Luxurious

Carol O’Callaghan says comfort the soul with a little bit of indulgent interior softness and a touch of luxury.

SNUGGLY blankets and hot water bottles on the sofa have yet to give way to sun parasols and balmy evenings watching the sun set, while sipping something long and cool.

So was there ever a better time to introduce a little bit of indulgent interior softness and over-the-top luxury to comfort the soul and arrest the eye?

Interiors trends have been enticing us that way for a while now with vivid colour, a growing taste for the ornate and an almost seductive richness fuelled of late by the revival of burlesque and a rather rapidly growing interest in risqué novels laced with descriptions of sumptuous boudoirs.

Creating your own interiors look to match puts the emphasis on voluptuous lines in furniture, luxury upholstery, ornate scrolls and finials and graphic prints on wallpapers and soft furnishings.

One thing though, you won’t exactly find yourself transported back in time to the over-the-top Baroque or Rococo periods, from which this looks takes its nod, so I can promise you there will be no additions to the loathsome dusting routine.

This look takes the ornate and pares it right back for the modern interiors buff, often taking a single piece of furniture or lighting, or even a statement piece accessory, and slotting it into an otherwise highly contemporary interior.

It draws on the traditional and the pretentious, prompting it to be called by the equally pretentious name: nouveau traditional.

Don’t cringe, and don’t dismiss it. With a spot of pretention comes some wit too, thanks to the cleverness of designers like Phillipe Starck. Just consider how he took the design of a Louis XVI chair, reproduced its lines in a modern material and aptly named it The Ghost.

It became one of the most coveted chairs of recent years to gather around your dining table. Fundamentally it’s a plastic chair, something many of us wouldn’t dream of having in our environment, even in the garden, but its beauty lies in how the designer took a tried and tested design which has survived centuries, gave it the modern treatment with plastic and made it a hit.

If plastic is a step too far from your comfort zone, consider an ornate bed frame and then add some plain, modern linens.

Or opt for a high headboard, luxuriously upholstered in velvet with accompanying bed linen made in damask printed fabrics with pleats and buttons and lacy edges.

An outsize chandelier will look fabulous in any interior, but the vogue for black versions can make a strong statement in an otherwise stark interior. Opt for at least a five-lighted version with hanging crystals to catch the light.

Don’t forget the must-have accessory: the candelabrum. You’ll find an abundance of silver-plated versions in second-hand furniture shops, discarded by recipients of silver wedding anniversary gifts for whom the relentless application of silver polish became as unwelcome a chore as dusting.

If you pick one up, site it on the mantelpiece. Better still, a matching pair with each on the mantelpiece in front of a mirror hung on the chimney breast. The reflection of the glowing candles will cast a beautiful warming light around your room.

¦ Next week we’re looking at metal.