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Kate, who grew up in rural Somerset, has always had a passion for design, which she has now combined with her business acumen to create a luxury interior design brand. Her career has included several years of international banking in the City of London and establishing the first vintage fashion business in Hong Kong. Running alongside these ventures, Kate also project managed the refurbishment of several properties, both here and abroad, and studied at KLC School of Design. Now living in Sussex with her three children, Kate’s experience within finance, fashion and interiors means she can use a lifetime’s worth of experience to create her dream job. Summing up her unique style, she says: “I love sophisticated Parisian elegance, combining classic and contemporary elements to create timeless interiors.”

14/10/2026

NOTES FROM DECOREX
Material, Form & Feeling

What stayed with me from Decorex this year wasn’t a particular colour or trend, but the richness and character of the materials themselves.

Earthy browns, to***co, aubergine and deep olive, softened by warm neutrals and dusty pinks. Beautiful combinations of texture and pattern, sculptural furniture, softly curved forms and lighting that celebrated the natural beauty of alabaster, metal and timber.

I was particularly drawn to pieces that felt made rather than manufactured. Beautifully worked surfaces, interesting patinas and materials that revealed something of the craftsmanship behind them.

There was a wonderful sense of individuality, too. Less about everything matching and more about bringing together different materials, periods and influences to create something personal.

Perhaps that’s what I took away most from the show. A feeling that the most interesting interiors aren’t necessarily those that follow a particular look, but those that evolve over time.

Rooms shaped by the things we love, with a little history, character and a story to tell.

Kate
Reverie Interior Design

Interior Design | Decorex 2026 | Materiality | Craftsmanship | Sculptural Furniture | Layered Interiors | Reverie Interior Design

Inspired by a wonderful day at
Decorex International | Europe’s Luxury Interior Design Show

08/10/2026

THE ELEMENTS OF ATMOSPHERE

02 / The Materials That Shape a Room

Something to notice

Have you ever walked into a beautifully decorated room and wondered why it doesn’t feel quite as good as it looks?

Sometimes the answer lies in the materials themselves.

Before we consider furniture, fabrics or decorative objects, the floors, walls and architectural finishes have already established much of a room’s character.

Think of a beautiful piece of natural stone. The movement of its veining, the finish of its surface, the way it catches the light. Or a timber floor, where the width of the boards, the grain and even the sound beneath your feet influence how you experience the space.

These are qualities we respond to, often without consciously noticing them.

It’s something I consider carefully when designing interiors. Not simply how materials look together, but how they feel, how they respond to light and what they contribute to the architecture of a room.

And it doesn’t necessarily mean choosing the most expensive finishes.

Sometimes it’s about recognising what’s already there, preserving something beautiful or allowing one material to become the defining feature of a space.

A Reverie Note.

Next time you’re in a room you particularly enjoy, look beyond the furniture and colour.

Notice the materials that form the space itself. The floor beneath your feet, the walls, the surfaces you touch.

What do they contribute to the way the room feels?

You might find that some of what makes the room feel so good has very little to do with its decoration.

The Elements of Atmosphere - a series exploring the details and decisions that shape how we experience our homes.  TheElementsOfAtmosphere InteriorArchitecture Materiality InteriorDesignDetails ConsideredInteriors ReverieInteriorDesign

07/10/2026

Notes from the studio.

Much of the work that shapes a project happens long before there is a finished room to photograph.

At the moment I’m moving between a London apartment, a family home in Bath, an Edwardian house by the sea and a hairdressing salon in Covent Garden - all very different, each requiring a different kind of thinking.

Alongside those, several new conversations are underway - different briefs, different scales, and a few further afield.
Some spaces need careful editing. Some need better flow. Others need warmth, character, or a new way of living to be considered from the beginning.

There are floor plans, sourcing lists, furniture layouts, samples, presentations and a great many conversations in between. Perhaps that is the part of the work I find most absorbing: understanding what a space needs, and what the people using it need from it, before the visual language is fully resolved.

I’ve also been developing Merewood House, a concept study that gives me space to explore atmosphere, materiality and ideas without the constraints of a live brief.

A few weeks ago I was at Design Week - always useful to step away from the desk, visit the showrooms and look at materials and ideas with fresh eyes.

I’ve also been trialling AI tools to support parts of the sourcing and procurement process. It’s still early, but some genuinely interesting possibilities are beginning to emerge.

And quietly alongside the studio, The Reverie Edit continues too - writing, research and ideas that often find their way back into the work.

There is a lot that happens before the finished photograph. It feels like a good time to start sharing a little more of that here.

Tulips - Visual reference via Pinterest

Bath interior designer · residential interior design · space planning· design process · London interiors · design process

16/08/2026

Taking notes from nature.

A week in Corfu and Paxos reminded me how often the most beautiful palettes are already there in the landscape.

The warm tones and strata of the limestone against an extraordinary abundance of green. Olive groves, dark cypress rising vertically through the landscape, and a canopy of Mediterranean trees that in places seems to reach almost to the water.

What fascinated me was how naturally the architecture seemed to belong to it all.

In Corfu Town, centuries of Venetian influence have left buildings in softened ochres, creams and earthy pinks, punctuated by shutters and doors in deep forest greens - colours that seem to echo the landscape around them rather than compete with it.

Perhaps that is why these combinations feel so harmonious. Nature has already done the work.

And then there was the water.

I always find being near the sea incredibly calming, but this time I became more conscious of why. The constant movement. The changing light and colour - brilliant turquoise around Paxos, then closer to the shores of Corfu, still and deep green, almost like a lake.

On the boat to Paxos, the sea, sky and distant mountains of Albania seemed almost to merge into one. There was something both mesmerising and rebalancing about that vastness.

Travel gives us time to notice these things again - colour, texture, light and landscape - and reminds me that some of the best lessons in atmosphere don’t come from looking at interiors at all.

They come from looking outwards.

20/07/2026

The Elements of Atmosphere: Light

Every room has light.
But the question is not simply whether there is enough of it.

It is what the light is doing.

Is it flattening the room, or giving it depth? Is it asking you to work, or allowing you to rest? Is it making the room feel exposed, or quietly held?

When I look at a room as a designer, I’m not only looking at the fitting. I’m looking at where the light begins, where it lands, what it leaves in shadow, how high it sits, what temperature it has, and whether it supports the way the room is actually used.

A designer does not just light a room. A designer shapes the moments within it: where someone reads, where people gather, where arrival is first sensed, and where shadow is allowed to do some of the work.

Daylight matters too. Maximising it is often key. But daylight should be understood before it is simply increased.

Some rooms need every bit of natural light they can get. Others need daylight softened, filtered or reflected.

The aim is not always more light.
It is the right relationship with light.

If a room feels flat, exposed or unsettled, I often look at the light before changing the colour, furniture or styling.

The best rooms are not always the brightest rooms. They are the rooms where the light knows what it is there to do.

A Reverie note:

This evening, ask not “is there enough light?” but “are the right moments being lit?”

That is often where atmosphere begins.

From The Elements of Atmosphere series. Reverie Interior Design.

Interior Design. Atmospheric Interiors. Lighting Design. Interior Atmosphere · British Interiors · Bath Interior Designer · Reverie Interior Design

25/06/2026

Reverie Notes - Not Silence, But Shelter

A city garden can still be a refuge.

We are in the middle of a heatwave, and it has only just felt cool enough to come outside. I’ve spent most of the day working in the cool of the kitchen, protected by the thick walls of this Bath townhouse.

Now, in the evening, the garden feels almost like another room.

It is a little overgrown at the moment - slightly neglected, almost wild - but still beautiful. A small breeze moves through the leaves. A tiny brown mouse slipped beneath the chair beside me - not for the first time - reminding me that even in the middle of the city, the garden has its own quiet life.

I can hear birds, the clink of cutlery from neighbours dining outside, the odd plane overhead, and the soft hum of the city beyond the garden walls.

It isn’t quiet exactly.
The city is still there, softened by distance and leaves.
But it is peaceful.

Among those sounds, the wood pigeons are the ones that always stop me. Their call takes me straight back to childhood - to summer afternoons, open windows, and the feeling of being about ten years old again.

I’m endlessly fascinated by the way atmosphere holds memory. How a sound, a breeze, a shaft of evening light, or an untended corner of a garden can make us feel suddenly safe, nostalgic, or more ourselves.

Perhaps that is what home does at its best.

Not perfection.
Shelter.

14/06/2026

Atmosphere is rarely created by one statement piece.

It emerges from the relationship between light, texture, scale and proportion.

The most successful rooms are often the ones that simply feel right.

Interior Design | Luxury Interiors | Interior Styling | Atmosphere-Led Design | Residential Interior Design | European Elegance | Design Inspiration

06/06/2026

Yesterday I attended a fascinating talk by Dr Emily Roy at the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, exploring the life and work of Oliver Messel and his influence on the Assembly Rooms.

Messel is perhaps best known for his work in theatre, ballet and interiors, yet what struck me most was how closely the worlds of stage design and interior design overlap.

Both are concerned with atmosphere and seek to shape emotion, anticipation and memory.

The best rooms, like the best stage sets, tell a story before a single word is spoken.

Living and working in Bath, it was particularly interesting to learn more about Messel’s role in the Assembly Rooms following the Bath Blitz, and to reflect on the building as it prepares for its next major chapter through the forthcoming restoration project.

A wonderful evening of design history, heritage and conversation.

Thank you to Dr Emily Roy for such an insightful talk, to Kate Vines for the invitation, and to Roger for the company, conversation and perspective.

Image: National Trust

Oliver Messel, Bath Assembly Rooms, historic interiors, heritage architecture, atmosphere-led design, interior design inspiration, British design history, restoration projects, theatre and interiors, Bath UK.

29/05/2026

The Places That Stay With Us

I had stayed in other luxury hotels on that trip, but this was the place that stayed with me.

Aman Sveti Stefan occupies a restored fishing village on a small fortified island off the coast of Montenegro. What I remember most clearly, though, was its restraint.

The architecture, the landscape, the pace of the day, the simplicity of the interiors - everything seemed to belong together.

A reflection on atmosphere, hospitality, and the luxury of spaces that do not try too hard to impress.

New on The Reverie Edit.

Link in bio.

27/05/2026

Many clients arrive at Reverie feeling overwhelmed rather than undecided.

They know what they no longer want, but need help understanding what should replace it.

My work often begins by simplifying - uncovering the rhythm of a home and creating clarity from there.

The most meaningful interiors are rarely the most complicated.

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