Holiday House London With Farrow & Ball
Holiday House London are two ginormous Maida Vale mansions, right next door to each other, which have been completely transformed inside by some of the worlds leading interior designers. The mansions act as showhouses for the elite designers, plus some of the best lifestyle brands, to showcase their product and talent. The houses are then opened up to the public, and all money raised goes towards the prevention and cure of breast cancer.
You'll agree that this is an excellent idea and a very worthy cause, but I am going to be completely honest here - I had heard of Holiday House London, but it wasn't something that I thought I would be interested in. I totally wrote it off as a big rich fundraiser for big rich people to showcase the sort of interiors and design that decked out a Kensington pied-à-terre, or a home in upstate New York. It would be all grasscloth walls, brown colourways, overpriced furniture and it definitely wouldn't be my sort of interiors - it wouldn't have anything fun, there wouldn't be colour, there wouldn't be any achievable looks on offer that would inspire the decor in my own home. I'm glad to say I was totally wrong! Yes, everything obviously cost a lot of money and yes, nothing was sourced from Homesense, but there were so many inspiring, interesting rooms I was fascinated and had such an amazing time visiting.
I was invited to visit Holiday House with Farrow & Ball, who were a sponsor of the event which runs until December 10th. Rooms were decked out in Farrow & Ball's 'India Yellow' and there were 'Calamine' and 'Hague Blue' stripes across ceilings, so it was really great to see some of Farrow & Ball's more adventurous colours used in an interior setting, other than the usual 'Downpipe' and 'Railings' rooms that can be found all over Instagram. The beautiful new wallpaper ranges of Hegemone, Helleborus and Atacama also adorned the walls of the many bathrooms found within the two properties.
Room themes varied widely, from calming bedrooms, to extravagant dining settings, party lofts, to rooms influenced by Morocco and Africa. If you love interiors and are a bit nosy, this really is a good day out! It's like being able to peek into a multitude of very stylish peoples homes. However, if you cannot make it, here are just a few pictures that I took during the evening I spent there:
I loved this Kit Miles wallpaper used in a bathroom. It really is the dream! I also loved these hand-made porcelain flowers below, which were so effective as a piece of wall art.
One of the things I most enjoyed at Holiday House London was the range of insanely brilliant lighting. I love a good light fitting at the best of times and I saw some pieces here that stopped me in my tracks.
Holiday House London runs until the 10th December 2017 and is open to the public Wednesdays through to Sundays (late night openings on Thursdays). Book tickets via Holiday House London or Eventbrite. Follow Holiday House London on social media via @holidayhouselondon. All ticket proceeds go to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.