Designers see new desire for colour and character in functional rooms, with rising sales of vintage glassware and accessories

Carpenter and kitchen designer François Damseaux used to get annoyed by all the black, grey and white in British homes. “I come from South Africa, where the colours are really vibrant, so it’s hard. For so long everyone had a grey Shaker kitchen, then it was a blue kitchen, then green if you were a bit bold.”

Finally though, Damseaux’s clients at his Sussex-based kitchen-design business Wood Works are opening up to colourful ideas. “I told them: look at what you wear, where you eat, where you travel – look at what colours you actually like.”

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Don’t be afraid of reupholstering, use paint to transform everything, and collect affordable accessories to take from rental to rental. Designers on the home improvements they have made and loved themselves

Your home is your castle, but how can you make it look like one on a budget? Interior designers share the bargain renovation hacks they are most proud of in their own homes.

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Dusty warm tones and a passion for travel led this home makeover

What began as a crush when Vanessa Boz discovered a Georgian town house in London’s Primrose Hill, soon developed into a passionate love affair, albeit blighted slightly by lockdown, Covid and London house prices. Relocating from New York, Boz, her Turkish husband and their three children were looking to put down roots for the next chapter in their lives and this house proved fertile ground.

Unchanged for more than three decades, the Grade II property was ripe for a new family to flourish in after re-energising every corner and cupboard. Boz, who was born in France and has North African and Italian roots, is a global wanderer. As a Parisian student she took a summer job with Air France and found herself crisscrossing the world, from Tokyo to Cairo. The experience awoke in her a deep love of travel and exploration, and she founded BozAround , an independent travel agency.

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Smart thinking has transformed an old school near Malmö into a magical n atmospheric home

Hassle Skola is the Wiking family’s home in a converted school building in southern Sweden. Filled with vintage design, cocooning colours and an abundance of flowers, Sophie and Gustaf’s house is the embodiment of the Scandinavian dream.

Sophie is a floral designer creating installations for weddings, events, and museums, while Gustaf works at a tech company. The couple used to live in Malmö, but always wanted a quieter lifestyle in the countryside. “I wanted to grow my own flowers for my business and I wanted to live in a brick house with high ceilings,” says Sophie.

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A magnificent art deco house in France is now back to full strength

We weren’t aware that an offer had already been made on the property,” says graphic designer and Lille native Tiphaine Richards as she tells me about her family’s home. “When we pulled up outside I was so impressed by the grandeur that I had to see it.” They proceeded with the viewing even though the estate agent had called to cancel their appointment. It clearly hadn’t been inhabited for years, but the grand art deco house was so stunning they could overlook the significant amount of mould they saw growing on the wall when they stepped inside. Tiphaine and Cedric da Rocha instead appreciated the luxury black and gold Portoro marble and extravagant design flourishes in the entrance. “It wasn’t what we were expecting at all, because you usually find big entrances like this in hotels,” Cedric says.

The wide staircase is marble with a chrome railing, which adds to the elaborate design. The detail that had gone into the planning was still evident despite the state of disrepair. “All the original features were still there, including the ceiling lights in most places,” says Tiphaine. When they eventually ended up being able to buy the place, she set to work tracking down sympathetic additions, like the made-to-measure light fittings. “The electrician put in some plastic switches at first and they looked so ugly we had to get some made!”

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A Parisian architect has remodelled his retro home in Rio, mixing original features with tropical touches

Ten years ago Jean de Just, a French architect, moved from Paris to Rio de Janeiro to work on a hotel in the city. The idea was to stay for a short period during the construction work, but de Just was won over by the landscape, climate, spontaneity and luminosity of Rio. Today, a confirmed resident of the city, he shares a 1950s apartment in Ipanema with his boyfriend, also an architect, Laurent Croissandeau.

The couple chose to move to an older building in Ipanema – and to retain as many of its original characteristics as possible, particularly the solid wood parquet flooring, high ceilings and retro kitchen. Then they filled it up with artwork and furniture that they had found in antique shops and at auctions.

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The social housing that’s won a RIBA award, a new book on black designers and an exhibition of inventions to create a better world

Though architect studio Apparata missed out on the 2023 Stirling Prize, it’s great to see A House for Artists win a RIBA award for affordable housing. Read more about this sensational design in this month’s news.

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Jürgen Blondeel and Mike Cork dug the floor out from under their terraced house, flooding it with air and light

A“bunker” isn’t usually at the top of homeowner wishlists, but in Jürgen Blondeel and Mike Cork’s case it made sense to explore ways they could use the sloping topography on which their south London home sits to meet their needs.

Back when they began deciding what to do with it, the ground floor consisted of a narrow hallway, small living room, tiny kitchen and dining room. “It was all really poky,” says Jürgen. They refurbished the property and made it liveable but, for the first few years, the couple only used a small section of the house and ate meals on their laps in front of the television upstairs. “The kitchen wasn’t really big enough for both of us to be in at the same time, so when we converted the loft, one of the bedrooms became a TV room because I don’t like having the telly in the living room.”

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From annoying door knobs to a smart eye-level oven, tastemakers share their design triumphs and disasters

Founder of lifestyle platform the Vitamin D Project

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