DESIGN DECODED: 6 great rooms

Usually in this regular post I look at a single house in its entirety, decoding all the design details so you can understand why its rooms work and learn how to apply similar ideas in your own places and spaces.

But since it’s August, let’s go off piste. I’m looking at six rooms that stopped me in my scrolling tracks and analysing what they have got that turned them from good to great.

For those who are new to Mad About The House I should point out that the reason I focus on houses that are for sale is that while they have been tidied (one assumes) for the photographer, they are real rooms in real homes, rather than sets created for magazine shoots or where only half a room is shown at its best angle and all the mess is behind the camera.

I refer you to this piece I wrote about a shoot in my own house for You magazine.

So first up, this sitting room - and it’s all about the curtains. And not necessarily expensive curtains, either. Years ago I saw a picture of the designer Rita Konig’s bedroom and fell hard for her curtains. Eventually I tracked down the fabric (Schumacher Pomegranate print) and realised that at around £200 a metre it was never going to be gracing my own windows.

Instead, I have often used linen panels from either La Redoute or Secret Linen Company and added curtain tape so they can hang on hooks (they glide better along the rail), or just folded over the tops of the panels to get the right length and clipped them on at the fold.

If you are handy with a sewing machine you can add your own thermal or blackout lining, which is super-cheap on Amazon, and even embellish the edges with fringing, tassels or pompoms - something I keep meaning to do but never getting round to.

So anyway, back to this room. The colours are muted and the shapes are simple but there are details wherever you look. The embossed rug, the legs of the glass coffee table and, of course, the design classic Togo footstool.

But the curtains really elevate the look. Adding a panel along the bottom can appear as if you ran out of fabric - if you need to do that, or want to turn short curtains into long, then run a ribbon or fringe down the sides that matches the added panel to make it look intentional. However, doubling down on the extra fabric decision by adding a large patchwork panel in the middle turns this into a statement. I’m already looking at my own plain linen panels with fresh eyes…

The rest of this post is for my lovely paid subscribers. If you want to know how to decode design and apply your findings to your own homes to make them as perfect as they can be - for you and the people you live with - you can join the club here.

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