James Middleton's home is the "epitome of classic country charm" with its rustic wood and calming colours.
There’s nothing quite like a sneak peek inside someone else’s home to give you some serious inspiration and when it comes to home interiors the Middleton family love keeping things traditional. They might be fans of watching and playing tennis, but you won’t find them embracing the tenniscore interior style trend that’s huge right now. Instead they love creating a countryside feel in their homes and the Princess of Wales’s brother James is no exception. We’ve had a few glimpses at the interior of James’s Berkshire residence since he and his wife Alizée moved in and over on his business Instagram account he’s recently shared another.
James set up James & Ella, a happiness and wellbeing company for dogs, in 2020 and in a new video he unveiled the business’s news Freeze-Dried Raw Topper. Our eyes were drawn to the natural wood beams in his calming neutral home as he walked through his open-plan dining-living room into the garden.
Shop Rustic Interior Inspiration
This gorgeous Dunelm rug can be added to any room in your home to add a rustic feel. It comes in a range of sizes and is crafted from hard-wearing natural jute fibres, making this a practical as well as beautiful addition to your interiors.
This vase is hand-painted with a blue and white floral design that brings a uniqueness to it. It's glazed and made of stoneware and can be filled with flowers or plants or left empty as a stylish display piece in its own right.
Perfect for food preparation as well as a fabulous display item, this chopping board is made out of beautiful oak from a well-managed, FSC-certified forest. If you care for your board with food-safe wood oil and ensure it's hand-washed carefully this can last you for years to come.
Monsteras are a popular plant and this one would add a splash of colour to any room and make a special present for any green-fingered friends too. The glossy leaves are stunning and you can choose to have it presented in a standard plant pot, a red clay ceramic pot with a reactive glaze or a green basket.
Woven from natural seagrass, this very affordable set of two lightweight baskets are great for storing your laundry inside. Durable and practical, each one is unique and the combination of the larger and smaller sizes gives you more versatility.
Flowers are always lovely to have around your house and James Middleton is clearly a fan too. This bouquet of hand-tied flowers has peachy and berry tones in it and features roses, carnations, bupleurum and santini. You can also choose to buy a vase to arrive with the flowers as a special extra touch.
Eagle-eyed interiors fans might well have noticed the gorgeous rustic feel he and Alizée have given their home, with exposed beams running across the ceiling and a light, creamy white paint colour on the walls. This neutral shade is such a great base colour for any room and James chose a similar hue for the lamp shades on the mounted wall lights and the dresser.
According to Tamara Kelly, Digital Lifestyle Editor of Woman&Home, James has achieved a sense of "country charm" with this space and has carried it through into even the smallest details.
"James' home is the epitome of classic country charm, everything from the milky cream walls paired with rustic wooden beams to the exquisite parquet flooring and forged wrought iron door hinges and light brackets – every design detail is considered to effortlessly execute the look," she explained, before sharing the practical and style benefits of his use of rugs.
Tamara added, "We particularly love the use of natural jute rugs to protect the immaculate parquet from splashes and spills as his adorable pups enjoy their dinner."
This downstairs room exudes a luxurious, traditional feel in a way that clearly also works well on a practical level for him and Alizée as they raise their son Inigo and look after their six dogs. However, one look at the dressers against the wall reveals why James’s home isn’t totally in-keeping with the minimaluxe trend for 2024 as he’s more than happy to have plenty of pieces on display, as well as gorgeous greenery.
He has quite the collection of blue and white vases on the shelves inside the dresser which add a splash of colour into the otherwise quite pared-back colour palette of the room.
On the table there was a simple white vase filled with pretty pink flowers and a large leafy plant sat proudly in a pastel yellow pot on the counter top as he walked past. Having fresh flowers and lots of house plants is something Kate and Prince William also love having at their royal residences and it mirrors the natural feel of the wooden beams, floor and table. They’re also very handy amid the UK’s heatwave as there are easy things you can do with houseplants to keep a room cool.
The countryside aesthetic of James and Alizée’s home is perfect given their gorgeous Berkshire surroundings, though you can also add a similar feel to your own space no matter where you are. Natural wooden details like a chopping board, as well as traditional vases, textured rugs and house plants are all easy to incorporate.
Tamara is a highly experienced homes and interiors journalist, with a career spanning 20 years. Tamara has spent the last 17 years working with the style teams at, Woman & Home, Country Homes & Interiors and Ideal Home, and it’s with these award-winning teams that she gained a wealth of knowledge and honed her skills and passion for shopping, styling and writing about every aspect of lifestyle and interiors.
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