15 ways to add little extras that make all the difference to your home
Luxury is so often associated with opulence, rarity and expense – and it can mean all of those things. But for me, it’s unexpected luxuries – well-thought-out details that allow your home to function more smoothly and indulgent additions you choose simply because they bring you joy – that make the biggest impact. For example, one of my greatest luxuries is having the right kind of storage for every item in the house. To be able to maintain a beautifully organised home with ease creates an environment that is always welcoming and calm, which is bliss. Read on for 15 other ways to add some touches of unexpected luxury to your home.
1. Make a good first impression with secret storage
We all want our homes to make a welcoming first impression and nothing ruins that more than a hallway that is cluttered with piles of coats and shoes. A clever trick we used in the Chelsea townhouse was to incorporate shadow gaps within the panelling, behind which we concealed wardrobe doors to create a wealth of useful hidden storage. The result? A beautifully calm and spacious feeling from the moment you come through the door.
2. Think about drawers and doors
Storage probably works hardest in the kitchen, so one of the most satisfying touches is to ensure that all doors and drawers have a soft-close function. Insist on this throughout your home, but the kitchen is where you’ll appreciate this detail the most. There’s a place for secret storage too. For example, a charging drawer for your phone or tablet is a tidy addition, preventing wires from snaking over the worktops. Or, if you have floor-to-ceiling storage, conceal a stepladder in the kitchen plinth for when you want to reach the top cupboards.
3. Add layered lighting
Luxury in the home is about having small details that make you feel looked after, one of which is a well-considered layered lighting design. This allows you to combine task and ambient lighting according to the activity or mood you want to create in each room. A great example is the scheme we designed for the Wimbledon village apartment. We added a small reading light, which creates little pools of illumination and is great when you’re making a cup of tea late at night and don’t want to put the overhead lights on.
4. Include little extras that make all the difference
There are some details that won’t appeal to everyone but to others they will be the greatest luxury. For pet lovers, it’s nice to include an integrated feeding station within the kitchen island or even a dedicated place for your furry friends to sleep. And while a combined mixer tap with filtered and boiling water has become an essential, why not add filtered sparkling water into the mix? A Quooker four-in-one tap is a luxury you’ll soon wonder how you lived without.
5. Let greenery soothe your interiors
Many people underestimate the beauty of houseplants – perhaps because they fear they don’t have green enough fingers to keep them alive, or because they choose the wrong plants for their home. It’s my belief that plants are a great way to introduce life into corners of the house that are otherwise a bit unloved or that you don’t quite know what to do with. They also bring the outside in, providing a mood-boosting link with nature. Don’t confine them to the edges of the room either: a display of plants grouped together will make a beautiful focal point.
6. Put your artwork in the frame
The most valuable and beautiful artworks can be totally undermined by the wrong frame, just as the right frame can transform something rather ordinary. The right framing is definitely an unexpected luxury: you may walk past your pictures every day and notice nothing wrong, but make the switch to something fabulous and you’ll have a whole new display on your hands. If you’re unsure, lean on the services of an experienced framer and be open to their suggestions. And don’t just change up the frame: consider unusual mounts and colours too. Finally, evaluate your walls and see if a rearrange is in order – moving a painting to another room and allowing different light to fall on it can transform how you view it. Just plan any new groupings of paintings carefully by laying them out on the floor before committing to new holes in the walls.
7. Think about the little things
As you move around your home, there are touches you can add that most people won’t notice but that will nonetheless add a welcome flow. For example, placing metal transition strips when you move from one type of flooring to another – perhaps from living room to entrance hall – is an aesthetically pleasing addition. Also think about any dead space in the home and how it could be used to better effect. I’m not advocating filling every inch as this just adds clutter. But if you have an unused niche on a landing, for example, place a nice painting or a cute bench there – remember, not every piece in your home must be functional.
8. Make getting dressed a pleasure
To have a dressing room is undoubtedly a luxury in itself. However, there are details that can make that space even more attuned to how you like to get ready in the morning or more luxurious if you’re preparing for a night out. For example, tuck hairdryers into drawers right next to the mirror where you need them so they’re out of sight but always plugged in and ready to use. Or, if you use high-end skincare or expensive moisturisers, look after them by having an integrated fridge in the dressing room or bedroom. Also, think about what constitutes luxury for you: for one gentleman, we installed a tea and coffee station in his dressing room, so he doesn’t have to go downstairs for his first cup in the morning. And my luxury? Having a cupboard that is solely for dumping clothes, so I don’t just throw them on a chair when I get undressed. This is something for which I am thankful every day!
9. Be guided by your nose
There is nothing better than a bedroom that is delicately scented by your favourite candles but it’s possible to think beyond that. In my home, we’ve used cedar on the walls of the dressing room. Not only does it look beautiful and prevent moths, but it also smells amazing, which is a lovely bonus.
10. Give your feet a treat
As beautiful as a wooden floor is in the bedroom, you’ll still want an area of carpet or a large rug under the bed and in key places, such as under a bedroom chair, to add comfort. A piece of carpet that is bound at the edges and leaves a border of visible floor around it is a stylish nod to the days before fitted carpets, so will work particularly well in period properties. If you want to see more of the floor, however, a very considered touch is to recess rugs into the floor on either side of the bed, just where you get out. It’s a satisfying and sophisticated solution that certainly adds a little luxury.
11. The softest of touches
It could be said that no one really needs cashmere curtains in their life – but imagine how wonderful they would feel every time you drew them at night? I recently came across a company called Alexander Lamont that supplies cashmere fabric for curtains, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about them since! They would need care and – let’s be honest – probably aren’t practical, which means they could well be the ultimate unexpected luxury.
12. Don’t forget the kids
Thoughtful touches in children’s rooms will help them feel like they have some ownership over the space because it is tailored to how they use it. A case in point is the reading corner we created in my son’s room. I took a spare mattress and, rather than covering it with a standard bedsheet, I had a fitted sheet made from leftover fabric. Once we’d added some cushions, also made from scraps of fabric, the result was a snug sofa area. It’s an inviting corner for him to spend time reading or with his friends – and it didn’t cost the earth to make.
13. Set the mood in the bathroom
Well-considered lighting is a luxury in the bathroom, not least because so many bathrooms are inadequately lit. Layers of light are the answer – one central light won’t do. So, as well as task lighting around key areas such as the mirror, think about dimmer switches to alter the brightness of the lighting. As your unexpected touch, include lighting sensors that will turn on low-level lights to guide your way at night without having to fiddle with light switches. Run them at floor level so they don’t shine in your eyes and they’ll also highlight your tiles and add mood lighting when you’re relaxing in the bathroom.
14. Just add heat
A lovely little extra is to put an underfloor heating mat (these normally go under bathroom floor tiles) underneath the seat of a shower bench. This will be reminiscent of a hotel spa and you’ll never experience the shock of cold tiles when you sit down again!
15. Create a book lover’s dream
My final unexpected luxury is one that is still very much on my wish list to create – all I need is the perfect project. Surely every book lover’s dream is a bath that is tucked into a niche with bookshelves on either side? Then, once the bath is filled and you have your cup of tea or glass of wine, you can sink into the water and reach for a book. Like many of these ideas, it’s not something you absolutely need – but wouldn’t it be nice?