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For House Beautiful’s 130th anniversary this year, we're digging into some of our favorite articles from our archive—from celebrity home tours (including Farrah Fawcett, Bette Midler, and more) to decades-old design inspiration that still holds up today. Stay tuned for more archive deep dives throughout 2026, and sign up for our newsletter to get the very best delivered to your inbox every month.
Flouncy layered ruffles, florals everywhere, and a parade of pinks and purples—these are the hallmarks of a whole furniture collection designed by Barbara Cartland, the prolific 20th-century English Romance novelist and interior design enthusiast. The collection, which amasses pieces from twelve different manufacturers, was unveiled in this feature in the May 1981 issue of House Beautiful, with rooms designed by Susan Zises to showcase the pieces.
Creations by the Queen of Hearts
Who but Barbara Cartland, novelist-crusader for romantic love, could create such daydream designs for living?
By Jason Kontos
Flowers everywhere, antiques, Edwardian rococo, four-posters, and the beguiling warmth of joyous, happy living—it's a New York townhouse interior designed by Susan Zises for House Beautiful. No wonder it has an aura of Camfield Hall, home of Barbara Cartland, the legendary, glamorous, septuagenarian British novelist who writes prolifically about love. These are her very own home-furnishings concepts, reflections of her romantic taste for cossetting color and pattern in everything from fabrics and wallcoverings to china and sachets. She calls her collection Decorating With Love.
Barbara Cartland has authored 302 fantastically popular romances, turns out 24 a year, produces a monthly magazine and a love-oriented comic strip, crusades for natural foods and vitamins, and for better treatment of the elderly, nurses, midwives, and Gypsies. Did she really personally design this collection that engages upwards of 12 manufacturers? She did indeed, according to Richard Kirkham of Raintree Designs, overseers of her design licensing. She's been an amateur artist since she first fell under the spell of the elves and fairies in Arthur Rackham's drawings. "He influenced my childhood and therefore my entire life." Nor is she a newcomer to decoration. As a young Mayfair hostess in the '20s, she was noted for her color sense and flair for creating atmosphere and had already made a sort of trademark of her favorite flame pink and Nile blue. "God," she says, "gave us the key to the Garden of Eden—it's called imagination."
Most women, Barbara Cartland feels, "are drawn to pink, just as they are to jewels, furs, and soft luxurious things." Her identifying symbols—"Cartland pink," along with a white Rolls-Royce and a cuddly Pekingese. Frivolities? Don't be misled. This is no frivolous woman. She has had two marriages, raised three children, served many years on her county council, fought for human rights, and survived adversities. She emerges with the sincere philosophical conviction that love is life's mainstay. "The great human yearning is for love, romance, and escape from the world's harshness." The success of her Cinderella books would prove she is right. "Now I hope my designs will make home a warm, loving, romantic place.”
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Fabrics
Cartland’s he-man heroes, frequently army officers, suggested The Glorious Twelfth, her pretty version of a regimental plaid, used all over the ruffled guest room.
Skirted Desk
A desk for love letters, discreet and mannerly as her heroines might write them, is outfitted with Samuel Ward's charming accessories, more of Barbara's designs.
China
Cartland-design Mikasa china is set forth on a table spread with the Rose and Violet pattern, the napkins in a pastel-tinted tattersall plaid. Tablecloths, placemats, and napkins are made by Leacock.
Four-Poster Bed
The dreamy four-poster, one of Barbara's favorites in furniture, is lavishly curtained and spread with Cohama/Riverdale's Passion and the Flower, matched in Raintree wallcovering. Sweet Adventure comforter by Kenneth.
Chintz
Ribbons and roses, the leitmotif of the feminine bedroom, are repeated in the chintz of a Henredon bèrgère chair, hand-painted on lampshades, and echoed in accessories.
Organizers
Perfectionist detail in the collection includes a complete group of closet furnishings by Ashland. Products, shown with an antique country pine armoire from Norway.
Bath Accessories
Bath accessories share the same romantic feeling. Shower curtain and towels by Jakson are color-related to a bath mat by Regal Rugs. Naturally, soap by Malek is heart-shaped and, of course, there are sachets and a forthcoming fragrance.
