A friend and I attended a very enjoyable Christmas event organised by Homes & Garden magazine. It was a combined event with William Yeoward's gorgeous shop and Tricia Guild's equally gorgeous shop, The Designers Guild. They split the 60 attendees between the two shops.

We started at William Yeoward's shop where he gave a lively and entertaining talk and guided us through three superb Christmas table settings. We then had time to browse and buy (20% discount off everything was just too tempting!). William mingled and chatted and he signed the two books of his that I purchased. Then over the road to the Designers Guild and a talk by Tricia Guild. Equally interesting and the shop was beautifully decorated, as always. Staff very attentive and helpful.

The two are very different styles of shops: one flamboyant and extravagant (William Yeoward) and very British, the other stylish, eclectic and international. Both supreme examples of how best to style a shop. I love them both!

Christmas table styling with William Yeoward

Setting 1: Extravagantly and beautifully decorated in white and crystal. There's barely any room for the food but who cares?!

Love this crystal pineapple!

Setting 2: More rustic and country style but equally stunning. I love the way he has mixed traditional items with modern William Yeoward glass items. What about the kitsch reindeer with his knitted fur trimmed jumper — fab or what?

Setting 3: Children's Christmas table and was absolutely superb — colours, textures and so much humour and fun. What child wouldn't want to sit at this table for the duration of the Christmas dinner?

And here are some photos of William Yeoward's shop and how to style to gain the maximum impact.

Fabulous Christmas styling with Tricia Guild at The Designers' Guild

Then across the road to The Designers Guild. This shop is one of my regular and favourite haunts. Not as glitzy and extravagantly styled for Christmas as William Yeoward's but equally fabulous and lots of gift ideas, as evidenced in the photos below.