How The Brits Create Character-ful Homes with Ros Byam Shaw

May 5

Ros Byam Shaw on the Slow Style Home podcast

When I first discovered Ros Byam Shaw’s writing, I felt like I’d found someone who truly saw homes the way I did — not as stage sets or style statements, but as deeply personal spaces layered with time, memory, and quiet beauty. In this episode, I get to speak with Ros Byam Shaw about her work as a writer and her newest book, “ Perfect English, Small and Beautiful”, her longtime collaboration with photographer Jan Baldwin, and what she’s learned from years of stepping inside some of the most thoughtful homes in Britain.

We talk about the charm of unshowy interiors, why rooms don’t need to shout to be compelling, and how trends often miss the point. Ros shares stories from her time at World of Interiors, what makes a home feel lived-in and loved, and why it’s perfectly fine — even wonderful — not to have a “celebrity home.”

This conversation felt like a deep exhale. I hope it reminds you, as it reminded me, that personal style isn’t about impressing anyone — it’s about making a space that feels like you.

Watch this entire episode on YouTube HERE

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this week’s episode ( and the last of the season) of The Slow Style Home podcast, I spoke with Ros Byam Shaw, author, journalist, and longtime contributor to World of Interiors, whose work has shaped the way so many of us understand English interiors. Ros is the voice behind some of the most beloved books on home style, including Perfect English, English Eccentric, and Country Life. But more than anything, she’s someone who knows how to find the soul of a home — and tell its story with care.

“There’s Something About the Rooms That Don’t Shout”

Ros began by sharing what draws her into a home — and it’s not bold design statements. It’s atmosphere. It’s subtlety. She spoke about rooms that reveal themselves rather than announce themselves.

“There’s a gentleness to the best rooms,” she said. “A room that’s over-decorated — or trying too hard — doesn’t leave space for the imagination.”

She shared her admiration for homes with inherited or mismatched furniture, faded fabrics, timeworn colors — places that feel like they’ve quietly grown into themselves over time. We talked about how silence in a room, metaphorically speaking, can invite intimacy.

On Not Having a Celebrity Home (and Why That’s Okay)

One of the most freeing parts of our conversation came when Ros reminded us that not every home has to look like a set. “We’re so used to seeing houses that are presented as polished, perfect, and pristine,” she said. “But many of the houses I’ve visited for work weren’t like that at all.”

She told me about walking into homes that were cold, cluttered, or “not quite finished” — and yet, utterly captivating. The charm, she said, came from the life being lived there, not from the finishes or the furniture.

Ros also noted that most of the truly interesting homes she’s written about didn’t belong to people who were trying to “decorate” — they were simply arranging their lives. Their style was incidental, a byproduct of how they collected, lived, and moved through the world.

The Writer’s Eye: How Ros Approaches Interiors

Because Ros came to interiors through journalism, not interior design, her lens is different. She doesn’t go into a space looking to critique it or assess its choices — she wants to understand it.

“I always begin with curiosity,” she said. “Where did that piece come from? Why did they hang that painting there? You ask those questions, and the whole world of the home opens up.”

She shared how her process often involves deep conversations with homeowners and how essential the photographer is to the storytelling. She said her longtime collaborator, Jan Baldwin, shares her quiet, observational sensibility. “We’d often shoot in natural light, never moving a thing unless we had to,” Ros said. “We didn’t want to impose. We wanted to capture.”

The House That Changed Everything: Prunella Clough’s Flat

One standout story Ros told was about visiting the home of British painter Prunella Clough. “It wasn’t styled. It wasn’t even warm,” she said. “But it had this incredible feeling of being completely lived in. Books everywhere, shelves slightly sagging, things stacked and layered. It stayed with me.”

That experience taught her that a home doesn’t have to be styled to be beautiful. In fact, it often becomes beautiful in its very resistance to being styled.

This story was a perfect illustration of what Ros calls “the patina of life” — the gradual accumulation of marks, objects, colors, and arrangements that happen when people live fully in their space.

Letting a Home Happen, Slowly

We also talked about how hard it can be to resist the urge to “complete” a home all at once. Ros offered gentle encouragement to embrace the slow build. “A home you do all in one go won’t have the same feeling,” she said. “It takes time to understand what you need and what you want. The house evolves with you.”

She described homes where owners added things over decades — a vase from a trip, a chair inherited from an aunt, fabric picked up at a flea market years ago. “These pieces come together in a way that’s not coordinated, but completely personal,” she said.

Ros also talked about how taste changes over time — and that’s not something to fight. “You shouldn’t feel stuck with the version of your home from five years ago. It’s okay to let it change as you do.”

What Makes a House Feel Like a Home?

I asked Ros what she thinks makes a home truly feel like home, and her answer was simple but profound: books, warmth, something to sit on comfortably, and light. She laughed as she said it, but we both knew it was true.

She also mentioned smell — how the scent of a house tells you things words can’t. “You walk into a house and it smells like woodsmoke, or old books, or cooking. That tells you you’re somewhere real.”

Talking with Ros reminded me why I started Slow Style Home in the first place. So many of us are craving spaces that reflect who we are — not who we think we’re supposed to be. Homes that are layered, personal, unfinished. Rooms that don’t rush to impress, but make you feel gently held.

Ros Byam Shaw has spent her career shining a light on these kinds of homes — and in doing so, she’s shown us that the most beautiful rooms are the ones where you can live.

Until Next Season!

-Zandra