About me
Hello and welcome to my new blog! As this is my first blog post, I wanted to take the opportunity to introduce myself for those of you who don’t already know me and tell you more about my story and what you can expect to see from me.
My name is Rachel and I am an Interior Designer based in the Cotswolds near Cirencester, Gloucestershire. I founded Rachel Maxted Interiors to help families create timeless, versatile and beautiful spaces that feel balanced and cohesive while saving time and money.
I have always loved interior design and when growing up, used to spend hours experimenting and rearranging my bedroom to get different looks. One of my highlights was wallpapering one wall with my Vogue covers!
At school I always loved art and textiles and went on to study an Art Foundation at the University of Gloucestershire and then on to a degree in Textile Design at Nottingham Trent University.
During my degree, I specialised in digital print which gave me a wide range of skills and experience but I felt restricted by solely designing materials and found myself wanting to create the bigger picture of a full room, not just the soft furnishings, which led me on to study Interior Design at the National Design Academy which drew my passions together.
From there I worked on 2 of my own house renovations which gave me the opportunity to put my head knowledge into practice. Being able to test and showcase my style and priorities led to friends and family asking me for my advice or suggestions for their homes and, as time went on, I became more involved in the design process. This was such a helpful experience that confirmed this was the career path I wanted to pursue and last year I studied at the Interior Designer Business School (IDBS) with Jo Chrobak which was such an incredible journey gaining so much technical knowledge and helped me set up the business on my own!
Since graduating from the IDBS, I have broadened my experience by working on a listed building, a Cotswolds pub and a variety of other client homes. I love the challenge of working with existing elements and finding new solutions to make the space work better and create new focal points.
Born out of a love of traditional interior design and infusing modern elements, I have always loved creating spaces that tell a story and incorporate existing items and adding thoughtful new elements to achieve a timeless, beautiful, unique interior. I love to use my background in textiles to incorporate fun prints and textures via the soft furnishings, artwork and styling. My main design influences are nature, textiles and the Cotswolds. In this blog I hope to focus on different interior & design topics, provide design tips amongst other things. Let me know what you’re interested to hear more about and watch this space!
Rachel