If you're a regular on Instagram, it's hard to miss the wonderful designs of interior stylist Sarah Ellison. The interior pieces from her eponymous brand are a feature in the homes of influencers, editors, bloggers and stylists. You'll see them front and centre in interior mood shots and peeking in the background of plenty of others.
Now after reaching cult status, Sarah Ellison is adding a new piece to her line of interiors must-haves. It's called the Yoko Bed. A dark-wood, curved creation that was pre-destined to go cult - this is the bed frame you're about to see in the homes of the most stylish people you know.
Ahead of the launch of this new piece, we spoke to Sarah about her approach to interior styling. She says that decorating is all about telling a story, juxtaposition creates excitement and matching lighting ties everything together.
What's your approach to thoughtfully decorating a home? Do you have any tips to share?
Decorating is about authenticity and telling your story. A good starting point can be a hero piece that you absolutely love, it could be an art work that you adore or a vintage lounge chair you’ve found, you just need to really cherish it. This piece is like the heart of the room and a great starting point. From here you can thoughtfully add pieces, making sure there’s an interesting combination of high and low, contemporary and vintage, new and old, matte and shiny. For me a great space is about interesting things that play off one another to create visual impact and interest. It’s really important to include pieces that are unique to you, your travels, your experiences, your story.
A great tip is to always be mindful that you are not just copying directly what you have seen on Instagram or Pinterest. It’s important to make it your own and unique to you.
We hear a lot of advice on styling a living room. But what's your advice for styling an inviting bedroom?
For me bedrooms need to be calm sanctuaries where you can leave the day behind, so I tend to go with a more minimal approach in the bedroom. There are four key things you need to create a great space.
- A great bed. Try and steer away from ensembles and go for a bed head and base with a mattress, this helps to make the overall look resolved.
- Matching bedside tables, these need to be the right height and proportion for the bed. At the moment I’m loving anything in stone. It has so much personality.
- Matching lighting, this helps to really tie the whole look together, making it feel considered and resolved, the lighting is where you can really bring in some mood too, so pick something in an interesting material such as brass or ceramic.
- Beautiful 100% linen sheets, they have a tactile look and feel and come in delicious colours.
If you put time and invest well in to these four pieces you really shouldn’t need much more.
What are your favourite trends in interiors and home decor at the moment?
The return to darker timbers, we have been seeing a lot of the lighter Scandinavian inspired timbers over the last decade so it’s nice to see the return of some darker toned timbers. I’m also loving organic shaped furniture, round, curvy forms that are feminine and strong.
Do you live by any rules when planning the design of an interior? Are there any no-no’s?
Design for me is an innate process, I sometimes struggle to explain it well! There are just things that I like together and things I don’t. I guess an overarching theme for me would be juxtaposition and the way you can create excitement in the relationship between furniture choices in a space. For example, I love velvet next to stone and brass next to something textural like a shearling fabric. Or by placing a rounded fluffy lounge chair next to a square and linear coffee table. You need to create tension between the pieces, I don’t like it when a look is too much of one design concept or idea.
If you were refreshing a living room, and could only pick three pieces to replace, which would they be?
Sofa, Coffee Table, Rug. These three pieces are the centre of a living space so you can create dramatic impact by switching them up. You could actually change the whole look with just these three pieces.
Do you have any decor must-haves?
Chequers cushions from Bonnie & Neil, brass shell lamp from Gubi, my new Yoko bed.
