Lady Caroline Percy is an interior designer and consultant in Fine Art and Antiques and founder of Hotspur Design.

It was lovely to chat with Lady Caroline Percy this week about her life growing up in Syon House and Alnwick Castle and her love of antiques.

Caroline and I first met at Syon House about 15 years ago when I produced TV show Antique Secrets.

Later, I was invited to the Historic Interiors lectures she organised with Oliver Gerrish and I have visited Syon House many times.

Syon House is nestled beside the River Thames just west of London. It has appeared in many films as an amazing backdrop to everything from Downton Abbey to The Madness of King George. Its theatrical presence and Robert Adam architecture is sublime and it includes furniture made by master cabinet maker Thomas Chippendale to mirror the architectural plaster work, colours and form.

Salisbury Journal: Lady Caroline Percy and Andrew Blackall

Wandering the corridors is an absolute treat.

Looking out one of the windows across the grounds Caroline remembers her childhood.

She said: “Children don’t relate to large spaces. The idea of going into the garden without descending flights of stairs was appealing to me. As a child I enjoyed arts and crafts Tudorbethan small houses with gables and turrets as they reminded me of the houses in fairy stories.”

Tudorbethan is a style that amongst others, architect Ernest Trobridge created, building housing developments in a fairy tale style in the suburbs of London. You can visit examples of his architecture near Kingsbury in north west London but the style influenced the design of hundreds of thousands of semi detached suburban homes throughout Britain.

As we wander Syon House Caroline chats about her love of interiors. 

She said: “I have always been interested in the world  of the Decorative Arts and started working in Fashion when I was 18. Circumstances contrived to lead me into antiques and interior design. I started buying antiques for a shop in Seville Spain as a friend had an antique shop there. I was able to build up an extensive trade network of dealers which developed into advising what period items would go in a client’s house. I spent eight years restoring King William IV’s house." 

I asked whether antiques had a place in a modern home or interior?

“Yes!” Caroline exclaims. “They have to be carefully chosen to interact with the context. As an example Neo classical style furniture is the easiest to combine with most periods. If the setting is Modernist as in Art Deco, it is advisable to keep to that style or you get a confused narrative.. the point of a home is that is should be a protective cocoon from the outside world.”

It’s facing sting taking advice on how to furnish a home and to understand what goes with what.

She said: “A home should be a harmonious setting where the décor reflects your tastes and lifestyle. Baroque and neo classical are generally not a happy marriage such as a room with an oak Jacobean dining table combined with a Sheraton mahogany sideboard. It just looks odd.”
 
I asked Caroline about her key pieces of furniture and suggested styles?

“Firstly, a very comfortable sofa and a pair of armchairs, they are the most important pieces and should be very carefully chosen; not too bulky or they will dominate the room.  Ideally with a patterned or semi solid fabric. A plain fabric can look blocky.”

I muse that there’s a science to an interior. Caroline continues “Only use white if a low back sofa in a modernist  setting. NEVER in a period house. It draws the eye and looks like a large white blob. It goes without saying it’s also impractical in either town or country as it!”

Secondly, Caroline suggests an Ottoman, which is basically a large upholstered box with a lid. “It serves as coffee table, storage and a seat.”

Lastly, she said: “A large mirror to bring light in and enlargen a small room. I have just installed a huge one in a tiny flat and it visually doubles the size.”

As I’m about to eat all the chocolate biscuits Caroline adds: “If I can have a forth, a Bureau Bookcase is one of the best designed pieces of furniture since its origin in the early 18th century during the reign of queen Anne. There are such a wide variety of styles and it has to work with the room proportions.”

Andrew Blackall is an English antique dealer with more than 30 years of experience selling period furniture and quirky collector's items to clients across the globe. He has written and produced award-winning film and television productions. He was born in St John’s Wood, London and he grew up in and around London. He currently lives in Avebury, Wiltshire. His love of antiques stems from an early fascination with history and from visiting country homes throughout old England and the British Isles. Many of Andrew’s clients are well known on both sides of the pond, patronising his ability to source antiquities with provenance and appeal. His stock has appeared in a number of films and TV shows. Andrew has two styles of business: one selling high-end decorative antiques at The Blanchard Collective, the other selling affordable collectables at The Malthouse Collective.

His website is chairmanantiques.co.uk/ and Instagram: chairman_antiques