In many ways, this re-engagement with a bygone era of design makes sense given its warm, inviting, and naturally inspired feel. “Since the pandemic, we’ve seen remarkable growth in people wanting to bring nature inside,” remarks Ruth Mottershead, creative director of Little Greene, which has adapted archival material from the homes of Winston Churchill, Beatrix Potter, and William Morris as part of its longstanding partnership with the UK’s National Trust. “Whereas pre-COVID people were inclined to choose an off-white,” she says, “people are making brighter color choices and want happier schemes on the walls.”
For others, what’s even more compelling is the sense of narrative evoked by 19th- and 19th-century design. “It makes it more meaningful—there’s a connection,” says Williamsburg’s Executive Director of Architectural Preservation and Research Matt Webster. For designers like Charlotte Moss and Heather Chadduck Hillegas, who have used archival material from Williamsburg in their projects, history offers not just inspiration, but an essential blueprint. “Understanding the past gives us the ability to design better for the now,” reflects Moss. “In a world where we can produce or reproduce anything,” reiterates Hillegas, “I believe historical reference provides a strong decorating compass—a sort of roadmap to home.”
This idea of home has been the lynchpin of every previous colonial revival, many of which have occurred during periods of great uncertainty. “When people feel that something has been around for a long time, there’s more trust, more security, and more safety. They kind of believe in it more,” reflects Ruth Mottershead of Little Greene. Much like the earliest benefactors of Colonial Williamsburg and the Jane Austen House Museum, it is clear that people are again craving an aesthetic return to the past–not in a quixotic or regressive way, but in a way that speaks to what will always be timeless: A roaring fire, a patchwork quilt, a wooden chest, and a bright red door, which beckons the weary traveler home.
