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Defying Fashion

19th century Suffolk country house with careful planning for balance and proportion

Since the early 18C English interior decoration has been shaped and influenced by a fusion of changing French and Italian styles and fashion. Even in the 1760’s Horace Walpole had misgivings about the speed at which interior fashion was moving so it was with great interest that Johanna Thornycroft set off to visit Birdie Fortescue’s recently enlarged and newly decorated country house in Suffolk. Not only is she a highly experienced decorator, having worked at Percy Bass and Colefax & Fowler for several years, but she later found her métier in the specialised world of furniture dealing.