How Busy Types Can Create A Calmer Home

Achieving ‘balance’ in each room is something I believe to be immensely valuable; by this I mean taking care to decorate to thoughtfully distribute visual weight. If I have one large piece of furniture sited against a wall, I like to ensure that there is a treatment or focal point positioned on the opposite wall to align with and balance it. Hanging a gallery wall opposite a large piece is a good example. These offer very different views but can be designed to hold equal presence.

Balance creates harmony but also adds interest, particularly if the items you use to complement each other are different mediums. It doesn’t matter whether you have a layout that is symmetrical or asymmetrical, as long as you have balance.

Proportion is another significant consideration and works in alignment with balance. I advise everyone not to be frightened of scale. A big piece of furniture or a strong gallery wall can work in both small and larger homes. Oversized lighting or a large piece of sculpture introduce unexpected moments of drama and can also be used to emphasise the height of an interior by drawing the eye upwards. In a modest sitting room, it can be tempting to choose two compact sofas, but this is counterintuitive and often makes the space feel smaller still. Don’t be daunted by the idea of an oversized sofa. A large design - particularly a sleek, armless style - grounds a space and feels inclusive and inviting, and it can often make a room feel bigger too. I find arms can form a visual and physical barrier, whereas an armless design allows more people to sit together, perching on edges or corners. The only time a large sofa doesn’t work is when you have too much going on in terms of pattern and contrast, or too many elements, such as scatter cushions, layered on top.

If I had a small apartment, I would colour drench walls, woodwork and ceilings to make it feel larger, then put in a big, squashy, comfortable sofa to enhance the illusion of space. In any home and on any sofa, I would also choose a design with a singular seat cushion; it creates an elegant feel and makes the seating space feel larger. If your sofa has three seat cushions breaking up the expanse, the eye is drawn to the lines where they meet, whereas a single cushion lets the eye flow to the edges. You can do this on any sized sofa, even a large three-metre design. A singular back cushion would also work - you’d need two back cushions - but I’d simply add a 60 x 40cm cushion to sit in front of these and distract from the meeting point. Some brands sell sofas with a single seat cushion, others might adapt a standard design to allow a bespoke order of a one-seat cushion.

Lighting is my passion and one of the most important elements of every room I design. Being mindful with lighting can help in creating a more intimate feel to a room and is best built up in layers. Using lots of lamps allows you to create pockets of light just where you want them; it’s the best way to cultivate atmosphere and really completes any space.

I use very few ceiling lights and much prefer a combination of wall lights, floor lights and table lamps. I use each light for a specific purpose, whether that is producing a mood, backlighting a feature, throwing light onto a ceiling or illuminating artwork. Grid ceiling lighting systems in a kitchen or sitting room really are my bête noire because they can overwhelm a space with a flat, bright light. In my kitchen I fitted large statement lamps which sit on the kitchen island and are wired through the quartz worktop. Because the kitchen sits at the centre of the open-plan layout, I didn’t want it to feel sterile and functional. The lamps create a feeling of intimacy, casting soft pools of light at night.

It’s important to take time to consider the impact and effect of the style and position of each and every light source in your home, but also not to be frightened to leave parts of a room unlit. Don’t light the floor when you don’t need to. I left the three-metre wide area between my kitchen island and the sofa without dedicated lighting because it creates greater emphasis on the things that are lit.

Achieving calm means helping the eye know where to go first and where to ‘rest’ when you enter a room. I always feel you should have the most important (not necessarily the most expensive) piece positioned directly in your eyeline when you enter any space. It’s a process of highlighting the most attractive or meaningful thing in the room and ensuring it has a position of authority.

In a bedroom, for example, this usually means placing the bed on the far wall. In North America, homeowners often place beds in front of windows. We don’t tend to do this in the UK, but by avoiding this option we do restrict our layout possibilities. If we give ourselves permission to try this, it allows us to reconsider the potential of a whole room with a completely new perspective.

I think about every room in four quarters and consider how to create an attractive elevation at each turn. So, when looking at your home with fresh eyes, turn and face each perspective, study the reality and then design or style individual elevations so that your rooms offer vistas of interest from every angle.