Design Decoded: The Househunter

My regular series in which we look at a house on the market to see what inspiration we can take for our own places and spaces.

This week we’re off to the riverside in south-east London, to a five-storey Georgian house in Ballast Quay that’s full of rich colours and natural materials and, as such, is perfect for the dark damp days of January. It’s on the market with Inigo for £1,500.000.

It might seem odd to start with the bathroom, but this deep cobalt blue is such a bold choice, and such an unusual shade for this room – so often relegated to the paler end of the spectrum – that it felt like the right place to begin and also to take a moment to consider good bathroom design.

The first thing you might notice about this one is that it is full of stuff. Now that might not be to your personal taste, but the point to note is that it is definitely reflecting the style of the owners – and that is key.

When it comes to bathroom design too many of us leave our personalities at the door and assume that since the “furniture” is so prescriptive, we have no room for manoeuvre when it comes to the decor. Clearly, as you can see here, that’s not true.

Yes, you need a basin, loo and a bath or a shower, but in other rooms you would need a sofa and chair, or a bed and a wardrobe. And these days they really don’t have to be white – unless you want them to be.

So the first thing is to consider this room as you would any other room in your house, and find a way to bring in the colours and objects that you love. If the bath were a sofa and the loo an armchair, you wouldn’t feel so restricted in terms of the design. So if it helps, pretend that it’s a sitting room and consider what colours and patterns you would want to use if that were the case.

The rest of this post is for paid subscribers only and is one of four such pieces you will receive during the month, as well as an invitation to my live Drop-in Design Clinic where you can ask me for help with your own decorating dilemmas, and access to the full archive (which may already include solutions for your design issues.)