Christmas at Home with Perry Seymour-Marsh

There are homes that feel instantly welcoming, where beauty comes from care rather than polish. The Victorian house of photographer and stylist Perry Seymour-Marsh is one of them. Known for creating joy through thoughtful details, she brings the same instinct to the Wiltshire home she shares with her husband and two young daughters.

Perry grew up in Bath before spending fourteen years in London working in theatre, where she met her musician husband. When they were expecting their first child, a move back west felt right. They found a small town with a good school, independent shops and, delightfully, wild peacocks wandering along the road. Their house was in need of real attention. “We couldn’t even use the ground floor when we first moved in,” she says. They restored it slowly, even sourcing reclaimed Victorian floorboards from an old Welsh school. It set the tone for a home where almost everything carries a memory.

Her style has changed over time, but one thread runs through it: she designs by feeling. As a child she rearranged her bedroom endlessly, dragging home chairs from markets and gathering flowers from Columbia Road. That instinct remains. Trends hold little interest now, replaced with a love of pieces that feel timeless and lived in; antiques, second hand finds, and anything with a story stitched into it.

A few rooms hold particular meaning. The small French inspired bathroom she designed from scratch feels like stepping into a tiny hotel. It carries the influence of childhood trips to brocantes and French markets, something she once resented and now dreams of.

Christmas in their house is cheerful chaos of the best kind. “A beautiful crafty mess,” she says. Once school is out, the living room becomes a workshop of paper chains, origami stars, crayons, biscuits and hot chocolate by the fire. Joel Patterson’s Christmas album plays on repeat. Wrapping presents beside the fire, then hiding them in increasingly inventive places, is one of her favourite rituals.

Another tradition belongs to her and her mum: making Indian Wedding Chutney every December. They fill jars Perry has collected since childhood, topping each one with circles of Indian newspaper tied with string. “Maybe that’s where my love of details began,” she laughs.

Her approach to decorating is instinctive and full of warmth. She builds her palette around a few special baubles or wrapping papers, usually leaning towards rich browns, rusts and soft woodland tones. Very little is bought new, apart from quality paper, ribbon and one or two treat baubles. This year she has woven in blues and greens from our wrapping papers, along with a silk dress offcut now draped around the tree.

Floral touches appear everywhere. A wild, handmade wreath always hangs in the house and a large sprig of pine is suspended above the dining table, with ribbons falling softly. The girls’ rooms and kitchen are filled with conifer garlands she ties by hand.

Treasured decorations return every year: the tree top angel from her childhood, now placed by her daughters, the tiny baby footprint baubles, and delicate glass teardrops brought home from Rome.

Perry’s home leaves you with a feeling of ease, the sense that beauty grows naturally when things are chosen with care. It is a quiet, lived-in loveliness - the sort that lingers long after you have left.