Check in for hotel tips for your home
THE great get away. A hotel suite delivers the functions of a small apartment — sleeping, working, relaxing, entertaining, storage, bathing and even dining. In terms of multi-tasking, every metre must work hard. Somehow even the most modest travel hotel gets it right more often than not, while the chaos of a standard family master at home plunges to the lows of a jaded kip.
Take more than a receipt away from that hotel stay, using our interior styling tips for home hospitality. Placement, symmetry, relaxing colour schemes and streamlined furniture: style tourism could shoot your bedroom up to a four star rating.
Most hotel rooms are set up for two, and no matter how eclectic the décor, there will be a practical arrangement of the bed, furnishings and accessories underscoring the aesthetics. The ergonomics are perfectly thought out to get from one spot to another without fuss or collisions.
For the major furnishings surrounding the bed, go for symmetrical arrangements on either side. Centre the divan on the longest wall, frame it with identical bedside tables or lockers and set these with matching table lamps or wall mounted lights.
Floating furniture, with supports tucked up below the frame, is currently very popular. Look out for bedsteads with integrated shelving running out from the headboard to form beside surfaces and lockers. Floor lighting under the platform is very Manhattan, throwing a soft ambient light to find your partner, or (if you want to be more mundane about it) for simply fishing out your slippers.
The bed is the focal point in any bedroom. Using a statement bed or a simple divan, simple attention to detail can create that opulent, shoulder lifting feel of a top class overnight stay. An oversized headboard with a vertical thrust is perfect for physically inflating the presence of the bed. Use the wall itself, find indulgent, designer wallpaper and run it floor to ceiling behind the bed, bannering its status. Textured papers work well here as the raking light from the bedside tables will play with their three dimensional textural luxury.
If you fancy some Parisian bohemian flirt, a canopy is easily installed either directly behind the bed as single, generously luffed curtain drifting from a brass pole, or taken over the entire bed on two parallel poles, running along the top and end of the bed. Sheers, or sheers over an opaque material spilling to the floor are positively naughty, recalling stolen weekends away with the bed dressings firmly closed.
The area over the head of the bed is an ideal spot for a great painting or odd numbered group (1s and 3s) of artworks. Again, think symmetrical arrangements for a harmonious finish and if you have a curtain behind the bed, set paintings boldly onto and into the material as Henry VIII might have done.
In suggesting the room has more than sleeping in mind, the addition of an occasional chair can work in almost any sized bedroom. Fluff it up to a reading nook with the addition of a standard lamp and footstool, or choose a gorgeous single chair. Vintage dining chairs are often orphaned at antique sales for the €50 mark and a simple tub chair has the embrace of an armchair in a smaller frame. An inexpensive upholstery job can marry your chair to the other soft furnishings in your chosen them or material.
One staple of hotel décor I would leave at reception, is the panoramic reflection of a vast mirror at the end of the bed over a glass topped table for preening and scribing. Certainly too much bare faced reality for me at 7am on a Monday. Still, the dressing table seen in traditional penthouse suites, placed on any alternative wall can multi-function both as an occasional writing desk and as a quiet spot for a woman to get her make-up in place while he cheerfully dominates the en-suite.
Hotel stays are sold as an experience, and where the surroundings are relatively bland and safe, texture and linen can stoke the senses. Sheets can be pure white, crisp to the eye but must be buttery to the touch. A 300 thread count is a good starting point, and in white can be teamed with a sophisticated layering of spreads and throws. With the bed made, transform it to a chaise with a generous bank of cushions and bolsters, in a variety of materials and patterns that are truly your own to lounge on by day.
When and if you change out your carpet, invest in quality underlay for a receptive spring under bare feet. A thick rug will take the pound out of a wood floor and can be used to accent areas or spread beneath the bed leaving room for your toes to land in luxury.
This is real life and your room, and inevitably your stuff is in it, but does it all have to be out on every surface? Wardrobes, drawers, under-bed sliders and discreet blind storage (with hiding doors) can be pressed into service with a good clear out and organisation. Be more exacting about what you have on show. Honour your spirit by surrounding yourself with beautiful, carefully chosen things that have real meaning for you. If you love that framed print, celebrate it with a gallery light remotely operated from the entryway.
The bathroom in a hotel has a spa-esque feel largely because the lighting in a windowless room is tightly managed, and there’s nothing in there but cleansing products in embroidered bottles and plump, searing white towels.
The plumbing and cistern are discreetly out of sight and the lighting made to flatter rather than deliver a useful reflection. Improving your storage and updating your towels regularly are simple things you can do to inject everyday decadence to a domestic en-suite. That five-star feel can be attained with surprising ease.
Neutral, calming colours are the mainstay of the vast majority of hotels. This is your decompression zone, and you can hardly let your guard down when visually bullied by over excited, pillars of colour. That doesn’t mean to say you have to stick to the motorway motel drudgery of coffee and cream and faux leather headboards.
There’s a lot to be said for being free of eye snagging, busy designs too. Pare back on the pattern to blocked areas such as cushions, feature walls and slip covers you can easily change for washing or renovating. Again, this approach is a potential money saver, as you only need a few metres of the best materials to inject colour, texture and class. Light walls and rangy mirrors will amplify available light.
Every hotel online has a room viewing page, where you can see just how far top hoteliers go in high contemporary style or traditional tailoring. Take a look at the Rococo splendour of the Four Season George V in Paris www.fourseason.com, the opulent swagger of Claridges in Mayfair, London, a diamond of Art Deco, www.claridges.co.uk, and our own Clarence Hotel in Dublin, stuffed with bespoke Irish pieces and every room an individual education in design. www.theclarence.ie.
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