ASK MAD ABOUT THE HOUSE
GOT A DECORATING DILEMMA? KATE WATSON-SMYTH, RED’S COLUMNIST AND INTERIORS EXPERT, SHARES HER WISDOM
Your decorating queries answered
Q How do I create a cohesive look in my home when I have a mix of furniture and accessories that I have accumulated?
A If home is a word that describes a collection of items – from furniture to mementoes – that you have brought together within four walls, then how do you make sure it all ties together? We don’t buy everything all at once as we might do with an outfit. Instead, we buy some pieces, inherit others, possibly ‘salvage’ one or two from a friend or relative, or even, as I have done on more than one occasion, ‘rescue’ something from the side of the road. The answer lies in ‘red thread’, a Scandinavian term to describe something that follows a theme.
The idea isn’t new; in Greek mythology, Theseus followed a red thread given to him by Ariadne to find his way out of the Minotaur’s cave, and it has been used in various ways ever since. But finding your red thread, often something that you do instinctively, will allow you to discover a common theme in your interior design and, from there, create that cohesive look.
You may have a red thread in your wardrobe – a certain shape of trouser, style of shoe or type of earring that is recognisably your style. It’s the same for houses. There is the unconscious theme that runs through all you purchase – once identified, it can make shopping easier, as you know what you’re looking for – and there’s the deliberate theme, where you actively seek out pieces to bind the rooms of a home together.
So, you might have a particular colour that appears in different tones and quantities in every room; mine starts with the burgundy stair runner and the pink chaise longue and leads to the palest pink walls of my bedroom. But my soft furnishings always include velvet. I like antiques and vintage furniture and those run throughout my house, too.
In an open-plan kitchen with a marble worktop, think about a marble candlestick on the dining room table, a marble coffee table in the sitting room and make sure your metallics link throughout. It’s not just about continuing colours between all the rooms, but looking at textures, materials, styles and shapes. If your sitting room tends towards mid-century modern, you will need to bring some of that into your modern rustic kitchen with its painted chairs and vintage table or there will be a disconnect between the two.
My belief is that you are already spooling your red thread around your home, you just haven’t identified it yet.