I struggled to make decorating decisions until I discovered this trick for finding my style

Strategist and content creator Francesca Swan is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on the concept of 'Everything' and what makes a home special to you. See the rest of her articles here.

Greetings from my little corner of the internet, and although ongoing chaos means I am back to writing this from my bed-desk, excitingly it is now just a week or so until our renovation and build is completed. After two long years, every room will FINALLY be in use.

In the meantime, it’s back to our living room. In my last installment, I told the torturous tale of the many lives of this long-awaited jewel in our grand plan. Thankfully this week, it’s onto the fun stuff – design!

Just make a decision already, Francesca

Procrastination is the devil’s work when it comes to renovations; when schedules, budgets and creative energy are a challenge, taking three months to decide on a light fitting is neither helpful or productive.

Faffing, falling headfirst down very deep and irrelevant rabbit holes, agonising over decisions for an unhealthy amount of time and panic buying; all of these are standard, and as you can imagine, not very helpful ways that my wonderful ADHD brain works, especially when under pressure to make a lot of decisions quickly for a very long period of time.

The “sod-it” tax quickly emerged as a significant cost of this dithering. That fateful late-night click to buy on one of the many baskets built over weeks of obsessive research missions was most often followed by loud growls of annoyance, when said deliveries were then inevitably hauled back to our local post office for yet another return.

My Everything forever style as a shield against time-wasting

It’s taken me a long time and countless mistakes to get a confident handle on exactly what my interior style is. After much deliberation, I realised it always starts with my Everything pieces; the unique items, finishes and brands that feel innately personal, inspiring and true to me, reflecting my beliefs, curiosities and how I want to experience the world. They stop me in my tracks and give me a much-needed moment of joy, connecting me firmly with my heart and home.

The invention of my Everything Test helped me understand this more clearly and define my taste to confidently make decisions. My Everything heroes all make me stop to intentionally notice, think and feel, so these are the things I now use to guide me: Books, Magazines and Art, Natural Materials, One Of A Kind Pieces and Everyday Essentials.

Our living room has been three years in the making, so of all the rooms in our home, it’s the best example of the change in my thinking and a proud showcase for the Everything pieces that are truest to me. It’s also consequently our favourite room in the house. Allow me to explain…

The right colour for the right room

First and most importantly, picking the colour.

Our vast Victorian bay window looks onto an uninterrupted landscape of trees, and we are gifted with plenty of light all year-round. From the first second I saw the view and naturally soft green glow of the early afternoon sunshine, I knew I wanted to lean in even further and drench it sage green.

I’m infamous for my misjudgment with colour and endless paint charts fill me with abject horror. As a result, I’ve spent a lot of time whittling down the myriad choices to find my failsafe go-to.

I’m now fiercely loyal to the amazing Paint and Paper Library; so much so, that I’ve used them to decorate our entire apartment.

Their colour palette is a sophisticated yet joyful collection inspired by historical, traditional and contemporary interiors from across the world and it’s simply impossible to go wrong with – essential for my lack of confidence. Even though I’m no longer allowed to decorate due to a mix-up with matt and gloss paint, every single decorator who has used the paint on our project says it’s hands down the best quality and easiest they’ve ever worked with.

Committed to a colour drench, I equally didn’t want to lose the structure and period detail of our high ceilings, delicately crafted coving and ornate ceiling rose.

Thankfully, Paint and Paper Library’s range of Architectural Colours offers a finely nuanced collection of light tones and restful neutrals, with gradations of five tones for each shade designed to harmoniously showcase period features and work with complex light.

I immediately gravitated to Wattle, a gentle, green-based neutral with a natural, calming quality. The darker Wattle V is the perfect base for my gallery wall, whilst the slightly lighter Wattle III distinguishes the ceilings and coving without adding an extra hue.

The finished effect is subtle yet sublime; an expressively rich canvas for colour, texture and our curation of beloved pieces to shine in an utterly serene atmosphere.

Sofas for design and comfort

Ahhh, the inestimable joys of finding the perfect sofas. Having got it disastrously wrong with our last choice – they were heaven to look at, hell to relax on – this time around we were thankfully much clearer about what we wanted.

It wasn’t simply about buying a comfortable and beautiful sofas to fill an empty space. I needed pieces to complete a room that is a deeply personal reflection of both us and our life together. Every object is part of our story and the furniture needed to truly belong as an authentic part of that.

On top of that, investing in a sofa is one of the most emotionally and financially significant aspects of designing a living room. Without question, it must make you feel Everything and earn its place. Discovering the wonderful Cozmo allowed me to achieve exactly that and create a suite of furniture which is both gorgeous and built to last.

Choosing furniture is as important as living with it and in my opinion, can’t be done purely online. I loved visiting the uniquely innovative Cozmo showroom; uniting design with practicality, it stands out as a completely different experience from the overwhelming and often unhelpful standard we may all be familiar with.

Every aspect is considered to inspire and inform, with clever tools to make personalisation simple and enjoyable. Of course you can sit, compare models and experience fabrics but I particularly loved their oversized fabric samples to test colours and materials against different models. I could easily understand not only how pieces look but also make me feel. Safe to say, I most definitely lost track of time having fun experimenting.

The living room is layered, with full-height bookcases, the gallery wall and storytelling objects galore. The sofas needed stature and presence, whilst still allowing the architecture and surrounding pieces to breathe. With a divine selection on offer, I relied on my Everything instinct, which drew me to the Float Range.

Float’s clean, yet soft structural lines and low, generous profile give presence without heaviness, bringing a subtle contemporary contrast against the original period features. They work perfectly with the high ceilings, anchoring the room and balancing the bookcases and artwork.

A matching pair of Float Two Seater Sofas sit purposefully in front of both bookcases, facing the art book shelving and creating my much-sought-after symmetry. Rich Dark Brown velvet brings luxurious depth that anchors the sofas against the vivid energy of the books.

They are even more beloved as assembling them together was the first time in history we didn’t end up in a screaming argument. We both have mild PTSD from a Ross from Friends “PIVOT” type experience – manoeuvring a sofa up three narrow, winding flights of outdoor steps in the dark, with the helpful addition of torrential rain.

By comparison, unboxing these was a positively Disney-esque experience. I half expected animated bluebirds to flutter from the packaging, and rabbits happily bounce out from behind our beautiful new sofas.

I’ve added two Float Square Ottomans for both contrast and flexibility. The warmth of the vibrant Rust velvet brings a bright pop of colour and they provide a flexible, modular solution for every scenario from stretching out in front of a film together to extra seating for guests.

Carefully chosen Cozmo scatter and side cushions in sage green cotton, mustard velvet and midnight blue velvet introduce a final styling touch of comfort and colourful accents of texture and shape that unite each element.

The Eggshell White Cut Out Nesting Tables were a no-brainer. This ingenious design is both practical and versatile, so we can easily separate and move them to work with the way we live. A perfect example of form and function in action, they’ve already become a talking point with visitors. And, if they stop my other half balancing a glass of red wine or Guinness on improvised coasters anywhere near my immaculate new sofas, I consider them a complete success. I may still make him sit on a throw though.

These are intentionally and undeniably Forever Pieces. Deep comfort meets precise proportion and practicality, creating pieces to be lived with, not just looked at.

The timeless design, quality and useful option of interchangeable covers mean they can evolve with our space over time, rather than be replaced. Despite the fact I will never need to buy new furniture for this room, Cozmo has my eternal devotion and I can’t recommend them highly enough if you need a new sofa.

The final flourish is my one-of-a-kind Pierre Frey upholstered chair. We bought it thirteen years ago for £20 on Facebook Marketplace and whilst I don’t know the brand, it’s unquestionably a design classic. It was a huge headache to bring with us when we moved, knowing we would not have space for it in our new apartment. I fought fiercely to keep it in our storage unit, adamant I would eventually find a home for it.

Its day finally came when we had the offer accepted on our new apartment. Priorities, as always, solidly in place, I immediately set about sourcing my dream fabric. I had it reupholstered in a roll of incredible Pierre Frey fabric, sourced for an absolute steal on eBay. Of course, it then sat in storage for another eighteen months, taunting me with a constant reminder of my ridiculous expectations about just how long our huge project would take. When we finally brought it home and placed in the huge bay window, I cried with joy.

Why the right rug matters

To misquote Jane Austen, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a very big room needs a very big rug.

After a surprisingly short search, I instantly fell in love with Villa Nova’s Harley Ochre handtufted rug. This striking, linear patterned design is inspired by the bands of pattern and colour taken from the pots of the legendary ceramic artist Kyra Cane.

It fills the space beautifully and grounds the room, as all good rugs should. Warming tones of rich cream, with contrasting yarns of taupe, slate and ochre complement the sage green walls and nod to the warm pollen hallway. It adds a vibrant and luxurious finishing touch, neatly tying the open plan space together. Job done!

My one-off coffee table of dreams

Finding a coffee table to fill the large space we needed was both a design and budget headache of gargantuan proportions. Long story short, I made my own; bringing to life a longheld dream of showcasing my thirty-year Vogue Magazine collection, stacked to support a giant redundant glass shower screen and reinforced by a slim Carrara marble and white metal Jasper Morrison for Vitra coffee table, yet another eBay gem.

I love it beyond words, and it creates the ultimate statement for the huge room, also handily doubling up as storage. Again, mission accomplished and a small fortune saved.

Art, books and more books

I was always intent on wall-to-wall shelves and a packed ceiling-height gallery wall, so that art, whether framed or in the form of books would be the star of the show; a rich kaleidoscope of colour and personal, story-led imagery.

The gallery wall and shelves will constantly evolve and change. Much to the chagrin of my long-suffering other half, I have a magpie eye and Imelda Marcos-worthy obsession for buying art and books of all genres to add to our existing collection of art, fashion, photography, architecture and interior books.

Overall, I choose books for their content, however, am also most definitely guilty of judging them by their covers. These gems face out on the shallow shelves to be properly appreciated.

Exhibition posters are a particular favourite; whether a personal souvenir or vintage piece, they capture a specific moment in time and graphically snapshot the artist in question, sparking thoughts of when it was bought and the opinions and experience behind it.

From a rare Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 1981 print and Marsden Hartley abstract to 1978 David Hockney exhibition catalogues and tomes on Paul Klee, Surrealism, Annie Leibovitz, Picasso, David LaChapelle and countless interior bibles; they all hold proud places in my ever-increasing collection and create a visual feast and fascinating library I can lose myself in for hours; true Everything pieces in every way possible.

Blinded by the light

Whilst our grand bay windows and sweeping view provide plenty of light, this is both a blessing and a curse. Blinds are essential to protect our beloved pieces from being faded into obscurity and a far more elegant solution than towels hastily thrown down as a desperate protective shield. Again, using my Everything guardrails, I went for a tried and tested solution.

We have used and adored Graham & Brown Roman Blinds in both our bedroom and bathroom; not only is their made-to-measure service foolproof (even for my notoriously unreliable measurements, which I now rigorously triple check), but this style also works seamlessly with the deep architrave, showcasing it without overpowering.

The wide range of colours allowed me to perfectly match to the Wattle window frames with Stone woven linen. The slubs and detail of the fabric play with the ever-changing light adding a soft natural texture that blends with the bay window.

Pleasingly, all blinds in the apartment are now consistent, adding another vital design essential to my little black book of Everything solutions.

Go big for a statement light or go home

The high ceilings and magnificently intricate ceiling rose deserved something equally grand. Coincidentally, I have a well-known penchant for a statement light. My Arteriors chandelier was an instinctive Everything buy and has been hanging since the early stages of the project. It’s been a beacon of hope, as the room morphed through transformations from dumping ground to kitchen/diner/office/living room, etc, etc!

It’s an unexpectedly modern contrast against the ornately carved original rose, demonstrating yet another handy trick in my tool-kit. If something feels like it is veering too heavily in one stylistic direction, I add something completely different. For me, this has developed into a very satisfying technique to avoid cliché and keep our home feeling unique.

A living room filled with my Everything

I think this room fills me with such joy as it shows how much I have learnt about interiors throughout our two renovations. I started with zero knowledge and confidence, yet through trial and error, research and a short interior design course at KLC, I’ve now built a reasonably serviceable knowledge of what works both practically and aesthetically.

Most importantly, I’ve also learnt about my own style. This was the hardest journey of all, and the main mantra I now continually go back to is this: “Does this belong in my story? If so, it belongs in my home”.

Trend, matching, convention, rules? Forget them all. One of my greatest joys in designing my home is creating unexpected and intriguing conversations between objects I adore that shouldn’t work together yet somehow do.

The lesson? Listen to your Everything intuition to define your style and your Forever pieces will find you. With them, you will slowly create a home you will always love.