CONRAN WISDOM
Follow Terence Conran’s philosophy of ‘plain, simple, useful’ to give your home a stylish new look
Be creative with lighting
When you’re buying a new home make sure you see each room in natural light, observing how it falls and what it highlights.
For evening and night-time, think about uplighters, downlighters and spotlights – all have their qualities to bring different effects and moods to a room.
If you have an object or collection you particularly like, illuminate it so it glows on a shelf. Create pinpoints of light.
In my room I get an overall light from small LEDs, my umbrella lamp has a ball of light that spreads over the ceiling, and there’s a chandelier with dandelion clocks, as well as side lamps. I put them on at different times. Play around with light, it will change a room.
Buying the perfect table
The super-long teak table in Terence’s flat had to come up the fire-escape stairs and only just made it into his living room. If you are thinking of buying an extra-large table, check it will fit through the front door and whether the legs will come off or if it can be broken down into sections. Here’s his other advice on choosing a quality design:
Looking under a table tells you all sorts of things. Ensure that the legs are fitted well and see what supports there are – mine has crossrails – to stop it from dipping or cracking, particularly if it’s a long table.
Check the quality of workmanship: look at the joints to see how well they’re constructed.
Timber moves, especially if it gets damp and then has the heat of the sun on it.
Teak is good because it’s such an oily timber – water doesn’t get into it.