Summer style
Interior designer Darren Palmer serves
up spot-on tips for smart-casual homes.Photography by Felix Forest (this page) & Will Horner. Palette stylingby Lauren Barakat. For Where to Buy, see page 196.M
any people assume that my home is as
polished as my on-screen veneer; they think
that my aesthetic must be so precise and
uptight that order and design fl ows through every
nook and cranny of my interior space.
I wish. The truth is I live in bedlam most of the time.
At about 5am every morning our old cat wakes our
three dogs up, they rumble and wake us up and
sometimes all that ruckus wakes our son up. So it’s
‘game on’ from very early in the day. There are toys,
hair and spills and other animal-related joys that I
won’t go into. However my house is designed to
withstand this daily barrage as best it can.
Our tan leather sofa looks better the more wear it
gets. Our chairs have removable covers that can be put
in the wash. The lovely Malawi chairs that Brutus, our
bulldog, chewed as a puppy aren’t worth a great deal
so can be easily replaced. The point is, I’ve chosen
things for my home that suit my lifestyle.
There’s absolutely no sense in expecting every
inhabitant and guest in your home to levitate 10cm
above the ground, table surfaces and pieces of
furniture. I direct your mind to the many perfectly
preserved sofas from back in the day, trapped forever
under thick, clear plastic. What is the point of having
things if you can’t interact – and enjoy life – with them?
If your home stresses you out because your family
may spill or ruin something, I’m afraid you’ve got your
priorities wrong. Homes should be friendly places that
comfort you. They’re for shelter, not just from the
weather, but from the big, demanding world outside.
Identifying and understanding your needs, and
those of your family – hairy ones included – will allow
you to tailor the elements in your home to suit and
support them.
There are fundamentals at play in all good design
and these will underpin any great interior – and help
overcome any constraints. In coming issues I’ll address
some of the big ones, from colour and contrast, focal
points and drama, to balance, buying and decoration.
As we go through the foundations and principlesMASTERCLASS #1124573Darren used an upmarket
version of his summer palette
for this waterside home.New
column