Your Style?
How does anyone define their style and taste at home? It can feel like a huge decision to pin your environment down: ‘I like minimalism’ is the most obvious.
If the last eighteen months has taught us anything, it’s how to ‘be’ in our homes. Whether its working, spending (sometimes too much) time with the children, or moving furniture to allow enough space for a home workout. Going into winter feels daunting, as if we’ve got to cocoon again, and that we lose the option of outdoor space and light.
My advice for trying decorating styles is similar to the Summer to Winter transition - Layering. I’m not a minimalist… and couldn’t be even if I tried. There is something comforting about using textures and patterns (if that’s your bag) to bring life to a space. A really cheap and quick way to inject fresh life and new style into a room is to invest in some new cushion covers, how about Andrew Martin’s Kasbah https://www.andrewmartin.co.uk/fabric/kasbah-orange or my current hankering, Beata Heuman’s Marbelized Velvet https://shoppa.beataheuman.com/collections/fabric-and-wallpaper/products/marbleized-velvet? If your style leans towards calmer and muted neutrals, go for something with a really luxurious texture, such as Ian Mankin’s Perth https://www.ianmankin.co.uk/fabrics/by-collection/perth-fabric-collection.html and you really can’t go wrong with a stripe. Just start small, in order to find out what you really like and want to live with.
Rugs on rugs are another way to warm a room - stay with me if you think I’ve gone a bit crazy, but you needn’t break the bank. You should always aim to have rugs large enough to go under sofas, tables and beds, to ‘tether’ the furniture, but they also need to be a few cm’s away from the wall to avoid a room looking ‘stuffed full’. If you’ve found a rug that you love, but can’t afford a very large size, try layering with a larger inexpensive plain one underneath, layering rugs is the norm in many countries and works over fitted carpets or boards. Its another perfect way to start to explore styles without pinning yourself down.
Once you’ve found the direction you want a room to follow, whether its the calm, organised neutral palates favoured by designers such as Sophie Patterson, or Rose Uniacke; the traditional and timeless English style of Ben Pentreath, or the playful abundance of aforementioned Beata Heuman, with layering you can build and take away as you choose.
Window treatments fit in at a reasonably early stage, but only once you know what you want to live with and how you use a space. They should be more considered than a wall colour, which is comparatively easy to change, and can be either a building block of a scheme or a stand out statement.
Lets not forget that you can change them with the seasons too…. your home should reflect your style, but be flexible enough not to define your mood.