Nicola Harding & Co

Before turning her talents to creating interiors of rare enchantment, London-based designer Nicola Harding fashioned gardens. Her flair for vibrant color may well derive from those early years crafting floral landscapes. Take this soaring great hall in an early-17th-century manor house in a rural English village. A previous renovation rendered the walls and ceiling beige, stripping the house of character. Harding restored its soul by painting the surfaces shades of blue green borrowed from an Oushak carpet fragment that hangs opposite the fireplace. In choosing the furniture, Harding sought a dialogue between color and texture. “The Oushak’s rich tones and textures,” she notes, “are reflected in the armchairs, which we covered in wine and sapphire tapestry-like fabrics.” One of the ottomans, from Robert Kime, is upholstered with an antique kilim; the other, a waisted English Regency example from Drew Pritchard, is Harding’s personal favorite. “It’s a versatile piece on castors that can be pulled up to perch on anywhere in the room,” she says.