Decorate was bound to be a beautiful book, full of beautiful places. It just promised to be energising. I didn’t realise that it would also be bursting with information about how to go about making beautiful spaces. That’s exactly what I like. Holly Becker and Joanna Copestick have assembled such a great collection of interiors, analysis of styles, of why things work they way they do, suggestions for how to approach a space, how to develop ideas and to experiment. It’s a pleasure to have a guide. Quotations from contemporary decorators, whose homes appear in the book, speaking about how to make a space of your own work well, how they work with their own and with other’s spaces, are so brilliant, so interesting. Just the right balance of inspiration and information. I have been pouring over the book and I’ll be revisiting sections in detail, as I work in my own space to make it function better, feel better. What I love about Decorate is how down to earth it is, encouraging anyone to make their own space beautiful, using good information and some techniques to identify what you really love to live with. I find the development and sharing of styles so fascinating, the merging of influences, drawing on historical precedents or abandoning them, pulling ideas from contemporary fashions, one’s own abilities to make things, responding to the needs and uses of a home. I’d be interested to know more of how ideas about decoration were shared in other eras.

Luck had it that I got to meet Holly, Joanna, and several enchanting people that they work with, including Sania Pell and Leslie Shewring, whose homes appear in the book. (I’ve also had the pleasure of being a student of Holly and Leslie’s! Great course, highly recommended). The Decorate book launch at Liberty of London was such a thrill. Somehow Holly and company made it feel very much like Holly’s writing, as well as Leslie’s column, does on decor8 - warm, welcoming, inspiring, engaged, and beautiful. Holly spoke about the book, and her process, and let us ask endless questions. She is a delight. I can be nervous creature but I did ask her how living in Europe has altered her aesthetics. Holly says that living in Europe, she’s exposed to so much, her jaw drops at the sheer variety, and that’s also why she loves the Internet; the more exposure, the more you learn. I’m quite fond of both myself.

Sania, Leslie and Holly put together a gorgeous table in Liberty’s Dining Room, using bits and pieces from around the shop, and told us about their process. So much fun for interiors nuts. I love it. I’d have liked not to have been totally starstruck, (see below) but I was, very much so. (Visit Flowerona, for clear-headed pictures! I was charmed to meet Rona in person as well.) I’m honoured to have had a chance to meet these amazing people. If I am very lucky, I’ll get a chance to have tea with each of them and talk some more. I hope so. Meanwhile I shall pour over my copy of Decorate, and you can see what I manage to do with the education.