Decorating & Design
Bring Romance To Your Rooms With The New Book, Faded Glamour
English fashion designer — and former singer-songwriter — Pearl Lowe has a passion for vintage finds. Jewel-toned velvet sofas, hand-dyed lace curtains, gleaming lacquer cabinets ― these are the essential ingredients of her new book Faded Glamour. If you gravitate towards the decadent and perfectly lived-in decorating style, it’s amply illustrated by Pearl’s Georgian home, showcasing her trademark blend of grandly romantic and cool rock ’n’ roll interiors. Take a tour through the colorful living rooms, intimate bedrooms and plush bathrooms of her creative friends’ unique homes, too. Art directed by Rachel Ashwell of Shabby Chic fame, this book is for the romantic in everyone. Click through and prepare to be seduced by intoxicating color and pattern.
Pearl used to live in this charming home in England’s West Country. It’s now occupied by producer Helen Kenny who describes it as “a bit of a mix — think: 1770s smooching with some 1970s French chic thrown in.” A vintage curved ’70s sofa from Geoffrey D. Harcourt takes center stage in the drawing room.
Cricket Court, a Regency mansion in the heart of Somerset, England, is the home of fashion designer Alice Temperley. Alice chose to swath the living room walls in aubergine because she loves its earthiness. The ship on the mantel is a gift to her son.
The two gallery owners who occupy this six-bedroom home in Somerset, England, wanted their bespoke kitchen to look like a lacquered chest, using custom black tiles. The 1970s chairs were reupholstered in quilted silver leather for a mod, space-age feel to contrast the stove and the other traditional elements in the space.
In the kitchen of Pearl’s own Georgian home, a deVOL kitchen— with classic Shaker cupboards and a generous island topped with a long marble worktop — gives avid cooks the space they need.
“As well as being havens of comfort, I always think bedrooms should feel luxurious and have a hint of glamour,” says Pearl. “The scalloped headboard gives it that injection of boudoir chic I so love. I’ve decorated the room in a palette of pale pinks and greens — one of my favorite color combinations — to give the room a sense of tranquillity.”
“It took many attempts to get our bathroom right, but I think we’ve finally got there with this copper bath and Bert & May zig zag tiles,” she says. A Venetian mirror and gilded chair and accent table amp up the absolute prettiness of this space.
Amy Neunsinger
Images excerpted from Faded Glamour by Pearl Lowe, published by CICO Books © Ryland Peters & Small. Used with permission from the publisher.