max rollitt

We've been thinking a lot about our home recently, and what we might like to do with it, decoration-wise, in the future. We're on the lookout for antique armchairs to reupholster, little tables on which to place lamps, drawings, prints and mirrors for the walls. We're not at all in a hurry, but we're certainly enjoying pondering fabrics, colours and furniture. For inspiration, I've been studying Max Rollitt's work. Max is an antiques dealer, furniture restorer, bespoke designer and interior decorator, working out of his showroom in the small market town of Alresford in Hampshire (which is not too far from where my parents live). I love the way Max places well-chosen antiques (his favourite period is 1700 to 1850) alongside his own designed bespoke furniture, which he often upholsters in bright jewel coloured fabrics and finishes exquisitely with contrast trimmings and painted woodwork.

Inside one of Max's interior decoration projects: a bedroom in a Cornish cottage.

Another bedroom, this time at no.1 Fournier Street in London's Spitalfields.

A room for dining at no.1 Fournier Street.

I love Max's fantastic use of colour, and his mixing of the sensible with the jolly.

I lust after this beautiful Regency Sofa in beautiful deep teal velvet, from a design dating 1815. The orange piping is a touch of genius.

Max's Corner Chairs. I love the contrast of the fabric with the pale blue legs.

The very beautiful Katzic Sofa, which is based on an 18th century original Max bought from a Lancashire Manor House. Ben has one of these in his Drawing Room at the Old Parsonage, and it features on the front cover of his book.