A few British decor accents go a long way.
As House Beautiful celebrates its 130th anniversary—yes, you read that correctly—we can’t help but think about all the iconic design we’ve come to know and love over the years. We’ve watched emerging designers become household names, seen products completely transform their categories, and discovered more than a few brands we now couldn’t imagine decorating without.
While compiling a list of the most iconic home products and brands for our anniversary issue, we noticed something: Quite a few of our favorites hail from across the pond. British design has given us everything from Farrow & Ball’s perfect neutrals used by Ina Garten herself and Morris & Co.’s instantly recognizable Strawberry Thief pattern to Tom Dixon’s eye-catching Melt pendants and Wedgwood’s timeless blue-and-white Jasperware.
We’re seeing more stateside design lovers take a page—or piece of patterned furniture—out of Britain’s book. The signature style is layered, collected, and unafraid of mixing eras, colors, and prints. It prioritizes personality over perfection and embraces the idea that a home should look as though it has evolved over time—even if you ordered half of it online last week. Whether that means borrowing from their paint, wallpaper, furniture, or home decor brands, a little British influence can make a home feel instantly more interesting.
And luckily, you no longer need a plane ticket—or extra room in your suitcase—to bring these storied names home. Many of the best British brands are now available stateside, and these are the ones every design lover should know.
Additional copy by Jessica Cherner.
Farrow & Ball
At this point, referring to a paint color simply as “blue” or “beige” feels almost inadequate. Farrow & Ball has trained design lovers to speak in Dead Salmon, Hague Blue, and Setting Plaster—and to debate their undertones accordingly. Founded in Dorset in 1946 by John Farrow and Richard Ball, the brand is known for richly pigmented paint colors that seem to shift beautifully with the light.
Its delightfully British shade names may draw you in, but the depth of color keeps designers coming back. Farrow & Ball also offers wallpaper, including patterns made using traditional printing methods, so you can cover nearly every surface in that unmistakable English character.
Soane Britain
Soane Britain is keeping some of the country’s most specialized crafts alive—and creating remarkably beautiful furniture in the process. Founded by Lulu Lytle in 1997, the company works with more than 40 independent workshops across Britain to produce furniture, lighting, fabrics, and wallpaper using traditional techniques.
It is especially known for its sculptural rattan pieces, including the iconic Ripple Console, whose woven curves resemble draped fabric. Soane even helped preserve England’s last remaining rattan workshop and established an apprenticeship program to pass down the craft. The pieces may be new, but they are made with the care—and longevity—of future antiques.
Sanderson Design Group
If there is a British print you’ve had saved to your mood board for years, there is a good chance it belongs to the Sanderson Design Group. Its portfolio includes some of the biggest names in British fabric and wallpaper, including Sanderson, Morris & Co., Harlequin, and Zoffany.
Morris & Co. carries forward William Morris’s instantly recognizable Arts and Crafts patterns; Harlequin offers a bolder, more contemporary point of view; and Zoffany specializes in luxurious, nuanced designs that feel destined for richly layered rooms. In other words, whether your version of British style involves a romantic country cottage or a dramatic London townhouse, there is a pattern here for you.
Wedgwood
Some brands become so iconic that they get their own color, and Wedgwood Blue is practically a decorating category unto itself. Founded by Josiah Wedgwood in 1759, the British ceramics company has been shaping how we set tables, serve tea, and display our fanciest decorative objects for more than 260 years.
Its instantly recognizable Jasperware—typically pale blue with delicate white reliefs—was perfected in 1774 and remains a collector favorite. But the brand offers far more than its signature blue-and-white pottery, including colorful dinnerware, elegant glassware, and modern collaborations that keep centuries-old craftsmanship feeling surprisingly current.
Osborne & Little
Osborne & Little came onto the scene in London in 1968, aka the “swinging sixties,” with a collection of bold, large-scale, hand-printed wallpapers—and it hasn’t exactly embraced subtlety since. The British brand is known for fabrics and wallcoverings that balance classic motifs with adventurous color combinations, metallic details, and patterns that know how to command a room.
Its collections span everything from graphic geometrics to exuberant botanicals, making Osborne & Little a longtime designer favorite for creating spaces that feel polished but never predictable. The company also distributes fabrics and wallpapers from Nina Campbell, another essential name in layered British decorating.
Julian Chichester
Before Julian Chichester became known for furniture, he was selling antiques from his travels on London’s Portobello Road. In 1989, he spotted a gap in the market and began designing his own teak garden furniture, eventually bringing his eye for an excellent vintage find indoors.
Today, the brand takes inspiration from 19th- and 20th-century silhouettes, then reimagines them using distinctive materials and finishes like vellum, lacquer, brass, and faux shagreen. Many pieces are also customizable, making the brand a longtime favorite among designers who want furniture that feels collected, not copied straight from a showroom.
House of Hackney
Minimalists, you may want to avert your eyes. House of Hackney was founded in a London townhouse in 2011 by husband-and-wife team Frieda Gormley and Javvy M. Royle, and it has spent the years since making a very convincing case for more pattern, more color, and more drama.
Inspired by nature and the decorative legacy of William Morris, the brand creates richly detailed wallpapers, fabrics, furniture, lighting, and accessories covered in fantastical florals, foliage, and animal motifs. Its designs can transform even the most basic room into something that feels transported from an eccentric English estate.
Tom Dixon
You may not know the name of every Tom Dixon design, but you have almost certainly seen one. Founded in 2002, the London-based brand creates furniture, accessories, and some of the most recognizable contemporary lighting around, including the reflective Melt pendant and sculptural Beat lights.
Dixon’s work often plays with metal, dramatic silhouettes, and futuristic forms, offering a decidedly modern counterpoint to the florals and chintz often associated with British interiors. These are not the pieces that quietly disappear into a room. They are the pieces your guests notice and then immediately ask you about.
Jennifer Manners
Rugs may technically go underfoot, but Jennifer Manners designs deserve far more attention than that. Founded in a small studio on London’s King’s Road in 2014, the British rug company blends contemporary pattern and unexpected color with traditional handcraft.
Its made-to-order rugs are produced by skilled artisans in Nepal and India, and the designs range from subtle, textural neutrals to playful scallops, stripes, and botanical motifs. The brand is especially beloved by designers because many rugs can be customized in size and color, taking at least one compromise out of the notoriously tricky process of finding the right rug.
Little Greene
Little Greene is proof that historic paint colors don’t have to make your house feel like a museum. The independent British paint and wallpaper company draws upon 300 years of decorative history, reviving archival colors and patterns for modern homes through its ongoing research program.
The brand has also worked with the National Trust to rediscover wallpapers found in some of Britain’s most historically significant properties. The resulting designs feel classic without being fussy, while paint colors range from hardworking neutrals to bold shades that practically beg to be color-drenched across the walls, trim, and ceiling.
Penny Morrison
Interior designer Penny Morrison has a particular talent for mixing color and pattern in a way that feels gloriously collected rather than overly coordinated. Her namesake British brand brings that same sensibility to fabrics, wallpapers, lamps, cushions, ceramics, and tabletop accessories.
The patterns pull inspiration from sources as varied as Turkish embroidery, Japanese textiles, and ancient Greek motifs, but they are reinterpreted with a relaxed, distinctly English charm. This is the place to shop if your room needs a pleated lampshade, a patterned pillow, or one slightly unexpected print to make everything else suddenly work.
Kit Kemp
Fans of Firmdale Hotels—including New York’s Crosby Street Hotel and The Whitby—will immediately recognize Kit Kemp’s fearless mix of color, pattern, art, and wonderfully unexpected details. The British designer has never met a room that couldn’t benefit from a bold headboard, striped chair, or charmingly offbeat piece of art.
Shop Kit Kemp launched in 2017, bringing her story-driven approach to furniture, lighting, wallpaper, bedding, pillows, and accessories you can use at home. While booking a stay at one of her hotels is highly encouraged, it is no longer the only way to get the look.
Summerill & Bishop
Summerill & Bishop makes the kind of table linens that turn dinner into an event—even if dinner is just takeout transferred onto real plates. Founded in 1994 by lifelong friends June Summerill and Bernadette Bishop, the Notting Hill brand is best known for its beautifully illustrated linen tablecloths.
The now-iconic Tomato design sends trailing vines across crisp white linen, while other styles feature flowers, fruits, maps, and whimsical seasonal motifs. The tablecloths are intended to be used, loved, and washed rather than saved for an imaginary “special occasion.” Though once you put one down, even a Tuesday-night pasta dinner feels pretty special.
Liberty
Liberty may be technically known as a department store, but its legendary fabrics earn it a permanent place on this list. Founded by Arthur Lasenby Liberty in 1875, the London institution is instantly recognizable for both its Tudor Revival flagship and the intricate floral prints housed inside.
Liberty’s in-house designers continue to hand-paint new patterns and revisit a staggering archive of more than 45,000 designs. The fabrics have appeared on everything from dresses and bedding to upholstered furniture and wallpaper, proving that a tiny floral can have some serious staying power.
MG&CO.
MG&CO. began with one very good lampshade. The now-signature scalloped rattan design launched in 2016, and suddenly scallops seemed to be everywhere. It is easy to understand why: The playful edge transforms a basic light fixture into something much more charming.
The London-based brand has since expanded into lighting, tabletop accessories, hardware, and small decorative pieces that make everyday rituals feel more fun. A cherry-shaped ice bucket, colorful striped candles, or flower-like brass backplates may not be strictly necessary—but they are exactly the kind of details that make a home memorable.
Pooky
As far as every American is concerned, Pooky launched just two years ago, but this charming lighting company, based in London, has actually been around since 2014. It didn’t expand into the U.S. market until 2024, which is why we have been seeing it pretty much everywhere since then.
“I actually have a Walter cordless lamp on my desk at the House Beautiful office, and it is so cute. It sits on top of a stack of coffee table books and truly makes my desk in a rather non-stylish corporate setting look like it may be in a house,” says Associate Shopping Editor Jessica Cherner.
Pooky actually sells plenty of cordless lamps, which makes styling them easier because you don’t have to plug them into an electrical outlet.
Piglet in Bed
Piglet in Bed is a British bedding brand that specializes in cottagecore-style, mostly linen bedding, all of which is made in Portugal. It launched in the mid-2010s but didn’t expand across the Atlantic until the early 2020s. We finally got our hands on one of its bedding sets and can confirm it was worth the wait.
Choosing Keeping
Choosing Keeping is doing its part to keep the art of physically writing things down alive and well. The stationery brand based in London doesn’t directly sell to the U.S., but lots of its most popular pieces, such as the hand-painted notebooks, are sold on ABASK.
“Every year, I get myself one of these stunning notebooks, and I don’t even care if the price skyrockets because they’re just that good. Literally nothing will make me stop buying them. Sadly, they’re unlined, but the lack of internal detail makes them a bit chicer, in my opinion,” Cherner says. “I have purchased four now, one of which lives at my apartment and the other on my desk at work, and every time I bring it into a conference room, someone compliments it.”
Sharland England
If you know Louise Roe, you already know this brand. If you’re unfamiliar, Louise Roe is a fashion girl turned interior design maven with a very distinct sense of style. Her brand, Sharland England, is quintessentially English without being gimmicky, and now, it’s available for purchase in the U.S. It sells everything from furniture to decorative accents.
In terms of the aesthetic, everything looks like it could have been plucked from a centuries-old English manor home in the countryside. Think lots of wood, deeply saturated tones, and nothing too precious. It’s all meant to be well-loved and used.
Aga
In our personal opinion, nothing is more British than a heat storage oven, and Aga is the best of the best. The Aga range was invented in 1922, and its classic design has been a mainstay of British (and American) kitchens ever since.
“I grew up with a glossy, black, six-door Aga, and it was my absolute favorite part of the home. Even at 13 years old, I knew this oven was a conversation piece that I would need in my own home one day,” Cherner says. One slight concern to know about Agas is that they are so heavy that they have to be installed on the lowest level of the home—but their elegant aesthetic and the unmatched warmth they give off make them worth it.
“They’re also always hot, hence the name ‘heat storage,’ so on a cold winter day, sipping a cup of coffee and scrolling is extra cozy leaning against the Aga,” Cherner adds.
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