How to style your home like a BBC Interior Design Master
Tom Power advocates for not buying matching bed linen sets, but mixing things up for a layered, textured look.
Wasn't it a shame when Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen rubbished the lovely, handpainted mural Peter Irvine created for his project in BBC’s ?
It endeared him and his Spanish vibe to me until he bowed out at week five. But it did make him the perfect candidate to discuss channelling summer trends, along with fellow contestant Waterfordian Tom Power who held the fort for the Irish until his elimination at the semi-final.
“I enjoy browsing with no real goal,” Peter tells me from his Belfast home, “which often lands me in a position where I buy things ahead of when I need them.”
But he’s also strategic, buying summer pieces as they launch before the weather turns good, which, he jokes, “may make me look a little crazy, but come summer everyone’s jealous I got the good finds. I live for summer interiors and if I could have it all year round I would. That feeling of warmth and sunlight helps the soul.”
Right now, the minimaluxe trend is one he loves.
“When designing for clients my aim is always to hide away the unnecessary and minimise styling. It makes for a calm life.”
He also cites his love of brown earth tones, but “cheats the idea”, by using warmer whites and sandy neutrals, and he’s loving heritage touches like labelled jars.
“I love the idea of going that little bit further with this trend with pantries, working sinks and gingham fabrics.”
As a self-confessed shopping hobbyist, one of his favourite retail destinations is Folkster in Kilkenny.
“Folkster mainly focuses on bridesmaid dresses but also stocks a selection of beautiful, cultured homeware pieces; definitely, a good day when I get time to pop by.
“As for Northern Ireland where I live, I love visiting On The Square Emporium if I have an unusual item I need to find; garden centres in general, as I’m always looking to bring the outside in with things like terracotta pots, and I’m a lover of TK Maxx. It’s everywhere in our home but the pressure is always on to decide there and then if you want to purchase.”
His advice to summer shoppers is to “gather as you go". "If you shop this way very often you end up with a lovely curation of items rather than a whole attack of the one story. Give your guests’ eyes a reason to dance around and take all the differences in."
He adds: “Texture, texture, texture — it’s so important to explore texture when styling. I personally resist anything plastic where I can, but you can give so much more depth to a room if you mix glass with metal and wood, fabric and stone.
"I have two stone sinks in my own home that most families would find impossible to live with, but if it makes me believe I’m living in a farmhouse in the Italian mountains, then that’s what’s most important.”
Tom Power shares Peter’s view about not being influenced by trends, and while he also likes minimaluxe, he’s also referencing our new-found love of arches and wickerwork.
“I lean more towards classical summer designs,” he explains from his South London base. “I want my home to feel bright and fresh. I crave white curtains billowing in a breeze and easy laid-back living.
“I generally look for items with texture and interesting shapes when I’m shopping for myself. I also try not to limit myself to one place or style. I wouldn’t buy the whole matching bed set, for example, but might just get one item and mix it in with other similar items to create a layered and unique look.
“There is something so refreshing about changing the feel of our homes to reflect the season. From swapping out some cushion covers to putting some summer blooms in a vase; simple things but transformative.”
Tom’s top tip for summer interiors shopping is, he says, to ask yourself how a purchase will fare in other seasons.
“When summer is over will I still have something that I love? And where will I store this? In the winter when this no longer lives outside, where will it live instead?
"I don’t want clutter and try and resolve this before a purchase. Our shed is tiny so something has to be worthy to take up valuable real estate in there.”
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