Talk Shop: Bethany Berk // Marchioness Home & Garden
Photo by Molly Lo Photography
ABOUT BETHANY
Bethany Berk is an esteemed interior and garden designer, as well as the founder of Marchioness Home & Garden, a favorite source for beautiful home decor and art. With twenty five years of experience in home remodeling, retail, antiques, textiles and manufacturing, Bethany developed Marchioness Home & Garden as the culmination of her expertise, travels and passion for design. A California native who has called San Francisco, Paris, New York City, Los Angeles home, Bethany now resides outside of Boston in the New England countryside, where she recently finished renovating a historic property on the Charles River. While her journeys in search of antique treasures have taken her around the world, Bethany’s greatest joy is delighting in the country landscape of her own home, from admiring a family of swans on the river, to seeding and planting in her garden, or harvesting honey to share with others. Bethany holds a BA in Interior Design from the Interior Designers Institute and an MA in European Studies from Columbia University. We sat down with the tastemaker to chat all things design – check it out below!
Describe your style in three words or less:
Classic, Continental, Comfortable
What have been the three biggest influences on your aesthetic in your life:
Historic homes, parks and gardens
How did you start your company, and/or what is your favorite thing about what you do:
Buying for our home led me to dealing in antiques. It was such fun and I met so many interesting people. Starting Marchioness was a natural step.
What does your home say about you:
I have too much stuff.
Where do you find inspiration:
Museums and my friends’ homes - one is the ideal, the other is the reality - bringing those two elements together to create interesting and comfortable living spaces is what I enjoy most about decorating with antiques.
Who are your style icons:
Old Hollywood, like Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Katherine Hepburn, Lauren Bacall
What are your key ingredients for entertaining:
Interesting serving pieces - they make great conversation starters - and vintage white linens.
Do you collect anything:
Almost everything! But my collection of pink Lusterware is my favorite.
Favorite Instagram accounts to follow for inspiration:
@alidad_ltd , @elegante_vie_quotidienne, @provencepoiriers.
What design “rule” do you always follow, and which is made to be broken:
Follow - Height - Hang pictures or drapery as high as possible so you look up when you enter a room.
Break - Trends - don’t follow trends. Stay true to yourself.
What are you working on right now:
A book on decorating with antiques.
Wardrobe staples:
A blazer, crisp white button down shirt, boot leg jeans, and strappy sandals, antique jewelry (a fresh mani-pedi!)
Favorite fabric/wallpaper:
Bowood, by Colefax and Fowler
Best interior advice you ever received:
Don’t be afraid to use white - it looks fresh and goes with everything, like a crisp, white shirt works for a wardrobe, so white works in the home.
Best career advice you ever received:
Travel - go out and see the world! And never give up! Eventually, it all comes together.
Types of home purchases you invest in, and save on:
I have a lot of Sterling silver - it’s easy to store, maintains its value, and you can use it, and pass it on.
Your greatest extravagance:
My greenhouse! It’s a little steel and glass wonder!
Favorite places to shop for home:
Brimfield Antique Show, Live Auctioneers, local estate sales
Most prized possession and why:
A French chandelier - found in disrepair and restored to its former glory. It drips with old world glamour.
Your interiors motto:
Comfort is the goal when decorating a home, all design elements should aim towards it.
Your life motto:
Keep Calm and Carry On
Advice for someone looking to define their own interior style:
Purge the junk! And cleanse yearly to keep things fresh and interesting. Your unique style will be revealed through the process.
Take Ten: My Favorite…
Food: Persian
Drink: French burgundy
Film: The English Patient
Hotel: Four Seasons
City: Paris
Bedding: custom from Versailles, Los Angeles.
Tea or Coffee (and how do you take it): mint (fresh leaves) tea with honey
Playlist: my 15 year olds hip hop (it blasts on whenever I get in the car! He thinks it’s very funny.)
Weekend Activity: taking care of my family
Design Book: The Great American House, by Gil Schafer
