Some really great tips there from some fantastic Instagram accounts. I especially love the idea of creating our homes holistically.