Where to save, when to spend – plus the ONE design trend that everyone should ditch
The interior design industry is booming, with Instagram and TikTok providing endless sources of inspiration – CoastalGrandma, Cottagecore and Whimsigothic are just some of the latest trending buzzwords.
But how do we navigate what’s hot now, versus those stylish (and sustainable) forever buys that ideally every home should own? We ask Britain’s favourite architect and home interiors expert, George Clarke, of course. Want to know how to get the most from your home? He has the answers…
What advice do you have for anyone worried about falling into the ‘trend trap’?
Following trends can be problematic – if you go too far, it can look very dated very quickly, but good quality, classic design is timeless. A well designed piece of furniture or a beautiful piece of fabric, like a William Morris-inspired wallpaper, will always look good. If your style is more modern, try an Eames-inspired piece. You can mix up trends with classical design, of course you can, but that takes a bit of skill.
What are your tips for making a house a home? And where do you start?
You’ve just got to make it personal. Do something that’s completely unique to you and your family and get them involved in design ideas. A lot of people will let kids design their bedrooms, but that’s not really enough. If it’s going to be your home for the next 15/20 years, you’ve got to make it personal. Have strength in your conviction and ideas, don’t be swayed by opinions. If you really like a colour or fabric, go for it!
Are there any trends you’d like to see the back of for good?
Shower curtains should be banned – replace them with proper shower screens. And carpets in bathrooms? Bad! I’ve seen carpets up the side of bathtubs! And, I don’t even know what they call it anymore, but that rug that goes around the base of toilets to keep your feet warm? That just becomes a wee sponge!
What’s your top tip for people wanting to do their home on a budget?
Update it with soft furnishings. Add a rug, cushions or pictures on the wall to make it feel more personal for less.
If you invest in your home, what would you spend money on?
In any house, I’d spend the most on the kitchen and bathrooms because they take the most wear and tear. You can always give other spaces a lick of paint or change the accessories and soft furnishings, but if you spend money on doing a really nice kitchen (and lighting it beautifully) you won’t want to rip it out in ten years time. The same goes for bathrooms. They are the two most intensive spaces in the house – you want them to last for 25 years – with decent taps, fittings, tiles, electrics... decent everything. It’s worth spending money on them.
How can you improve a rental home without losing your deposit?
Soft furnishings, indoor plants and light fittings – find those things that are genuinely affordable, and that look good. That’s the best way to finish your house on a budget. If your landlord will let you paint walls, then decorate. They might make you paint it back to the original colour when you move out, but if you’re renting it for two or three years you may decide, you know what, it’s worth it.
Which 3 items never go out of style?
1. The Anglepoise Lamp. You could put it in a traditional house or a super modern house and it’ll still look amazing.
2. I love a good coffee table! It’s the perfect place to just put stuff… a glass of wine, good magazines, beautiful books. Again, you’ve got flexibility of design – I’ve put contemporary designs in traditional houses and they still look beautiful.
3. Parquet flooring is amazing. Any shape or pattern, herringbone or staggered – they’re all beautiful. I’ve just re-used some from an old school gymnasium in my house.
What are your top 3 design rules?
1. Alignment. When deciding on furniture make sure it’s aligned to something else, to help create balance (my dining table is aligned to the edge of the kitchen). Think of it like hanging pictures, you can hang them in a random pattern but you always need a bit of consistency and alignment within that.
2. Proportion. In architecture we talk about modular design, which is based on the proportions of the human body. For example, if you’re building a table, you’d base the height of it on the proportions of the human body. It can prove a useful guide when you’re working out what size furniture to buy (there are some super simple diagrams on the internet!).
3. Lighting. I’ve seen the most amazing spaces get ruined by bad lighting. Put power points in the wrong place and you end up with cables everywhere, especially in open plan spaces. If I’m sitting at a dining table with a downlight overhead – so your body casts a shadow over your plate – that drives me mad! And don’t put downlights over a bath – you lie back, and you’re looking at a glaring light above your head, it’s awful!
I was in a kitchen the other day, and there were 20 downlights in there, and you could just tell that they didn’t want to make a decision about where the lights should be – it wrecked that space. You think about all the hard work that’s gone into it – flooring, fabrics, colours, everything, and it looked rubbish because all the lighting was wrong.
Where do you find your inspiration?
A lot of my designs are inspired by nature, in architecture and interiors – not just in an eco way but in terms of colours, fabrics, tones and landscapes.
I love Japanese design too. Think about somewhere like Tokyo, if you’re going to design a beautiful house in the middle of Tokyo you’ve got to balance design with nature and urbanism – Japanese architects do it better than anyone. Kengo Kuma is probably my favourite living architect, he’s brilliant.
What’s your favourite space to escape to and why?
I built a garden studio at the end of the garden. Super simple, very Japanese-inspired, with lovely glazing. It makes my garden feel like a courtyard because we’ve got the house, then the garden, and then the studio. All my drawings and books are in there, it’s where I can hide from the world.
What are some of the common things people forget when they’re thinking about planning a new renovation project?
Plan the project properly – it’s unbelievable how many people don’t. What are the timings? What will you do yourself? Can you handle the scale of the project or do you need help?
Plus, plan your spaces properly. Especially when you’re dealing with an existing house and you want to change the layout. You’ve got to think about furniture well in advance. You don’t need to think of finishes, but definitely where your furniture sits. Decide what size sofa you want. Too big? You may not be able to fit lamps either side and it’ll throw your lighting off.
Don’t compromise on furniture because you haven’t got the space right. It affects everything. You can do it all yourself, just plan it all to scale. Mark it out on the floor with masking tape.
I see it happen a lot with radiators – people say: “Uh, let’s put the radiator there.” The plumber puts it in, then they realise it’s the only place the sofa fits – and you just end up heating the back of your sofa!
How is sustainability/the cost of living crisis changing home design?
That’s a tricky one because being sustainable isn’t cheap. Trying to balance being ecological and doing it during the cost of living crisis is really hard. I think that’s probably the biggest challenge we face – we’ve set all these targets to be net zero carbon by 2050, but how are we going to do that when there’s an affordability crisis going on?
Really we’ve got to use less, and anything we buy has got to last longer. Don’t consume things just for the sake of it. Buying quality items that last is one of the most sustainable things we can do. There’s no point in buying something cheap and rubbish which breaks in three or four years.
We’re always going to be juggling the cost of living with buying more sustainable, quality products that last.
