Dear Fiona,
I am so bored of my interiors, which are probably best described as conventional. There is nothing wrong with them – nothing is particularly old and worn – so there is no reason to replace anything, they function perfectly adequately, and I’ve got some nice art and ornaments that I’ve inherited. Decoration-wise I’ve got a mixture of plains and patterns, so it’s not that I need to inject pattern or ‘colour-pops’ (I hate the very idea of colour-pops) or a feature wall. I suppose I could bring in new cushions or lampshades or something else that’s regularly recommended - but I suspect that I’ll just get bored of those too in about six months’ time, because I always do.
Admittedly I don’t have amazing imagination when it comes to interiors; I like everything to look nice, but it would never occur to me to, say, paint half my staircase one colour, and half another – as Alexandra Tolstoy has done. I’d say that my brain is academic and logical rather than creative, I’m very tidy and organised, and I’m not someone who really experiments. I did a lampshade painting course with Tess Newall a while ago, which I thought would liberate me to be more winsome and decorative in my approach to my home – but I discovered I need a specific pattern to copy, I can’t come up with one on my own, and so it just hasn’t happened. (I like the lampshade I made that day though.)
But I enjoy looking at Alexandra’s interiors, and Benedict Foley’s and Alidad’s and Susan Deliss’ and Sarah Vanrenen’s and Gavin Houghton’s – well – pretty much everybody’s except mine. I don’t know how to get there though, or what to buy to make sure that I’m not bored of it by this time next year. People talk about being ‘in love’ with their houses, but I’m not in love with mine! I realise that I could employ an interior designer – but I’ve already got everything I need, and I don’t want to be wasteful in getting rid of it all and starting again. Can you help?
Thank you so much.
With love,
Dull and Conventional XX
Dear Dull and Conventional,
Firstly, I don’t believe your sign-off. For you are interested, and interested people are never dull. You may not be able to invent a pattern, but not everybody’s brain works in the same way. In your longer letter you tell me that you do something quite significant in finance; I’m pretty certain my brain wouldn’t enable me to do that (and I can’t invent a pattern, either.) But can I help you? Yes – for I very much believe that it is possible to boredom-proof an interior. You’re right, incidentally, about its not necessarily being to do with bringing in more pattern or colour (for some that’s an anathema, anyway: “why would a room be red or green? What if you get bored of that?” says William Smalley, who reckons it’s impossible to tire of white walls) – rather, it’s about working out how you want to live, and how you want your interior to make you feel. Some go for comfort – but it’s clear that you’d like your house to provide more than that, potentially, even, to inspire. Is that going to come about by implementing change? Yes, certainly – but there are different ways of affecting that change.
The first solution I’m going to suggest is the most straightforward, would fit with your six-month boredom threshold and appeal to your sense of order: namely, seasonal decorating. I don’t mean going all out at Halloween, Christmas and Easter (though do, if you want to) but swapping over curtains, chair covers and more, in line with the seasons. Once upon a time, it was quite common practice in grand houses, and Susan Deliss has a client in New York who “changes her curtains, sofa covers, cushion covers, and lampshades twice a year; she doesn’t repaint, or move the furniture, but she essentially has two completely different schemes.” While seasonal decorating originated from need – typically, winter curtains would be significantly heavier, and you might put loose linen covers over velvet chairs and sofa for the summer – there are other benefits. The first is longevity – and giving everything a six month break every year also allows for time to replace frayed edges and faded trimmings (increasing the sense of change when they return). Then, “I think [seasonal decorating] can keep you in love with your house,” says Mary Graham of Salvesen Graham. “In the winter you might have a lovely Welsh blanket on your bed, instead of the white cotton bedspread that you had in the summer, and suddenly that room has a different feeling.” However you do need storage space for seasonal decorating, and if you don’t have it, then this is not going to be viable.
So on to the second option, which involves increasing the sense of movement within your interiors, which in turn increases the energy (nothing is duller than rooms that feel stuck). To an extent, you can do this with what you already have: collect up all the art and ornaments, really look at them, and then re-position them in line with where you want to see them. For instance, it might be an idea to hang your favourite painting at the foot of your bed, or wherever you can best see it from your sofa. Try not to obsess about things ‘needing’ to be somewhere just because that’s where they’ve always been, and don’t get hung up on value. A 19th-century oil doesn’t have to have pride of place in the sitting room when it might be better employed bringing an element of theatre to the kitchen; equally, a framed poster might look great over the fireplace. In other words, convention be damned.
Alongside this, there are instances when you can – and should – prioritise want over need. Wander around antiques fairs and the design shops on Pimlico Road and notice things that appeal to you. To begin with, you may find it easier to concentrate on items that have function, so buy a new set of china, just because you know it’s going to bring joy to your table (I almost did this myself, earlier this week, at Nina Campbell’s new shop, when I saw some very pretty pink and green plates by the Greek designer Themis Zouganeli.) Similarly, you can safely commit to new bedlinen, tablecloths, candlesticks and vases (especially if you fill them with flowers, which is another easy way of lifting a room and making it feel more alive; Kelly Hoppen likens such arrangements to jewellery.) Then move on to paintings and ornaments, and – even if you are fully curtained and upholstered etc. - textiles. Buy a couple of meters, hem it, and hang it on the back of your sofa or over the bannisters; you can have multiples, and rotate them. I know I said earlier that colour and pattern aren’t a solution, and on their own that’s true. However, pattern and colour speak to each other, and thus can change the feel of a room – permanently, or temporarily.
That last point is pertinent, because please remember that nothing actually needs to be forever, and “you should take risks,” says Brandon Schubert – which is especially the case if you are weary of the current state of affairs. “It’s hard to push yourself, but at the end of the day it can all be changed if you don’t like the way it looks – and it is so important to get out of your comfort zone and try things that you aren’t certain about.” Paint needs refreshing from time to time, anyway – William Smalley suggests going to look at the newly opened Duveen wing of the National Portrait Gallery where the walls are “in wonderful, shocking, brilliant colours, and I don’t think I’d ever tire of them.” Don’t overthink things – go with your gut: if you like it, try it. And, if you want to add painted pattern, as you did with your lampshade, then go ahead: very few people can come up with entirely new ideas incidentally, and there is no shame in copying in this instance (providing you don’t ape an entire scheme.) I recommend a book entitled The Grammar of Ornament, which is packed with ideas. (Alternatively, if you think you know what you want, but aren’t sure you can pull it off, commission a professional.) Then, look at what it is about Alexandra’s house or Benedict’s schemes that you so enjoy – and consider putting up a wallpaper border, or getting a canopy made for your bed, or adding an applique frieze to the bottom of your curtains. Know that this by no means has to happen all at once, see it more as a gradual evolvement that speaks to your taste at the time of execution, whenever that is. “I think if an interior has been allowed to take time to develop, and its contents reflect its owners and their interests, and whether by design or blissful ignorance it has avoided passing trends, then it should stand the test of time,” says William (‘standing the test of time’ being a synonym for ‘not dull’.)
This brings me onto the third and final means by which you are going to give yourself interiors that’ll inspire you, for what I’d also like you to heed is that Alexandra, Benedict, Alidad, Gavin et al are collectors (of varying scales.) And collecting is something that I think will appeal to you, as it involves more than just shopping and making changes for the sake of it; specifically it’s about learning, and falling passionately in love – whether that’s with Victorian sailors’ valentines, 18th century porcelain, Middle Eastern antiquities, Modern British Art, or something else entirely. Because you can’t keep everything (unless your house is literally huge, or you aspire to Sir John Soane’s Museum) and will have to sell items as more come in, there will be an ever-changing flow to your rooms – especially as you’ll also be ensuring that your interiors serve as a worthy backdrop to your treasure, which may occasionally involve another repaint. I make this suggestion last because, as the great Robert Kime wrote, collecting stems from being “open and interested; it happens very much in the moment and without a lot of second guessing.” And thus you may not start this year, or next year – and when you do begin you possibly won’t even notice (until you realise that you’ve got enough Grand Tour-era paintings of Mount Etna to fill an entire wall.) But there are few pursuits that bring more joy and satisfaction - or are as good a cure for boredom.
Have fun with it.
Love,
Fiona XX
