Fiona McKenzie Johnston
Fiona McKenzie Johnston has been contributing to House & Garden since 2017. She writes the art pages as well as decorating columns for the website, having started her career with the magazine’s sister publications AD and Vogue. She has an MA in History of Art from the University of St. Andrew’s, which included the study of furniture and decorative arts, and she came to journalism via a spell in the V&A’s Furniture Department.
Fiona has lived in - and loved - a variety of houses of differing styles, from a Jacobean manor house to a 1960s-designed central London maisonette. She is now in the process of renovating and decorating a Victorian terrace on the East Sussex coast, involving much DIY. Her spare time is mostly spent on the beach with her children, or at exhibitions, or reading vintage decorating books and biographies and scrutinising the interiors and exteriors of any house she can visit – both for ideas, and because she is endlessly fascinated by how people live.
Travel
14 fascinating artist’ houses to visit in Britain and Europe
The stories they tell, the insight they give, and the decorating ideas we can take from them
Decoration
French exits and forbidden topics: these are the new dinner party rules
Napkins in collars, a cigarette between courses, pulling out of a dinner on the day, a shoes-off policy – what’s acceptable now, and what’s not?
Decoration
Why your room layout matters – and how to get it right for maximum comfort
The rules for comfort and functionality in every room, when to bend them, and why its worth experimenting.
Decoration
Dear Fiona: what on earth should I do with my husband’s hideous heirlooms?
Our resident agony aunt suggests the most tactful way to approach this rather sensitive issue
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Houses
The fantastical Somerset rectory of Cosmo Fry, filled with collected objects and layers of history
Nearly twenty years after buying the 18th-century rectory, Cosmo Fry's careful restoration of its bones and magpie-like eye for collecting have resulted in layered and intriguing spaces.
Travel
The exhibitions you need to see in London in April 2026
From Hurvin Anderson to Cecily Brown, Estonian Modernism to radical Minimalism, here is our round-up if all the must-see shows in London this month
Decoration
Why joy is the most important ingredient in any room
From your paint choices to your fabric, experts say the thing we should always return to when decorating is joy. But when does a bit of fun and frivolity go too far?
Decoration
Why it is essential to add a touch of black to every room
Ever been daunted by the prospect of using black? Fear not: Fiona McKenzie Johnston explores how to add a touch of the colour that isn't a colour to any room
Decoration
The enduring chicness of the ‘too many books’ aesthetic
Why we love abundance – and the romance of a library
Decoration
Why we love decorating for Easter
Blossom-laden Easter trees, marbled and decoupaged eggs, passion-fruit puddings, yolk-yellow front doors, Swan Lake – and other ways to decorate for and celebrate Easter
Decoration
A frazzled Englishwoman’s guide to de-frazzling your life
When the scales tip from charmingly doolally to worryingly out of control, heed the advice of Fiona McKenzie Johnston, who explores how to de-frazzle your life
Decoration
How insomnia became my superpower
Our columnist and Art Editor Fiona McKenzie Johnston chronicles her varied attempts to overcome insomnia, all the while discovering it might just be her secret weapon
Decoration
Dear Fiona: what is the point of multiple cushions?
Our resident agony aunt Fiona McKenzie Johnston considers how many cushions is too many, and if the limit even exists
Decoration
The idiosyncratic beauty of artist Rose Wylie’s studio
As Rose Wylie’s history-making solo show opens at the Royal Academy – she’s the first female painter to be given the grand, first-floor rooms – we revisit an article from 2024
Decoration
Dear Fiona: should I move to the country or will it be a mistake?
Our resident agony aunt Fiona McKenzie Johnston advises a reader who is (reluctantly) on the verge of a countryside move
Travel
The coolest places to see art in the countryside
From regional galleries to art-studded walks, sculpture gardens to exquisite chapels and churches
Decoration
I am a bona fide city person – how do I adjust to the country?
Is it even possible? (And is a dog essential?)
Houses
An artist's wildly creative 18th-century cottage in the Yorkshire Dales
No ordinary restoration project, this previously neglected 18th-century cottage in the Yorkshire Dales has been turned into a living canvas and rural retreat by its artist owner Kitty North and her friend Robin Lucas
Travel
Inside the newly restored, 1953-designed, Oliver Messel suite at The Dorchester
Where opulent luxury combines with a romantic wonderland of an important historic scheme
Decoration
Dear Fiona: I love my partner but he's too untidy to bear living with
Always the empath, our agony aunt Fiona talks cleaning, compromise and control