One of my favourite suites at The Whitby Hotel has to be Room 802. With its juicy raspberry walls and beguiling romantic Soane florals, you are transported as soon as you step through the doors. Without the floor to ceiling windows capturing views of midtown New York, one might be fooled into thinking they were in a cosy English countryside drawing room.
The drawing room walls are lined in a chunky textured linen that feels so happy and sets the tone for the rest of the scheme.
Soane’s ‘Botanic Garden’ fabric in Rhubarb on the curtains is wonderfully romantic and traditional, with a modern edge with its playful zingy colours.
Beyond the fabrics, the antique furniture and room accessories really bring the story of the scheme to life. Two tin dogs frame the fireplace, like two punctuation marks in the room’s story, working in harmony with the little doggy lamp above the fireplace.
Above the fireplace is a foxed mirror which is one of our own in-house designs. This mirror brings depth and distinction to any scheme.
Filling a space with pattern can feel overwhelming, but we carefully used plain fabrics to offset the decorative textile repeats. The plain Teasel herringbone in a soft petrol colour on the sofa contrasts with the walls whilst offsetting the patterns on the curtains, sofa cushions and back of the arm chairs.
Behind the sofa, we used a beautiful dark green antique writing bureau, which is filled with hidden drawers and cubby holes, some of which are disguised as wooden books. In a small space like this one, I like to add in larger pieces that give the space gravitas and focus. The dark green works perfectly with the tealy tones on the herringbone chairs and the accents in the beautiful Soane fabric on the curtains.
A delicate floral on the headboard maintains the romantic feel of the drawing room. We used the ‘Dianthus Chintz’, also by Soane, on the headboard. We framed it with the Teasel herringbone used on the sofa, giving this dainty floral some impact whilst also creating a thread between the two rooms.
The bedroom is almost the reverse scheme of the drawing room. The light blue walls and predominantly soft petrol green colour scheme is accented with the primarily raspberry colours of the drawing room.
This suite is such a joyful jewel box of pattern, colour and romantic florals. I hope it is as much a pleasure to stay in as it was to create.