Blog

Having completed a lovely project adjacent to Richmond Park, we thought it would be an idea to share what we do at AH as one of our busiest areas is bespoke joinery and we’ve made some really beautiful pieces.  The bedroom wardrobes have interesting and practical interiors, offering storage solutions for the most ardent fashionista!  The three-dimensional fretwork with mirror backing is a timeless design that is always aesthetically pleasing and well-receiv...

After 25 years in this beautiful and inspiring industry, it’s wonderful to find a new product that I hadn’t seen before and one that is not only beautiful but seriously needed within the industry!   After carefully crafting an interior, it sometimes becomes necessary to adjust the layout to accommodate the client's change of thinking, and it makes moving a few pieces to a different site somewhat challenging if specific power points have be...

For those in the industry, it’s been an exciting week with Decorex and with so much to see and experience it’s been really inspirational…  I’ve visited some old favourites, seen some beautiful new collections and with educational workshops still on, such as this Saturday in Marylebone with Little Greene Paint Company, it’s well worth the time, especially if you are remodelling yourself.  For anyone familiar with the Ap...

It's almost that time of year, when the summer is nearly over and we are preparing to "restart" the year, or to be more precise a new term, so when it coincides with a new project the energy is especially good - This is the start of a lovely new project with the living space brief "to bring calmness and peace" , so with that in mind, I turned to the pale and interesting and of course current trends, which for anyone interested in either fashion ...

Aside from the recent downpour, it really does highlight how beautiful England is and I for one, wouldn’t live elsewhere for the most part, especially with Europe on our doorstep, no matter what the real outcome of Brexit… so it was especially lovely to be asked to work on the gorgeous island of Majorca with the mountains in the background, cool landscaped gardens surrounding the crystal clear waters of the pool, made it, my all time favourite to date ...

... is like looking through the eyes to the soul. Luxury interior design is indeed a pleasure.  Crafting beauty from materials, fabrics and texture, and yet incorporating form, function and practicality, is always challenging, as we are so spoilt by the plethora of options from which to choose ... This particular interior comes from the magical island of Majorca, a personal favourite of mine - serene, spiritual, unspoilt and unpretentious - a perfect comb...

The great British summer, well it was last night with all the little parties going on in the design quarter, from Chelsea harbour, weaving my way up Lots road, and sliding into various gatherings along the kings road, to discuss exciting new projects was heaven, given it was such a beautiful warm and sunny evening -   Of course the champagne helps… Seriously though, it always surprises and delights me to see new and varied ideas being presented to a pl...

We have an exciting new vacancy for an experienced assistant architectural designer to work at our design studio in Surrey.  If you are interested in this position, please send your CV, details of your salary expectations and any other supporting information, such as PDF examples of your work, by email to admin@aprilhamilton.com.   The key responsibilities of this role will be: Producing CAD plans, elevations and 3D drawings.  Strong CAD skil...

The beautiful Hamptons in the US or indeed Hampton court in the UK  - creating luxury interiors has always been an incredibly rewarding business to be involved in and having been commissioned to work on this gorgeous house in Palace road, I was delighted to breath new life into the house. Using my favourite pallet of neutrals, with little pops of colour to bring the scheme to life, I gave the room depth with various materials, such a linen, velvet and polishe...

Tis the season…. The festive season is well and truly upon us; and whether your excitement levels peak like that of a child on Christmas eve, or you find your inner Grinch muttering “Bah Humbug!” – no one can escape without even a little Christmas décor sneaking into the home. In many ways, Christmas is a wonderful opportunity to inject a bit of sparkle and luxury into an interior. Gone are the days of splattering a rainbow of tinsel and...

There is nothing better than returning to a clients home after an installation, to fully appreciate the impact of a design. We were lucky enough to be working in beautiful Hampton over the last few months, adding  a touch of luxury to a townhouse, only a stones throw from Hampton Court palace. Our brief included the master bedroom, living room, dining room, kitchen and hallway, and though we carried the colour pallette throughout the house, each room claimed its own i...

Really?  Really? In that tone of complete and utter disbelief… Do we have to go? Our 4 year old Henry asked incredulously -was it  really  necessary?!  Why don’t we acknowledge that “out of the mouths of babes” is actually worth listening to? Because in essence I didn’t really want to go either, being by the fire curled up with  a good book tucking into nice winter warming food most certainly see...

It can be a really daunting experience redesigning your home. What style do you want? How do you want the spaces to work? Where do you start? Quiet often, with the later, it is hard to know where to begin. In the studio, the most used tool for our starting point is Pinterest. Once the client has given us their brief, away we go. You will have seen me mention it before in previous blogs. It is so simple to use and it is stuffed with fantastic inspiration. Even those who...

With Christmas less than four weeks away, like most of us, you are probably thinking about putting up the Christmas decorations. Whether you are a Grinch or an ecstatic Elf, Christmas is on its way. My team and I have spent some time flicking through the latest trends, and timeless classics, putting together simple ideas that will make your house feel festive, which you can find on our Christmas Pinterest Board. You don’t need to go over board to give your home ...

After such a beautiful autumn, or ‘indian summer’ I guess the wash of rain we have been getting over the last few weeks is good for the garden & the ducks? Certainly not for the hair do! When the weather is being kind, Brighton will usually be on my list of places to go for the weekend. Brighton is a nice change from the fast paced London streets, and I love jumping between the two. I park just outside the town and walk in, which is an absolut...

We’ve had a great start to the week, working a particularly lovely house that requires some major design input, which I will subsequently blog about in the coming weeks, but for a change, I thought I would blog about something other than design. Another week of crazy weather. As I look out of the studio it is gloriously sunny, with crisp blue skies. A far cry from this mornings tidal wave down pour. As I head off to France, which looks to be a bit ...

With Halloween coming up next week, you may be attending a few spooky parties or two. If you are anything like myself, I am not hugely keen on the ‘horror’ side of things. Each year this festivity seems to be getting bigger and bigger, but it doesn’t always have to be tacky. I thought I would share some tasteful ideas of how you can decorate your interior, if you are celebrating Halloween this year. Pumpkin carving is on trend this year, with many peo...

Last week was an especially busy week, so when items you don’t recognise start making their own way out of the fridge, you realise it’s time to hit the super market, clean up your act and use up the well meaning shopping you did a few days ago! Apparently we throw away 1/3 of the food we buy and a new awareness has now been brought into nurseries regarding painting pasta and beans, it never even occurred to me it’s food! With one half o...

Firstly a huge heart felt congratulations to Malala Yousafzai on her Nobel Peace Prize. It is wonderful so see someone of her age so determined to change the world we live in, and fight for the right for an education. For where would we be, if we did not learn? Truly a brave and inspiring girl. A few weeks back you may have seen, actress Emma Watson’s speech about gender equality at the UN. It seems the world is finally making noise about this global is...

So why would you engage a luxury interior designer?   I once saw a great quote, which really did some up our worth – If you think it’s expensive to engage a professional, wait until you’ve used an amateur! Looking at the project  holistically is the only way to tackle it, the house will have a wonderfully organic feel of both balance and fluidity that has been professionally considered, not only for it’s practical use or indee...

Phew it’s nearly the end of the summer and it’s really about gearing up for that back to reality feeling? Or not?  Personally I’m grabbing a week in the sun but then at my age, I’m allowed, but for all those years, my life was dictated by term times and one of the biggest challenges was the summer holidays and what to do for almost 8 weeks?  I rarely took time off, from my busy interior design practise, so was faced with the dilemma of hol...

I was reading an article recently in Women and home magazine,admittedly the September issue, so I may a little premature writing about starting school or going off to university,  but the sentiment is same both of which are tough times for mums and Grannies alike… Coming home from school we get to still have some say in what they are eating, but what about the 18 year old who struggles to boil an egg?  I discovered another great article in House a...

When I set this page up, I did wonder what I would love about life, when sometimes, quite frankly it can tough to find something to be grateful for.. but as we age and hopefully learn, our attitude seems to soften and change and a sense of allowance creeps in.. This morning was absolutely amazing, crisp with a definite autumnal feeling about it, but not a single cloud, not even a hint – perfectly pure clear blue skies stretched endlessly across the...

So when we’ve just got back from a summer holiday but there is still plenty of time left before some sense of normality kicks in, i.e. the children return to school and the elder siblings head to university; what is there to do and what offers are there out there? We tend to get away quite a bit due to my husbands brilliant and patient use of  the net. I get bored when I can’t find exactly what I’m looking for, but he seems to fit all t...

I had the pleasure of being invited to Henley recently and had forgotten how absolutely stunning the area was, it truly was food for the soul.  It’s been a while since I have worked in Berkshire, perhaps I should make it known that apart from London, the home counties do indeed include,  not only Surrey and Sussex but Berkshire and Hampshire too. And somewhat nearer than the project we recently completed in the South of France! &nbs...

As I walked along in 30 degrees of heat at 6.40pm yesterday I have to admit, as much as I adore the good weather I did struggle along a little, the air was so still and the sea like a mill pond, just in that moment I really wanted it to be cooler. The downside of the heat, really does make us less patient & sometimes downright irritable and who can blame us, struggling through London on a really hot day, is like standing in a microwave waiting for the timer to pin...

With summer in mind, especially because we are actually having  one this year, I thought I would share what we are involved with.  Having just completed a beautiful apartment in Cranleigh Gardens, Chelsea we are focusing on a garden design, that has been bubbling along for some time and it’s almost there, with some lovely established pieces, we had to slide an orangery in with re-stocked London brick and I’m hoping we can use a statement piece from Da...

The truly bespoke swimming pool set in 4 acres of landscaped gardens  in Sussex has to be one of my favourite projects set around a beautiful courtyard that is the perfect suntrap..  The mosaics of silver and aqua were the perfect choice in the rustic addition to the house and with clever use of lighting, including the wonderful and atmospheric candle light how could this have looked anything other than stunning.  With luxury pools has to come luxury fu...

The weather has been so wonderful it makes me remember how lucky I am to live in the UK!  Being outside, playing with my surrogate grandson and lovely young daughter really does make me feel glad to be alive.  Funny isn’t it how we no longer play as we get older, unless we have the excuse of being with a child and therefore somehow make it legitimate?  I wonder if as adults we take life much too seriously, would the world stop turning if the To Do...

The village of Chiddingfold, such a quintessentially English place, not far from where I once took a balloon ride as I recall some years ago, drifting over the Sussex countryside was pure bliss on a warm sunny evening, giving me a magnificent view of the county, so years later to be commissioned to restore a 15th century coach house was a wonderful opportunity I couldn’t possibly refuse… The huge glazed window was a later addition, as that originally formed ...

After my recent visit to Morocco, I couldn’t help but snap a few interiors & in particular this light,  such a simple fitting and yet such a stunning effect!  I’ve seen various styles over the many years in the industry, but this really caught my imagination.  My hat goes up to their designer!  The painted walls in muted colours provided the perfect platform to show off the intricate fretwork within the design,&n...

What a great bank holiday we had, even though it was  chilly in the shade it was so bright and cheerful even with a sea breeze, because as you’ve probably guessed part of it was spent on the South coast, I cannot keep away!  I actually think it’s an addiction – bit like decorexia (cant stop decorating) with such vibrancy, why wouldn’t it be on my to do list for a bank holiday? Anyway I did allocate half a day to the overladen gard...

The weather this spring  has been generally quite kind and makes me start to think  more seriously about the garden design I started last year.. that is the only draw back in design, I’m usually so busy on clients interiors, my own design work tends to be relegated to “next project”. The cherry blossom  trees seem to be more spectacular this year for some reason? Although of course that may be just my take on it? Blossoms generally are ...

Hi I’m Rosie Ridgway founder and creative director of April Hamilton, an interior design company based in Surrey, with a stylish (if I say so myself) showcase in Chelsea harbour I set up April Hamilton in 95 after renovating a stunning country house in Sussex, my first project and it consisted of 33 rooms with various outbuildings – completely terrifying for a new kid on the block.  But I managed it and the rest as they say is history… So wh...

Before you dive in and watch the video below I want to welcome you to the video series. Currently there are 5 videos answering some common questions about interiors, designers and how we personally work with our clients. The videos have been around for some time, gathering views and interest on the April Hamilton YouTube Channel, but with the launch of our new blog we thought this would be a great chance to reach out to our readers and show you the full series. Bel...

I’m Rosie Ridgway, founder and creative director of April Hamilton. We are an interior design company based in Surrey, with a stylish (even if I do say so myself!) showcase in Chelsea harbour. I set up April Hamilton in 1995 after renovating a stunning country house in Sussex. Slightly ambitious, considering this was my first project! The property was huge consisting of 33 rooms and it had various outbuildings. Thinking back I was completely terrified at the time...