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ABOUT US

We deliver a highly personalised luxury service that transform interior spaces with beautiful handcrafted soft furnishings, designed and made exclusively for you.

Partnering with interior designers, private clients, and property developers, our family-led team of designers, textile artisans, and engineers prides itself on making eye-popping one-of-a-kind creations that reflect your unique personality.

Ornate key

Your best kept secret

Country houses, boutique hotels, town houses, apartments, and homes of discerning private clients that desire to be different.

 

We pride ourselves on not being a household name, letting our work speak for itself in transforming the homes we collaborate on with you.

 

Working with many of the UK’s leading interior designers, fabric houses, and furniture makers, our impressive portfolio of homes turn heads with their own unique style.

Heart

Beautiful things that work beautifully

Our wealth of experience in design and engineering means that each piece is not only beautfiul but practical.

 

 We are entirely focussed on providing a client-centred service around your exacting requirements and coordinate all aspects from start to finish.
 

From our Berkshire studio to living spaces anywhere around the world.

We make and Install
Swatch with curtain icon

Curtains

Swatch with upholstered chair icon

Upholstery

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Lampshades

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Cushions and Throws

Swatch with window blind icon

Blinds and Meshes

Swatch with a bed with a valance icon

Bed Valances and Skirts

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Pelmets and Headboards

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Poles, Tracks and Hardware

Sewing machine

Chatelaine is more than just a business. It’s home to generations with a passion for sewing beautiful spaces, built on the foundations of family.

We’re a family-led business, driven to design and delight clients by a wife, husband, son, and sister. Many amazingly talented artisans and craftspeople have joined our extended family, working together to transform your cherished spaces with our unique handmade soft furnishings.

Stef Douthwaite

Stef Douthwaite

Stef is our founder, Director and the face of Chatelaine Interiors. Stef looks after all our clients, providing advice and recommendations, with a wealth of knowledge of fabric, design practicalities and hardware solutions. Stef oversees all aspects of the business and the service; from initial consultation, through to creating your bespoke pieces and the installation of them.

Harvey Grew

Harvey Grew

Harvey is responsible for sales and marketing. After a site survey, Harvey puts together an estimate based on your requirements. Harvey has a broad product knowledge and can offer advice and guidance on various options along with providing fabric calculations. Harvey also looks after all aspects of marketing and photography, managing our social media and our company website.

Jon Douthwaite

Jon Douthwaite

Jon is our Director, curtain and blind installer and all-round technical guru. Jon assists our clients with any technical queries and can make recommendations on electrical solutions, poles and tracks. Jon has a fantastic product knowledge and is also involved on the manufacturing side of the business, assisting the team with the production of our soft furnishings, blinds and curtains.

Andrea Keefe

Andrea Keefe

Andrea is our Project Manager and the newest addition to the team. Once a deposit is received and the order is placed, Andrea provides clients with fitting dates and all project updates. Andrea procures for each project and liaises with both our suppliers and our inhouse team to meet client requirements and deadlines.

Our Team

"Our Story" handwritten

A stitch in time

The story of Chatelaine begins long before it was established. Our history and passion are woven into every thread and stitch we make for luxury homes today.

1979-1987

The Binca Cross Stitch years

My beloved hand-made black corduroy dress no longer fit my growing frame. I had nothing to wear for my upcoming third birthday party!

 

A dizzying succession of delightful homemade creations ensued, all lovingly hand-crafted by super-talented Mum. My wardrobe became a magical place to visit, featuring countless Ra-Ra skirts, red dungarees, and a much-loved brown pinafore finished with orange butterfly appliqué.

 

Soon, my flourishing sense of fashion was on full display to the world (read Abingdon, Oxfordshire) and the stage was set for things to come. Cue my leap into cross-stitching and endless supplies of Binca fabrics.

 

Fuelled by weekly Textiles lessons, pattern cutting, and an overwhelming sense of joy in making things, I was hooked. I’d found my passion.

1988

Saturdays at Mason's

Growing up in a home that was meticulously renovated by DIY Dad, and where every window was dressed in Mum’s very own handmade creations, does something to you.

 

My lifelong love of sewing and making was in full swing by the time I arrived for work at Masons fabric and haberdashery store in Abingdon every Saturday.

 

I LOVED my time at Masons.

 

Getting to preview all the new fabrics and dress patterns coming in made this special place feel more like a sweet shop to me.

 

My business skills weren’t quite up to scratch just yet though, as all my wages went straight back into the till on a Saturday evening, with Sundays spent making what I’d bought.

1997-2014

…Education

Enter the glamourous years of life in IT, working for education technology businesses such as RM, Viglen, and Capita.

 

While working life took flight, my love affair for sewing grew stronger. I made wedding dresses (including my own), took on commissions for bespoke curtains, and completed a series of related courses during the evenings and weekend.

 

Things snowballed to the point that my side-hustle (or ‘hobby’ as they were called back then) was running up more hours than the day job.

 

Something had to give.

2014

Chatelaine

Chatelaine Interiors is founded.

 

Operations commenced from the family dining room table, which became my ‘studio’ as I built up my client portfolio during the first year.

 

With momentum building, my base of operations shifted to a swiftly erected garden room, and several local units. As the accounts and ordered spiralled, Petra and Izzy joined me in the workroom to help fulfil orders.

 

By the end of the fourth year, Chatelaine had grown to become a sustainable – and growing – concern.

 

It was time to take yet another leap, and my years in IT proved to be time very well spent, gifting me the skills needed to match my ambitions for the future of the business.

2018-2022

Making it our home

After four years of flying solo, my husband Jon joined me to spin up our installations department, quickly followed by Rachel to support with the administrative side of things.

 

Fresh from Uni with a First Class Masters in Financial Economics, my son Harvey entered the fray a few short years later, with my sister Andrea completing our leadership team in 2022.

 

During this time, Nadene, Rosie, Wendy, Sandy, and Emma joined our extended family as the number of Interior Designers and private clients we worked with continued to flourish.

2023

Award

After many years of hard work, we were delighted beyond belief to win an SBID Award for a ‘Residential Apartment Over £1M – Europe’ alongside Atelier NM in 2013.

 

We knew the project was good, but there were some massive established names we were against. And we won!

2024

Present Day

Today, we’ve grown to looking after over 30 Interior Designers and many more private clients than we can mention here.

 

We’ve made the huge decision to exhibit at Decorex in October 2024 and are outgrowing the current studio as our ambitious plans progress at pace.

 

At the time of writing, we’re finalists again for this year’s SBID Awards and the latest family member – Jake – has recently joined the team to help deliver exceptional customer service to our wonderful clients.

Chatelaine logomark
Stef in 1987 looking at a fabric stall
Stef stood outside the haberdashery she worked at in 1988 - Mason's Abingdon
Mason's haberdashery in Abingdon back in 1988
Chatelaine team stood outside
"Made with love, by our family" handwriting
Ornate picture frame with an image of a bed with decorative pelmet and the SBID Design Awards Winner 2023 logo overlayed
Chatelaine fabric swatch
Stef cutting fabric in the Lambourn studio
Fabric scissors

1994-1997

Education, Education

Armed with Art and Textiles GCSEs and a Highly Commended special mention by CEB for my A-level equivalent, I went on to study BCS Textiles at The University of Manchester between 1994 and 97.

 

Each Summer holiday was spent working at Dorma, leading to receiving a final year scholarship and a job offer on completion.

 

By this point, you’d think the rest is history. But not quite…

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