Jane Rockett - Rockett St George: Extraordinary Interiors

ROCKETT ST GEORGE

EXTRAORDINARY

interiors

ROCKETT ST GEORGE

EXTRAORDINARY

interiors

Show-stopping looks for beautiful rooms

JANE ROCKETT
LUCY ST GEORGE

Photography by Debi Treloar

Senior designer Toni Kay Senior commissioning editor Annabel Morgan

Location research Jess Walton Production manager Gordana Simakovic

Art director Leslie Harrington Editorial director Julia Charles

Publisher Cindy Richards

First published in 2017 by

Ryland Peters & Small

2021 Jockeys Fields,

London WC1R 4BW

and

341 East 116th Street

New York, NY 10029

www.rylandpeters.com

Text copyright Jane Rockett

and Lucy St George 2017

Design and photographs copyright

Ryland Peters & Small 2017

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ISBN 978-1-84975-869-7

E-ISBN 978-1-78879-390-2

The authors moral rights have been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress CIP data has been applied for.

Printed and bound in China

CONTENTS

We founded Rockett St George in 2007 but first met years before that at a fancy dress party in the late 1990s. Lucy was dressed in over-the-knee white boots, a white mini dress and wig (a sexy fairy), while Jane was wearing a red sequinned dress, a blond wig and a sash reading Miss Leading. It was love at first sight, and our friendship was sealed when we discovered our shared passion for black clothes, flea markets, Manchego cheese, travel, Tom Hardy and (of course) interiors.

After spending hours trailing around antique fairs and flea markets, rearranging our furniture at home and generally driving our partners and children mad by continually redecorating, we realized that it might be a good idea to join forces and make a career out of our passion. We combined our savings, bought a Websites for Dummies book, and Rockett St George was born.

Ten years down the line, we are still best friends and still love a good car boot sale but we have also learnt a huge amount about how to create show-stopping interiors. In this book, we share our decorating mistakes along with our triumphs, we guide you through tricky decision making, and offer top tips on how to achieve magical, surprising and inviting homes.

We have made this book personal with the goal of motivating you to be adventurous and plan properly so you can achieve an interior that dreams are made of. In between each chapter, you will find interior inspiration from beautifully photographed houses and apartments owned by our friends and colleagues, as well as our own homes.

We hope you enjoy this book and that it provides the inspiration for your own decorating journey. Make it personal, be brave, style one step at a time, and enjoy every minute!

MAKE IT Personal

There is nothing we enjoy more than poring over interiors books, glossy magazines, Pinterest, Instagram and so on, and admiring gorgeous heart-stopping interiors in a hundred different styles. In fact, this is how the two of us first became such good friends, sharing a passion for interior design, treasure hunting, musicians and vodka (well come onto the treasure hunting, musicians and vodka later well, maybe not the musicians and vodka bit). Never before has there been a time when consumers have had such easy accessibility to home decor products and interiors inspiration. We can indulge ourselves with all the beautiful colours, furniture, art, antiques and textiles that we adore, and are able to access an infinite number of exciting images at just the click of a button.

By keeping the walls dark and understated and covering walls and shelves with quirky accessories and striking art, Cowboy Kate has created a sense of continuity throughout her Cumbrian home without detracting from the unique personality of each room. Mounted antlers, lush greenery and statement artwork are recurring motifs.

DECISIONS, DECISIONS

With so many fabulous options available to us nowadays, choice can be a bit of a challenge. Even a visit to the local supermarket is fraught with decision-making as we are bombarded with hundreds of different brands and packaging, all designed to appeal to us. There is even the choice of which supermarket to visit before you have left the house! It sounds great, but too many alternatives can actually be a hindrance as it makes reaching decisions difficult and time-consuming. And when it comes to making choices about how to decorate our home, we all want to get it right first time round.

Some people spend hours deliberating over colours, styles and textures while others find it easy to reach a resolution. Regardless of which category you fall into, we believe that making decorative choices should be fun; a pleasurable process that fulfils your creative needs and leads to a satisfying conclusion. The result should be a home that creates a sense of well-being and rooms that makes you smile every time you walk through the door. This, my friends, is why Make it Personal is the first chapter in this book. Get things wrong and you could spend a long time regretting your decorating decisions.

Indeed, Jane once had her entire bedroom wallpapered at great expense only to arrive home and absolutely hate the result. The wallpaper was patterned, colourful and gorgeous, but Jane didnt feel comfortable in the room. In fact, she felt irritated and edgy; exactly how you dont want to feel in your place of rest. If only Jane had asked herself a few simple questions, she could have avoided making an expensive mistake. In fact, she ended up having to pay to have the whole room done again.