Natural INSPIRATION
In a Victorian terraced cottage, amid the leafy streets of Kew in south-west London, lives a collection of carved wooden birds, prints of ferns and trees, myriad baskets and their curator: ex-country Living houses editor and stylist Hester Page.
Hester and her partner Chris Cornwell have lived here for 28 years, creating a backdrop for the items she has collected from the natural world, shops, makers and fairs. The original waist-high Victorian tongue-and-groove panelling is decorated in Slipper Satin, and above is the “chalky-white church wall tone” in Shaded White (both Farrow & Ball), which sets off Hester’s various tabletop displays. These include piles of fabrics and cushions in ochre, mushroom and all manner of greens. Her home is far from a museum, however – she loves nothing more than a rearrangement.
Bulky furniture is rejected in favour of Kubu (woven) trunks and assorted lidded baskets, for textural interest as well as storage, and trestle tables, which are easy to move around.
The sitting room – her favourite space – features a graphic bird print on an elegant Georgian armchair (pieces of the same Rapture & Wright fabric, which Hester patchworked together), alongside which is an arrangement combining feathers, pebbles and pine cones with artisan ceramics.
For those of us unsure of how to start displaying, Hester suggests picking a theme, whether it’s a favourite picture, colour or type of fabric. “If you don’t feel it’s working, try another day. Enjoy it – it’s just playing with things.”
Her arrangements look so fresh, they’re like snapshots in time. Leaning prints or paintings in front of one another on a piece of furniture helps to avoid a contrived look, as does stacking objects around each other. “You want an air of nonchalance around your displays,” Hester says.
The irony of her beautifully arranged interior is that she rarely pauses to appreciate it: “I’m always thinking about what I can move about and am tempted to change things again.”
HESTER’S OBJECTS OF DESIRE Natural finds, graphic prints, baskets, wooden birds