Long live the avocado bathroom!
Taste is a matter of, well, taste. One man’s dream leather reclining chair is another’s sweaty, squeaky hell.
there are those who think taste means harmonies of whites, off-whites, warm white and, perhaps, white with a touch of grey; others would be bored to bits with such a bland palette.
It was reported last week that, as a nation, we have come to an agreement on what sort of decor is dead to us.
top of the list is the loo rug — a big hit in the seventies and more than a little offputting for all the obvious reasons.
We’ve also gone off avocado bathrooms, beloved of that same era, as well as floral chintz (ditto), animal print, shabby chic, shag pile carpets and wicker indoors, according to the survey by samsung.
It’s an attack on the seventies floral, fluffy, flamboyant look.
But hold on just a minute, because isn’t that meant to be back in vogue?
aren’t we wafting around in diaphanous florals, and isn’t wicker and rattan everywhere, in lampshades, beds, armchairs, storage baskets and chic little handbags?
even avocado bathrooms are back in some quarters. tastemaker-in-chief and designer supremo Nicky Haslam tells me his clients are asking for them.
What’s more, in his own bathroom he has — shock horror — a toilet rug plus seat cover in a crisp white, although they’re not fluffy.
He also thinks wicker furniture indoors works and is ‘actually rather good’. so what does Haslam regard as the real interiors horrors?
‘Cushions with “Love” written on them, or the Union Jack. Leather reclining chairs. Baths in the middle of the room. Pale Chinese rugs,’ he says. ‘Central overhead lights. tiny chandeliers. Pastel towels.’
Daring interior decorator Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen believes that we British rather rejoice in bad taste.
He thinks that at our most belligerent, we use our homes to make ‘anti-taste’ and ‘anti- class’ statements. Perhaps he’s referring to those dog-eared sofas, jaunty garden gnomes or our penchant for humorous downstairs loos.
‘We are a funny old nation. We like to show we’re independent. there’s always a bit of kitsch in the corner,’ he says.
What about the matter of class? Is it still wrapped up in our notions of what constitutes good taste? ‘ taste and class have long been confused,’ says LlewelynBowen. ‘taste should be classless. style is something that you need to be clever or wealthy to achieve.’ Llewelyn-Bowen has spent the past 20 years reviving unloved or even unlovely looks. He cites his biggest achievement as his flocked wallpaper and attributes Philippe starck with reinventing chandeliers and garden gnomes. and how about those avocado bathrooms?
‘avocado is a ghastly colour, but champagne bathrooms are even worse,’ he says. ‘ But paint effects are coming back. We like things to be softer and more romantic. We’re flirting with the eighties.’
animal print? ‘It can be super sexy. It’s a quality thing. If it’s poor quality, it will be a bit auntie Rita.’
this all sounds complicated. as design guru stephen Bayley puts it, ‘taste is an everyday mystery. there is no explaining it, but nor is there any way of avoiding it’. It’s best, perhaps, to simply do your own thing and have some fun with your home.