Shop Talk - Holly Keeling Interiors

Inspired by winning an interiors competition, Holly Keeling started her own design business, which has since grown into so much more

- Claudia Baillie

Can you tell us a little bit about your background?

I’d always dabbled in decorating and I used to do small projects for friends. Then, in 2008, we moved from London to Totnes and bought and renovated a dilapidated Georgian farmhouse. I entered the before and after pictures into a competition in a magazine, but didn’t really think I stood a chance. In fact I won, and that spurred me on and gave me the confidence to set up my own interior design business. I worked my socks off to get established and have since done some styling work too.

Why did you decide to open a shop?

Opposite the farmhouse is a barn, and I began to fill it with pieces I’d been collecting. At the time there were a lot of auctions and markets where we could pick things up cheaply, which really helped. I started opening the barn, and at Christmas we’d have a big event, which became really popular. As we were in the middle of nowhere, there wasn’t really anything else like it nearby so that’s when I decided to open a shop.