I went to Rita Konig’s one-day interior workshop and it was terrific. Let me tell you about it.
I arrived at her house (her actual house) at 10.30am and was greeted with a cup of coffee by her appropriately slim and dazzling assistant. The place was packed! There must have been ten of us sitting in Rita’s beautifully proportioned and light-filled living room (despite a gruesome dark day outside). A fire was crackling in the grate and a Jo Malone triple-wicked candle flickered on the coffee table.
The first part of the day covers buying a property and building work, how to think about laying out the rooms of a house in a new or different way, moving walls, not being afraid to put things back to front and so on.
We poked around the house, taking photos of pretty corners, flashes of mad wallpaper; we quizzed Rita about paint, different shades of white – the domestic politics but the absolute essential-ness of sometimes painting an entire room pale pink.
Then we looked at pictures of inspiring interiors on a large screen in the living room, which was hooked up to an iPad. Now this was great. Real proper bliss. Sitting with a load of interiors-obsessed women and our high priestess, flicking through pictures going “ooooohhh… ahhhhhh”.
Rita would sometimes say things like “Can you see here how the yellow tiles accentuate the cornicing while concealing this rather narrow area here?” and we’d all nod and go “Mm yes. We see.” It was a bit like being a bunch of doctors sitting about looking at tricky X-Rays with a very senior consultant. Well, that’s what it felt like to me.
And then we had an incredibly delicious lunch of chicken and vegetable soup, with some amazing cheese, the name of which I forgot to ask.
In the afternoon we lazed about, lotus-eaters, discussing colour, the importance of Pinterest, the perils of pushing all your furniture against walls, (guilty), and alternatives to having a huge kitchen island. Here I sank very low into my chair as my kitchen island is the size of Barbados.
Towards 3.30, when things wound up, I felt like Rita worried she was boring us. Little did she know that I could have sat there all day. I wish that I had gone on this workshop at the start of re-doing my current London house or the one in Gloucestershire – I would have dodged lots of bad decisions, which are now very difficult (read expensive) to undo or change.
If you are half-thinking about doing this workshop and have a house renovation project coming up, go. Do it. Rita will have answers and clever ideas to any and all of the millions of questions you will inevitably have.
I stuffed a last slice of lemon cake in my mouth, swilled down the ends of my tea and went out into the cold, dark afternoon, vowing to one day have a pink room.
There are two places left on the late March workshop – book here. At £375 it’s not cheap, but it will save you from making expensive mistakes.
I love this post thanks Esther! I would also love to do this course but alas its too late for me too. Ive got a huge Victorian house that we completely renovated 3 years ago (it was all in gross bedsits and you had to see it to believe it) and although we have got lots of bits right we have also made huge, expensive, bloody annoying mistakes as we did it in a tearing rush because it was so grim! I love these photos and particularly the lovely botanical prints (last pic). I need lots of art for my house but rarely like any I see did she give any tips on where to get art/prints etc without having to remortgage? Ive looked on pin interest but dont see much I like. Also what is wrong with furniture on walls? Im intrigued and also guilty but you can’t put it all in the middle of the room??? Xxx
Ha ha Sarah this made me laugh. Not too many tips on where to get inexpensive art, alas – Rita does love a bit of top quality stuff, or otherwise advises v much browsing auctions and antique shops for bargains, which is totally correct, but isn’t half a slow process, especially if you have kids
Sarah, I find it’s the framing that costs a fortune as much as the picture; but I haunt charity shops for frames and am ruthless about repainting them. A cheap gilt frame looks awful, but paint it black gloss and get a new mount to fit your picture, and hey presto! The really heavily ‘carved’ ones also look revolting as sold, but painted white or cream, with the damp paint rubbed off just a little on the details, will look a zillion times better against a coloured wall. Frames and mounts are both usually under a tenner each, and you can get lovely botanical prints from the Natural History Museum which don’t cost a bomb. The only caveat I have is that you can’t fake decent gilding – at least, I have never found any paint good enough.
God, I yearn to do this course, especially for advice about wall moving, which terrifies me (also, listed buildings – how much can you get away with??). I think it might go on my Christmas list …
Actually not such a good variety at the Nat Hist Mus, but the Royal Horticultural Society (rhsprints.co.uk) and Kew Gardens (prints.kew.org) are super. Brilliant vegetable prints at RHS – multi-coloured radishes, anyone?
This sounds brilliant . I am going to do this.
Any chance you’d share the alternatives to a huge kitchen island pls? If not too cheeky to ask, or too painful to share! We’re about to buy a house without one but a huge empty space where it feels like one should be.
Second for this please – what are the alternatives to a massive island??
thanks Esther would love to browse antique shops and flea markets all day sadly real life doesnt allow but we do now do a bit of this at weekends while our teenagers snooze so will keep going. You are right its very time consuming and you have to sift through a lot of over priced rubbish! I reckon Kew Gardens (which I luckily is quite close to me) might have some botanical prints so might try there. But Ritas ones do look lovely and aged. Ive just followed her on instagram and very pleased I have the same sofas!!! Still intrigued as to why no furniture on walls unless you have Olympic sized rooms? X
ps thanks Sophie good tips sorry read your post after I did above post. Natural History Museum good idea I was at the V and A last week but nothing caught my fancy, all too small. I do like a montage but they are very tricky to pull off but Rita seems to have mastered this! Think I need to go on her course too X
RE – alternatives to a huge island – I think Rita is only suggesting that you don’t *automatically* go for the massive island and if you want something more homely or interesting, consider putting a piece of furniture, like an old kitchen table, there instead.
OR I saw a really fab idea where someone had stacked 2 rectangular open-framed ironwork tables one on top of the other and so they had a work surface and a shelf underneath for pots and pans. But the truth is that kitchen islands are fackin useful actually. Wouldn’t swap mine for anything.
Try Etsy for botanical prints…they’ve got millions. I bought some beautiful early Victorian originals for a tenner each (and yes cost me three times as much to frame!).
Sounds like the absolute DREAM day xx currently making all sorts of shit decisions on my own renovations!
it’s so easy to do. currently repenting at leisure over buying the WRONG FUCKING SOFA…
We painted our quite large spare room a gorgeous pale pink 2 years ago, we both totally loved the colour, perfect for a sunny spare room with huge south facing window which hosts beautiful views of huge trees and general greenery, we are/were so so pleased with it. Then we went and had 2 sons and have decided this now needs to be their shared bedroom in approx 6 months when the baby is big enough. It’s just the best room in the house for it. We keep saying we should just keep it pink, it suits the room and the light so well, and we shouldn’t gender condition our children. Our oldest boy loves his toy pram and playing at looking after his teddies while I’m tending to the baby. We shouldn’t automatically change it just because we had boys. But we won’t keep it pink. We just won’t. Elaine x
She used to write a column in the Telegraph which was excellent. There was a charming one about setting up a sort of den in your garden for the summer, so you could cook and eat in a bohemian fashion. I tore it out and put it on my fridge, one of my friends read it and laughed, making the comment that I’d fall for any old nonsense.
See, I have no “eye” for this stuff so got an interior designer to redo our house- she also organised tradespeople so I think it worked out cost neutral. My house looks great!
Elena that is certainly one way of doing it x
Currently reading this in a sunny south facing attic bedroom painted entirely in F&B Calamine. I love it. Probably one of the few things we got right in renovating this behemoth of a Victorian house. There’s always next time…
I had her book. It was sublime comfort reading.
Sounds like heaven. I’ve got a few rooms in need of a rethink plus we seem to be about to buy a holiday home on Skye that I desperately don’t want to turn into a white and blue seaside cottage pastiche. Sadly, my budget is £0 so while my Pinterest boards look fabulous I will in fact be working largely within the limits of bits of furniture we already own. (And yes, if not around the walls, then where? Skye cottage rooms are not big!)
Ruth your Skye cottage sounds like actual heaven. And sorry WHAT exactly is wrong with a white and blue seaside cottage pastiche? I am sending you a wooden seagull on a stick right now x
Lovely post as ever Esther, thanks for sharing your words.
xx
Thank you so much Esther for such a lovely post, it was so much fun having you there. The cheese is called Addlestrop and try Surface View for inexpensive prints. They do whole walls but i am pretty sure you can get things that are a more normal, hangable size. The wood we have ordered on your recommendation is amazing, burns brilliantly and smells delicious. Thank you so much for the tip. xx Rita