Homes & Antiques

Welcome to the June issue of Homes & Antiques. I hope you’ll enjoy the stimulating mix of features, interiors and expert advice. To mark The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, we take a look behind the scenes at the Royal Collection (p16) while Luke Honey offers advice on collecting coronation memorabilia (p33). There’s also a suitably celebratory feel to the decorating pages in our ‘Style Now’ section (p19) and, in her feature ‘The Fabulous Fifties’, Rhiannon Batten takes us back to 1951 and the Festival of Britain, to see what was happening in British design just before The Queen acceded the throne. This month’s houses may be small, but they are packed with attainable ideas as well as beautiful antiques. Gillian Harwood’s clever panelling adds warmth and interest to her pretty Norfolk cottage, while…

THE ANTIQUE Silver Rose Bowls Out in parks and gardens, roses in wonderful hues are coming into full bloom, and now’s the time to bring them indoors to enjoy. Silver rose bowls were at their zenith in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, often given as gifts and commemorative tokens. Prized blooms had their stems trimmed short so that they nestled against one another, flowerheads sitting just above the edge of the bowl to form a pool of colour. Originally they may have been used with a florist’s metal grid to hold the blooms in place. They came in many different designs – chased and engraved, with handles or without – and held anything from six to 16 flowers, depending on dimensions. Placed on a coffee or dining table, they make…

“My present role as Deputy Surveyor of The Queen’s Works of Art means that I’m responsible for all the decorative arts in the Royal Collection. This numbers around 700,000 works, including furniture, sculpture, ceramics, metalwork, textiles, fashion, jewellery –in other words, anything three-dimensional. The Royal Collection is one of the great European dynastic collections; one of the most important still in existence. It has been formed over the last 500 years, effectively beginning with Henry VIII and followed by subsequent monarchs. The objects it contains furnish 13 different royal palaces, including those administered by Historic Royal Palaces, such as Hampton Court, Kensington Palace and the Tower of London, as well as The Queen’s official residences, Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Holyroodhouse, and then other residences like Frogmore House, Sandringham and Balmoral. One of…

Seasonal papers The latest – and very much anticipated – collection of wallpapers by artist Flora Roberts has been released by Hamilton Weston Wallpapers. There are four new designs in several colourways. Peony Garden is an enchanting chinoiserie centred around the peony tree with hollyhocks, pears, apple blossom and magnolia. Autumn celebrates plants going to seed, such as honesty and the skeletal silhouettes of senescing winter ferns and cow parsley. Spring captures Dorset woodlands full of purple violets, primroses and delicate wood anemone, while Cottage Garden is inspired by an allotment where sunflowers, dahlias, foxgloves and nasturtiums grow. hamiltonweston.com DECADENT DESIGNS This year, Romo celebrates its 120th anniversary and to mark the milestone the brand has launched the Pluma collection of decorative prints, embroideries and wallcoverings. Founder Robert Mould started Romo in 1902,…

Persian miniature painting was a courtly and aristocratic art depicting detailed historical and mythical scenes from Persian Princes to the playful depictions of Qajar girls. It is an art form that was influenced by Chinese art and later, during the 18th and 19th centuries, by European paintings, and is full of joy and vibrant colour that marries well with most interior styles. Persian art was first introduced to Victorian Britain during the Great Exhibition of 1851, where it was highly admired, and agents from the Victoria and Albert Museum were sent out to Iran to buy art for the collection. As their owners will know, such artworks (which are usually extracted from an illustrated manuscript, an art that flourished in the Middle East centuries ago), are great conversation pieces as…

We have always loved buying antiques and incorporating pieces into our home. After filling our family home near St Albans and our holiday rental in Devon with antiques, we decided to start Retrovation in 2013 so that we could continue buying things we love. We started renting a workshop and barn on a local farm in Hertfordshire five years ago, which allows us to do light restoration, too. We sell what we love. If you walk around our home you will see the same types of things that you will see in our barn. It has to be beautifully made and have handcrafted details. We’re particularly keen on pieces that have had a previous practical use, such as mahogany shop display cabinets and cafe chairs. At the moment we have 1950s…