Nine ways to add essential luxury to your home
Often it’s the little extra touches that give the home a certain something that makes it super comfortable and welcoming. Here are nine items I always think about when designing a new interior for a client.
-
There’s nothing quite so fabulous as slipping into bed and being cossetted by top quality bed linen. You need to be thinking of high thread counts here – look for number that is 200 plus. A 400 thread count will be soft, anything above 800 will be thicker but still soft. I love the bedlinen from Josephine Home (shown above) where you can shop by feel and thread count!
-
Effective lighting controls. Your lights should set a mood in your home – whether it’s to brighten up a dull afternoon, highlight a busy working area or create a relaxing ambience in the evening. Control 4 are experts at creating a ‘scene’ in the home and will personalize your choice for you.
-
Sockets with USB ports. Even if you’re not planning on renovating your home entirely, it’s worth fitting these in the kitchen, study, bedroom and sitting room. You can charge your mobile devices from the USB cable directly and the socket will then go into standby mode when the device reaches full power.
-
Squashy feather and down cushions. Forget anything with foam, this is the way to indulge when you’re resting your weary head. In addition, feather cushions ‘sit’ beautifully and are worth the investment as they’re hardwearing. Mix up cushion sizes to add different visual dimensions to the room.
-
Put your shower controls away from the shower. By which I mean don’t put the shower taps under the shower itself – they should be by the entrance to a walk-in shower. That way you can run the shower a bit without being blasted with cold water first. This is such a simple thing to get right when you’re planning a bathroom and shower room but so many people get it wrong.
-
Why stop at showers for people? If you’re a dog lover, consider having an exterior handheld shower with running hot and cold water, to wash off muddy four-legged friends in comfort. This would be straightforward to fit by the back door and will make the aftermath of walkies much less stressful!
-
Underfloor heating. When you’re renovating a room and redoing the flooring, seriously consider the delights of underfloor heating. It frees up floor space, avoids cold spots, is about 25% more efficient than using radiators and warms up tiled areas.
-
Fit a five amp electrical circuit. So you can turn table lamps on and off from the doorway. Floor boxes are also good as they do away with the hazards and unsightliness of trailing cables.
-
Passive infra red sensors. Have these fitted in your bathroom and bedroom for night-time trips to the loo and you won’t have to turn on a bright bedside lamp – they give sufficient glow to light your way (and your partner will carry on slumbering peacefully).
Image credits:
Bed linen by Josephine Home
USB socket by RS Electrical Suppliers
Pillows by Soak and Sleep - duck feather and down from £18
Bedroom by Interiors by Sarah Ward