Downton Abbey. Needless to say, this British television import has had many of us across the pond glued to the screen, honing our British accents, and producing memes on Tumblr with frightening voracity. While season 2 is breaking down some of our favorite upstairs-downstairs social barriers, we can’t help but still wish we were estate-owners ourselves in those glory days, prancing about the opulent halls of Downton while sprinkling benevolent gestures here and there so that we may consider ourselves righteous people.

The State Dining Room at Highclere Castle, Hampshire, England. Image via Linda Miller.

Well, home décor enthusiast and writer Linda Merrill can help some of us get there by deciphering the interior composition of some of our favorite rooms in that big ol’ abbey. First stop, the dining room, a site decorated not only with Maggie Smith’s acerbic quips but also by an enormous 17^th century Anthony Van Dyck painting, gorgeous wood wainscoting, a mahogany table and assorted silver candelabras and serving pieces. Not only does Miller pick out the small details of the State Dining Room at Highclere Castle, where Downton’s dining scenes are filmed, but she has also compiled a Pinterest board of objects the Crawley family is accustomed to dining with nightly. All we need now is that fleet of cooks, maids, valets and footmen (not Thomas though).

Filming in process for a dining scene in Downton Abbey. Image via Linda Miller.

by Kelly Chan

posted in Uncategorized

tagged Downton Abbey, england, English, furniture, interior design, interiors, Victorian

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