To ask your interior design loves

[Dandyarseholes]

To balance out the 'hates' tgread currently running.

What do you like/love that makes your home a happy place?

Lots of colour
Books
Artwork
Wood flooring (downstairs)
Carpet in bedroom
Blankets

My house is quite quirky!

Books
timber floors, them put in last house but living with different existing hard flooring here until it dies)
art work
window seats (maybe more architecture than interior design?)
good secondary lighting

the colour yellow - a nice sunset mustardy bright yellow for cushions, accessories etc.

I like houses which reflect their owners and give you a little insight into their personalities. So books, paintings/photos, colour/nice wallpaper, mismatched furniture. I love period properties so any original features are a bonus. I'm also a big lover of things which make a space feel cosy: houseplants, cushions, throws, low lighting, candles.

I love lots of styles - I can appreciate minimalism in a converted Georgian factory with oak floors and cast-iron metal work etc!

But I really like the Arts and Crafts period: simple oak furniture, beautiful fabrics and no useless knick-knacks - only things which are either useful or beautiful as William Morris advised. Our house was built in 1910 and while it's a humble semi, its design was rooted in that period.

What I really like is a home that isn't too 'stage managed' and consciously designed, though not matchy-matchy. I like it when people have things they really like and value which might have a story attached, or some special meaning for them - this doesn't mean expensive antiques necessarily. I try not to let my love of clutter get too bad, so I limit it to meaningful things if I can.

One thing I would save from a fire (heaven forbid) is a colourful folk carving of a peacock, which was made by a Prisoner of War who worked on my grandparents' farm in WW2. The POWs (especially Germans, who sometimes had a tradition of making wooden toys) would make these little items to sell for a bit of pocket money. This man kept in touch with my grandparents after the war too, so it's also a symbol of something good coming out of a tragic situation.

Basically - I like homes to reflect the people who live in them - I don't like a 'show home' vibe with everything in greige.

Plants
Kantha Quilts
Mis-mash of artwork
Floor-length curtains

Colour, print and pattern. Comfortable furniture rather than elegant. A place you can relax and not panic if you spill something. Bookshelves full of books. Darker rooms that feel luxurious and mysterious. Lots of soft furnishings in wool and velvet and tactile fabrics. Piles of stuff everywhere.

@flflflf , I can highly recommend the Joules range at DFS for that perfect yellow: www.dfs.co.uk/harborough/hbr14thrv

Comfy looking sofas, throws/blankets, curtains instead of blinds.

Beams, fireplaces, reclaimed/rustic style wood furniture

I like a warm little cottage style feeling rather than show home white and bright

Individuality and the arts and crafts ethos, rather than necessarily the design aesthetic itself.

Everything on your list! I would always much prefer to ser a colour I hate than white/magnolia/grey etc.

Patterned tiles
Coving in every room
Mix of all sorts of art
A sort of tidy clutter. So lots of stuff but all in its place.

I like rich colours, Art Deco and lots of sparkle

Ooh yes jewel colours.. love them!

My house is colourful and mis-matched. It's period too so lots of lovely fireplaces, coving and corbels!

Comfy cosy houses

I made my own rustic oak bookshelves to house my books and I love them

Furniture that doesn't all match

Warm neutrals and wood

Hidden quirks, we have a family of little mice ornaments that hide amongst the log burner/baskets of logs

Huge rugs that look like they couldn't belong anywhere else

Soft, colourful lighting. Interesting lamps. Paper light shades.

Personal stuff with memories. I have things from family members and places we've visited that are beautiful and mean a lot to me.

Cosy things; texture, rugs cushions, blankets. My fireplace with too many candles.

Conversely, my bedroom is uncluttered with lots of storage so feels peaceful and serene.

What a refreshing thread.

I love everything on your list and would add houseplants.

Waxed wooden floorboards with gaps.
High ceilings. (Combined, clearly what I love is “draughts”.)
Stark but moody minimalism – empty Georgian rooms in earthy paint colours.
But also eclectic colour and pattern mixing.
Bloomsbury Group painterly decor.
English roll-arm sofas.
Floor-length curtains.
Linen bedding.
Patchwork quilts.
Sink skirts.
Welsh dressers with a proper, lifetime’s worth of collected crockery and clutter – not overly styled, job-lot stuff.
Unlacquered brass.
Moss and olive green paint colours.
Stained glass.
Vases with a single type of cut flower.
Threadbare Persian rugs.
In-frame kitchens.

@stuntbubbles loving your list!

Oh yes plants! I never used to want them as seemed to be able to kill them off just by looking at them!

Really like them in the bathroom too.

.. oh and a stack of vinyl and a record player! 😍

Oh, you're describing my house! 🥰

Real wood
Plants
Books
Photographs
Artwork
Cosy bedrooms
Vanity units in bathrooms & en-suites
Neutral MATCHING carpet in all bedrooms and on landings and stairs

Essentially I love this house and decor and get a lot of joy from following this account, while also being obscenely jealous I don’t have her eye or handiness: instagram.com/townley_terrace

Range cookers / Agas
Belfast sinks

Lots of colour and patterns
Books (re the previous thread- not to show off that I can read, pmsl)
I especially like it when bookshelves go over the top of the doorframe as in the pic
Everything on @stuntbubbles ' list
Odd collections of things that have been built up over a lifetime
Plenty of tables by sofas and things that have been thought through- where will I put my drink if I'm sitting here? etc
Massive boot rooms
Drying rail on a pulley
Plenty of beeswax candles about the place
Anything that shows the owner's personality, even if it's "bad taste".

@SilentNike this is my bookcase. I've been thinking about taking it over the door. Your photo has convinced me.