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!

I love period properties so -
Flagstones
Natural wood floors
Beams
Stained Glass Windows
Cornices and ceiling roses
Exposed brick
Mismatching
Welsh blankets
William Morris fabrics
Loads of books
Range cookers
Woodburners

A vinyl corner 😍

Very similar. You'd like my house.

Art, books, colour, lots and lots of lighting/interesting lamps, throws, mismatched cushions and furniture, and lots of mirrors everywhere - I use them to reflect windows - which makes everything seen bright and airy.

My downstairs is full of colour - bedrooms are calmer and whiter.

This will look great- do it!

I'm not a fan of colour, I like neutrals as I find them soothing.
I like grey (not cold monochrome looking greys) white, greige, taupe. I like white and clear glass accessories. Warm oak woods, candles, blankets, soft lighting with nice lamps.

Antique rugs over floorboards
art
restored chandeliers
blankets on the back of sofas / armchairs
buttoned footstools in interesting fabrics
books in every room
brass door knobs / handles on cabinets
lamps / low lighting options
candles for the evening
big old wooden dining tables

They got a lot of criticism on the other thread but I like nicely done feature walls. Not just a random colour put on any old wall, but a well chosen colour in a good position, that goes with the rest of the decor.

These would be my dream home features;

• A big country kitchen (on the hated thread I believe!) with stone floors, a Belfast sink and range cooker. Also a big farmhouse table, shelves for all my cookbooks and a cupboard removed from somewhere to create a cubby for my dogs bed to go.
• A mahoosive utility/boot room with a dog bath.
• Big pantry with floor to ceiling shelves
• Doors with glass panels (also on the hated thread!)
• Nooks and crannies for trinkets
• Big windowseat that doubles as a bookcase
• Lots of sage green and pale yellow

A big happy labrador on a natural stone floor lying against an Aga

White walls
Art work
Wooden floors
Good lighting
Books
House plants

House plants (not loads like one on rightmove I saw where it looked like a small jungle).

Bookcases filled with books of all kinds @Frenchfancy has the right idea

Real wood furniture (no MDF), especially if it's old and has character

Magnolia as a paint colour doesn't offend

I like a good lamp the bigger the better

I'm a sucker for built in wardrobes

I love interior design, but I feel I've reached 'peak stuff', and that the next stage will be giving things away to the dc when we downsize. I still avidly follow various instagram interiors accounts, but it doesn't seem to translate into making changes at home any more. The things that make me happiest at home, which haven't really changed for 25 years despite several house moves are

wooden floors and rugs
lamps rather than overhead lights
art - anything from oil paintings to framed posters (and more than a few from the charity shop)
books on proper shelves ( Frenchfancy's picture feels very familiar indeed)
cushions
blankets on the arms of sofas; sofas and chairs with legs
upright piano
view of the garden/greenery from as many windows as possible
no TV (we do watch, but online)
black and white tiled floor in the porch
original drafty stained glass front door, fireplaces, cornicing and high skirtings
large kitchen table
Large, old and untidily crammed kitchen dresser
Sofa in the kitchen

There are some things I really loathe about this house (mostly put in by the previous owner and too expensive/tiresome to change - looking at you beige bathroom tiles and enormous 'statement' kitchen extractor) but as I get older I find it easier to ignore things I wouldn't have tolerated before, as long as the basics are there!

Oh I was hoping someone would start this!

I love my two old fashioned and deeply uncool lamps with massive fringed fabric shades. In pink. They make the room feel so cosy in the evening. My house could probably stun an interior designer at 20 paces though.

I love what a wide variety of tastes there is on here!

I love a New England type look.

White painted furniture, with some older dark wood or polished pieces, quilts, rugs cushions and throws in mismatched pastel shades.

Some antique/ old looking lamps, pictures vases etc.

And lots of natural light.

I'm not keen on a dark cottagey country look I prefer light, relaxed and traditional.

never understand the hate for books on here. Love seeing your libraries. I’d add old rugs, mismatched plant pots, coloured glass.

Definitely books!

Evidence of owner’s taste/personality.

Lots of books, floorboards, fireplaces, paintings and lovely posters, pottery, roll top baths, Farrow and Ball colours, original sash windows.

Also - a strange one that many won’t agree with - I like completely bare windows (no curtains or blinds at all). Discovered this when we rented for a while and the curtains were so grim I took them all down - the space and light this created was amazing. House is still cosy (lots of lamps and soft furnishings). We are not overlooked either, which appreciate makes a difference too.

Large windows
Dusky colours
Art
Books
Curved sofas
Electric blue
Colour blocking

Mid century furniture
Large rugs
Wooden floors
High ceilings
Retro styles and colour

@littlepeas Oh, I LOVE this look on Pinterest, Instagram, and my friend’s house which is end of terrace on a quiet, no-through-road, opposite nothing but fields, and they have a substantial front garden too. Totally agree it lets the light flood in, and shows off beautiful windows too – it always feels a shame to cover up sashes and panelling with curtains.

But purely from a “I have neighbours” perspective, and also keeping the heating bill down, plus the sound-muffling qualities of having fabric in rooms (one of the reasons I hate plantation shutters: they make rooms louder!), I’m all for a curtain.

Definitely when I get my big Georgian country pile with its own acres and the commensurate lottery win to pay for the central heating, I’d opt for zero curtains or blinds or treatments. It does look wonderful.

Conversely, I’m very fond of a brass rod and linen cafe curtain situation in the right room.

I hadn't heard of kantha quilts before. I've now found some absolutely beautiful ones!

I’m glad it’s not just me!

I live in a similar location to your friend (no through road, opposite graveyard, then fields) - I think it does make a huge difference.

• Natural materials that feel like you expect them to
• lots of little pools of golden light from lamps, fairy lights, whatever- just lots of variety rather than all spotlights or pendants. Shadows as well as light
• solid, chunky furniture- beds, tables, sofas- softened with throws, cushions, rugs and plants
• clean and spacious but not cold and clinical. You need to feel as though you can be there without either it making you dirty, or you making it dirty!
• I can get on board with either colours or neutrals as long as it feels as though they’ve been chosen to be lived with, not instagrammed