Describe British style in one word!

Emmeline Westin

9 years ago

last modified: 9 years ago

I've got a challenge for you! In just one word (or maybe two if you struggle) - how would you define British style?

Richmond, 1930's refurbishment · More Info

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PRO

Barnhart Gallery

9 years ago

last modified: 9 years ago

Some of you haven't been over the pond lately -- British style has kept up! Heck, it was Banksy who gave us (US) a visit last year. ;)

To me, London is the essence of "transitional," a modern city never out of touch with its roots. Green wall exteriors, hot new hotels, and yes, it's all juxtaposed against the grandeur of the palace, Trafalgar Square, and Parliament.

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Comments (124)

User
9 years ago
Irredeemably bourgeois… but it goes just fine with our bad teeth, emotionally-remote parenting, Dickensian school system and essence-of-evil British accent :-)
shelleyuk
9 years ago
Definitely eclectic. We mix our great grandmothers sideboard with an ikea storage system in a Victorian house with 1980s double glazed windows, 1930s kitchen chairs and shabby chic accessories.
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Tell me about it, the ones across the road were going all day and night in the front yard, including revving up a motor bike they're not allowed to ride! my hubby wears flannie shirts when he's not in work gear. He likes ripping them, that's a trend that should end. of course, all Australian flag thongs (flip flops) are made in China!
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And to answer your question siriuskey. Yes the front room has been opened out into a verendah. This room got really hot in summer so wasn’t working as another living space. We’re restricted to what we can change at the front of the house as we are in a heritage area. We can make changes without a DA if we don’t change the front of the house. Agree we can change a lot with a wooden house, but I think we’ll be restricted on reusing windows. All our casement windows are original glass from the 1930s so won’t be to modern building code. If we move them, they’re gone. However replacing with modern glass would bring more light into the home. We’ve put fans in all rooms and always have the French doors open in bed 2 so light and ventilation haven’t been an issue. Might become so if we put a moody teenager in there though!
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Rina
9 years ago
Other than that, Joanna, you like it, right?
summery
9 years ago
Is this the time for the perennial lesson about Britain? That things British aren't necessarily English, although things English are thus British?

Substitute Scottish, Irish, or Welsh, for English, at your will.

And then there's the whole N Ireland vs S Ireland thing. Maybe Wikipedia is in order:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_britain
User
9 years ago
Thank you for the summary, Summery.
User
9 years ago
I love it, Rina. I was just wondering whether some of the comments above belonged in the category of amusing but unfathomable caricatures from over The Pond :-)
User
9 years ago
Atlantis is unfathomable.
Rina
9 years ago
One of my ways of idling time away -- and this is specially for Joanna -- is looking at house for sale ads, all over the world. I've found the British ones, like most, are a interesting mix of very desirable interiors (not so many), rather pleasant (more), and oh dear.
Rina
9 years ago
Indeed, Chook. But I think interior style in Atlantis was a bit wet, actually.
Snaggy
9 years ago
I am saddened.. some of the misconceptions you have about us Brits !
Sarah McColm
9 years ago
Rina - Joanna was making a comment about the general opinions expressed earlier in the thread. She was really advocating for British homes. We need a sarcasm button :)
User
9 years ago
Thank you, Sarah. I think I'm out of my (unfathomable) depth here!
Rina
9 years ago
Sarah, I kind of got it. I like Joanna. She's funny. I have a streak of sarcasm in my own soul, too.
User
9 years ago
That's great, Rina. As an interloper Brit, encountering a fellow streak of sarcasm in this fabulous online community makes me feel quite at home :-)
Sharon
9 years ago
MINIMALIST-PLAIN. One word is challenging. Let's add boring uninspired low quality and uncoordinated. One can understand the origins when interior decorators here mainly care about ones curtains and paint vs providing a comprehensive room plan complete with sourced furniture and decorative objects. Just look at the difference between British houzz and American houzz. I would PAY for someone from Texas to help me fully decorate my English home American style! Ps where do I buy decent furniture Here? NO sofa workshop or natural or John Lewis for us!
tamariska
9 years ago
Conservative
jen046
9 years ago
Fab
Jo DP
9 years ago
An impossible question. We are all individuals. Most of us do not follow just one "style".
There is the very,very, good, the very, very, bad and the very, very beautiful and the very, very ugly.
Just like you enjoy in the U. S. A.
If we were all programmed, where would the fun be in that?
PRO
Rug Zone
9 years ago
Individualizing
Snaggy
9 years ago
Same things can be said about American decorating !
karemore55
9 years ago
Comfortable.
Ciocco
9 years ago
Adaptable
studio10001
9 years ago
cindyrr -achica?
Millie Money
9 years ago
Traditional
Kivi
9 years ago
One word? So all Brits share the same style?
PRO
Anniswitch Meredith
9 years ago
lively？
velliott2008
9 years ago
pleasant
PRO
Anniswitch Meredith
9 years ago
Well, maybe like the food there? I think it's special and unique.
bruket
9 years ago
Awkward.
User
9 years ago
Restrained.
glamamama
9 years ago
That's British style is it? News to me and I am British.
poollover
9 years ago
Un-inspired.

I am a Brit who loves modern/contemporary, try and find that in rural England! Thank god for internet shopping.
pavinia
9 years ago
Traditional
penelopesdreamydesigns
9 years ago
LOVELY!
Sharon
9 years ago
Uncoordinated
irenecb
8 years ago
REVOLUTIONARY. British style is revolutionary. It is an evolving process. It has its cultural roots in tradition and conservatism and there are things which the British wish to keep in both their lives and in their homes. The Monarchy, fish and chips, family heirlooms. There are things about our homes that we wish to change forever indicating a shift in culture, values and lifestyle. British family and home style is undergoing a revolution? Just like it did in the Victorian era where respectability, privacy and domesticity reigned along with the woman being the angel of the home? Has that changed? How have our roles changed? What do we want? How do we want to live? Do our homes reflect us? Do we want them to reflect us? Do our homes hold our lives? Or are we the agents of change? Or are we just the pawns of something bigger? Smaller private intimate rooms V larger communal family open spaces where we can come together and be more sociable? In our homes we wrestle with traditional which we know and trust and new exiting modern interior choices when decorating, creating the birth of transitional style whilst trying to balance the two. When redecorating we wrestle not with just the choice of traditional or modern furniture and furnishings but rather how we want to live our lives with regards to continuity or change. The truth may be that how we live in our homes is more important than how we furnish them. Making function the priority as opposed to the look. This to me is the biggest change and indication of a home style revolution. British homes are definitely undergoing a revolution and one could argue that they are heading towards a school of philosophy because there is definitely a way of thinking coming into play which goes deeper than the choice between a Chippendale chair and a Kartell Louis Ghost chair?
smergal1
8 years ago
There are a few words. Classic. Sophisticated. Elegant. Chic. If done well it is not boring or stodgy - more understated elegant. It doesn't have to try too hard, unlike so many of the "look at me" styles around these days.
Catherine Hounslow
8 years ago
Eclectic !
crowningfashion
8 years ago
Clean.
Sarah McNally
8 years ago
Heritage
Catherine Hounslow
8 years ago
We all live in huge Downton Abbey style houses !
Rina
8 years ago
How teddibly naice for you.
Rina
8 years ago
I happen to love British style. In its many manifestations.
nicoletteeve
8 years ago
Tasteful.
Najeebah
8 years ago
elegant
PRO
Akiva Projects Ltd
8 years ago
stunning!

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Cloudberry Living
8 years ago
Ecclectic....
Lalitte Stolper
7 years ago
Robust and fussy, my mum used to sigh.
PRO
Flippa Interiors Ltd
7 years ago
Eclectic.
Mustafa Daif
6 years ago
Elegantly simple

Describe British style in one word!

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