Why being sensible is ruining your decor

Don't make design decisions based purely on practicality and resale. Your home should be a best friend you want to hang out with – not your work colleagues or parents.

Listen, I get it – decorating and furnishing a home is not cheap. It’s also not quick (which is why you might want to avoid trends), and most of us don’t want to do it very often. All of which means there’s a very real temptation to “be sensible”. It might be the only time in your life you will be this sensible.

“I will be clever and restrained and create an interior that is refined and elegant and that won’t upset the landlord, or put off any potential buyers,” you think. Three months later, you’re still staring at the same uninspiring sample of oatmeal twist carpet that you can’t quite bring yourself to pay for.

A year later, you’re sitting in the all-white home office that you thought would be a calming space for your busy brain, but you constantly want to nap at your desk.

Two years later you’re preparing dinner in your grey kitchen and wondering where all the excitement went.

This, my friends, is what happens when you make what you think are the proper “grown-up” choices for your decor.

You end up with rooms that don’t feel like yours. Spaces that neither excite nor relax you. Homes that end up costing you more in restaurant and wine-bar bills because you’d rather go out than stay in.

Or you are worn down by all the decisions and, you know, life – and all your best intentions, to make a space you really love, fall by the wayside. I met someone in this position just last week. She moved into a new rental full of ideas for how she could personalise it and really make it her own. Six months on and the beige-ness of it all had seeped into her brain and she had done nothing. She left feeling fired-up and excited about the green sofa she was actually dreaming of, rather than the more neutral option which she had been feeling she should buy because, you know, sensible. And I think it’s telling that while she dreamed of green without giving herself permission to have the green, she had basically done nothing anywhere in the entire apartment.

If you’ve been procrastinating about doing or buying something for ages, do stop and ask yourself why. Is it because you don’t actually want it?

I’m not talking about painting every room in primary colours with vibrant wallpaper (unless, of course, you want to) but I am talking about taking a little bit of time to decide what makes you happy in a space. What will make you feel the way you want to feel in each room? Not what Instagram has defined as good taste. Not what the estate agent thinks is the right thing to do and, please, not what your mother wants. This is your space and it’s about YOU.

Granted this might not be what every future prospective buyer wants to see, but a) haven’t we moved on from decorating to sell, and b) newsflash: buyers always redecorate. You might have painted everything in beige and neutral but the buyer who eventually comes along might be into hot pink. You could be living in a Barbie pink palace and the new owners might just love it.

All I’m saying is, if you’re planning to be in your home for more than five years you owe it to yourself to take it personally.

And that includes the kitchen. Advances in paint mean that you can paint and repaint cupboards or tiles with no problem. You can change handles and colour-drench walls. If you’re not replacing the units, you can dramatically change the look of them. And if you get bored you can redo it.

Your stairs (should you have any) are usually the first thing you and your visitors see when they come in to your home. Shouldn’t they be covered in a colour that makes your heart sing?

And, once again, paint can come to your rescue as you can paint stairs. Paint runners. Hell, paint footprints going all the way up if that’s what makes you happy.

This carpet below immortalised the footprints of the Viennese dancer Tilly Losch and was commissioned by her husband Edward James after she ran from bathroom to bedroom with wet feet.

I once saw a stair carpet that ended in a puddle of colour in the hall and I swore I would do that in my next house. Sadly my narrow Victorian terrace doesn’t have enough space to do it justice, but one day…

Our homes should be a reflection of ourselves. They should have our backs both literally (buy a good mattress) and metaphorically. They should make us feel safe and comfortable but also inspired and creative. When we come in we should feel joy in the colours and immediately relaxed.

Pick the colours and materials that do that for you. Not the ones that everyone else who is offering advice feels are better in the long run. Decorate your home to bring you all the love and support you get from your best mate. That is where you will find your happiness.

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