Charlotte Coote’s Style Essentials

Australian interior designer Charlotte Coote shares her personal style favorites, including her top flower, entertaining and tabletop essentials, local must-haves, Instagram accounts to follow, and what she’s looking forward to.
Coote & Co. console
In Flower‘s May/June 2020 issue, Charlotte Coote welcomed us inside her beautiful home. Here, she shares her personal style favorites, too. Photo by Lisa Cohen/Living Inside. Console designed by Charlotte Coote.

Favorite Flower

Lily of the Valley. It grows in our garden. The scent is beautiful. It’s like a present from heaven.

Charlotte Coote personal style, favorite flower: Lily of the Valley
Lily of the Valley. Photo courtesy of Garden Club of Virginia

Entertaining

Whether we are in my pink dining room, outside in the garden, or just having dinner next to the fire in the kitchen, we set the mood with Billie Holiday, and I always bring out the fine china. The food is fresh, local, and organic with many ingredients from my garden. My husband is the cook. I just make it all look good.

Charlotte Coote personal style, pink dining room
Coote’s pink dining room. Photo by Lisa Cohen/Living Inside

Table Matters

I use the best—always (except for the children, maybe). I love Astier De Villatte, and I have a Coote & Co. line of porcelain that I designed with my father. I keep adding to that collection. I also love my oversize white monogrammed napkins from Guinevere in London.

Charlotte Coote's personal style, dinnerware
Coote & Co. porcelain, cooteandco.com

Australian Indulgences

I love the scent of Aēsop soaps and fragrances.

Monista Tea Co.—both the flavors and the packaging are beautiful.

white silk scarf with a green African landscape print
Silk scarf from G by Georgia Baillieu

G by Georgia Baillieu—Georgia designs gorgeous silk scarves inspired by trips to Africa.

For the girls (Coote’s three young daughters)—d. Dougal. My friend Arabella Ramsay designs darling play clothes and dresses, dougalaustralia.com; Instagram: @wearedougal.

Favorite Instagram Feeds (all Australian):

What She’s Looking Forward To

expansive view of the exterior and grounds of Marnanie
Coote’s annual November masterclass, The Art of Living Well, is held in the gardens of her home, Marnanie, in Australia. Photo by Lisa Cohen/Living Inside

Every November, fellow Melbourne interior designer Adelaide Bragg and I host a Masterclass called The Art of Living Well. It’s held over a weekend, and we use all elements of the property. Landscape designer Paul Bangay gives a tour of the gardens. This year, India Hicks will join us to talk about the art of entertaining. Follow @theartoflivingwell_ on Instagram for updates.


LOOK INSIDE DESIGNER CHARLOTTE COOTE’S HOME

To create a vibrant home and lifestyle for her family, the Australian designer remade a house steeped in childhood memories into a place filled with nostalgia and wonder. See more.