It may seem obvious, but your interiors are the ‘shop window’ on your listing – and whilst the copy on the page might be important, a picture says a thousand words. Using contemporary style, carefully crafted choices about interiors, and encapsulating them with professional photography has a significant impact on your booking conversion.

Your interiors will also be the first thing guests see at the beginning of their stay. Setting the right atmosphere can have a huge impact on the overall experience, as well as the all-important guest feedback.

In this article, we’ll explore how keeping a finger on the pulse of what’s trending, using unique offerings, and a creative approach can impact your guests’ experience of their stay. We spoke with Jessie de Salis, a Bristol-based textile designer, who, along with her business partner and cousin Alice, completed a full makeover of Yarlington Yurt. We chatted about approach, inspiration, implementation and most importantly – outcomes!

Hi Jessie, tell us about your background in design and how it influenced your approach to this project?

Alice and I both studied textile design at Uni, and since then have been building a textile screen printing business. We began as a Lockdown project on the kitchen table and have now grown to fill a Somerset Barn.

One reason I set up the business was because I wanted to take control of the whole process. Textile production is such an environmentally problematic industry – air miles, toxic dyes, mass production and bad living conditions for the garment workers. Printing by hand enables us to oversee everything: we know where the products come from, who made them and what inks have been used. We also source local textiles, print on recycled end-of-line fabrics and mix our own inks. There is still more to do. Alice and I are developing natural dyes this year to print with.

What inspired you to undertake this project?

Last Christmas we created a reclaimed textile project. We made a collection of bags, cushions, and lampshades that were completely made out of recycled materials. This project was a huge inspiration for the yurt renovation. Our grandparents gave us the creative freedom to do anything we wanted! It was amazing to complete an entire interior project in three weeks.

Could you walk us through how you implemented your design and sourced materials for the project?

It was important to us that this project followed our environmental ethos. We really tried not to buy anything new, but caved in with the yurt door and bought some new outdoor paint. But everything else has been reclaimed.

Old paints were used to paint chairs and tables. We screen printed on old tablecloths and used them for covering the interior walls in fabrics. We made quilts and cushions out of samples. We sourced lamps from eBay and painted them orange. So, the conversion was a pretty cheap project!

What specific challenges did you encounter during the makeover process, and how did you overcome them?

Our biggest challenge for the yurt renovation was working in the cold. We had to do everything in winter so it would be ready for guests at the start of spring. Everything took so long to dry! We ended up painting everything inside a shed and waiting for sunny days for the work outside.

In what ways did you ensure that the new interior design maintained a balance between aesthetics and functionality for guests?

It was quite easy for us to create an aesthetic: fun and colourful alongside functional. We painted bare walls with big, circular flowers. We covered the inside walls of the yurt, which had gone quite green, in screen-printed tablecloths. All the colour and pattern came from simple things that don’t change the way the space is used.

How do you believe the new interior design has impacted the overall guest experience at the yurt?

I hope, and believe, it's a much more joyful place to be. When you go away from home, it's so nice to stay somewhere completely unique.

Based on your experience with this project, what advice would you offer to other glamping owners considering a similar interior upgrade for their units?

Oooohh – advice I would give to other Canopy & Stars owners doing renovations would be to use what you have and modernise it with fabric and paint. Have fun with it. Fill it with colour and life that will make it special for someone visiting.

Changes to your interior don’t have to cost the earth – whether that’s in cash, or in environmental impact. Good design can be timeless, but even excellent design can benefit from a fresh lick of paint. Sometimes space upgrades and refreshes can be extensive, but often small amends can make a world of difference.

The interiors of your spaces remain one of the most important parts of your offering. Guests are looking to get away from the humdrum, the sorts of interiors they find day to day. You’re curating an experience, and a feeling – and that is vital in making a space that is both attractive to guests to book – and in creating the sort of experience they’re looking to have when they get away.

If you’re looking to learn a little more about Jessie’s work – take a look at her website for more information. Or if you want advice on how you can enhance your interiors, get in touch with your account manager by calling the owners team on 0117 204 7857 or emailing owners@canopyandstars.co.uk