A design for life
GIBBERD TELLS LISA SALMON FIVE BASIC PRINCIPLES FOR CREATING A BEAUTIFUL
HAVING a beautiful home has never felt more important than during the past 18 months when we’ve been forced to spend more time inside our own four walls – and you may have longed to transform yours into a beautiful modern living space.
But if a lack of know-how or limited finances held you back, it’s not too late to get started. For design guru Matt Gibberd insists it can be easy to create a gorgeous home without spending a fortune, just by implementing five simple design principles.
Matt, who is a founding director of the design-led estate agency The Modern House, has just written the book A Modern Way to Live, in which he outlines the five principles and how to best use them to create a beautiful home.
Here he gives us a taste of exactly how to do it...
DESIGN GURU MATT
1. SPACE
“Try to create an open and bright space for socialising, and a womblike space for retreating and sleeping. Even in a studio flat, creating different zones using a curtain, sliding partition or bookcase on castors can greatly enhance the experience of occupying the space.”
You can create the illusion of space with mirrors and reflective surfaces, he says, by using natural niches for built-in cupboards, and continuing the same material from inside to out. Consider re-hanging doors the other way around to open up rooms, and place radiators beneath windows to free-up valuable wall space for furniture.
And don’t forget the kitchen! Matt advises homeowners to think of the kitchen as a collection of pieces of furniture rather than a set of units, and to avoid wall cupboards if possible, as the space above them becomes redundant.
And then there’s the bin... “A freestanding dustbin hangs around the kitchen like a foul-smelling Dalek, tripping people up and overflowing with the remains of yesterday’s dinner,” declares Matt. “Try to build in the rubbish solutions – the space beneath the sink is always a useful spot for food waste, for example.”
2. LIGHT
Matt says it’s better to consider fixed glazing with a conventional door alongside, rather than bifold doors. “A picture window – free of obtrusive handles and mechanisms – does a better job of framing the views.”
He suggests avoiding Roman blinds and pelmets, and hanging curtains from extra-wide poles. And think about how the light moves around your home. “Sitting areas benefit from the enhanced light of a south-facing window,” explains Matt, “whereas parts of the home that are seldom used, such as utility rooms, are best placed on the northern side. The eastern side is ideal for sleeping, and dining spaces work well on the western side, where they capture the radiant embers of the day.”
If your home has more than one level, he suggests thinking about inverting the layout.
“You might never get used to the idea of declaring ‘I’m going downstairs to bed’,” he admits, “but in most other respects it makes a lot of sense, unlocking the light and views for the living spaces, and using the naturally darker areas lower down the building for sleeping.”
But although light is crucial for a home, Matt says dark contrasts are vital. He explains: “If you walk down a shadowy corridor, for example, when you arrive at a sun-soaked space it feels all the more bright and uplifting.”
And on a brighter note, Matt says that if you can look straight into the filament of a lightbulb then it’s probably in the wrong place. “Shun ceiling lights in favour of task lighting, wall sconces and plug-in lamps that provide a gentler glow and better promote the circadian rhythm,” he suggests.
3. MATERIALS
Matt says householders should think carefully about the things they come into physical contact with every day, including light switches, door handles or kitchen worktops.
“Are these as tactile as they should be?” he asks, pointing out that natural materials will always age more gracefully than man-made plastics and laminates. “Try to preserve original materials wherever possible, as they tell the individual story of a building and induce less anxiety than new ones,” he advises.
Natural materials like marble and glazed tiles have a gentle sheen and are easy to keep clean, he says, and clay is a moisture-absorbing alternative to conventional plaster. It’s also worth thinking about the environmental impact of the materials you use, he says, pointing out that cork, for example, is naturally regenerative because the tree grows back its bark, and farms provide some excellent sources of eco-friendly insulation, including sheep’s wool and straw bales.
4. NATURE
A connection to nature is vital for wellbeing, so even those who are
looking for somewhere to live in a city should try to find a flat that overlooks a communal garden, or has deep window ledges that can hold plants, suggests Matt.
If you’re lucky enough to have outdoor space, he suggests combining borders of shrubs and flowers with decking, compacted gravel, flint, stone setts or herringbones of brick.
Inside, stock up on the greenery. “Indoor plants positively impact our wellbeing, lowering blood pressure and increasing attentiveness, but they can also serve a practical purpose, helping to demarcate space, provide screening, absorb sound or add a flourish to an unremarkable room,” says Matt.
5.
Instead of fitted carpets, Matt suggests trying loose-laid natural floor coverings such as sisal and jute, with a gap between the edging and the wall. Use rugs in layers and let them fill the natural spaces between furniture.
And to avoid making an interior feel
DECORATION
one-dimensional, he says it is a good idea to mix furniture and objects from different eras and places. “Rather than putting a set of matching chairs around the kitchen table, for example, throw a bench or a wobbly Windsor chair into the mix,” he suggests.
“Surround yourself with the objects that have the most meaning to you personally and tell the story of your life – family heirlooms, or things that remind you of a particular experience.”
He advises householders to avoid using a flat screen TV as a room’s centrepiece, and instead organise furniture traditionally around the hearth. Group furniture and objects together in odd numbers, he says, explaining: “If things are arranged asymmetrically, the eye is forced to move around them to fully absorb what it sees.”
And finally, he adds: “When choosing what to buy for your home, try to follow your instincts rather than any preconceived notions about what constitutes good taste. Many of the best things have not been celebrated on Instagram, can’t be found in textbooks, and don’t cost a great deal.”
A Modern Way to Live, right, by Matt Gibberd is published by Penguin Life, £25