The Gunter & Co guide to designing a healthy home
How London-based interior design firm, Gunter & Co incorporate wellness into design
For me, and everyone working at The Gunter & Co studio, boosting a clients sense of well-being in their home always starts with walking in their shoes and discovering what makes them unique.
At the beginning of every project we spend a lot of time getting to know our clients, from the first thing they do when coming home, to where the views are that they find most invigorating. We place ourselves virtually inside the home we’re creating for them and ask ourselves ‘how can we use design to positively impact the mood and well-being of this space?’.
By doing this we get to know what really makes them tick. Do they long for a clutter-free neutral environment to unwind after a hectic day, or do they long for cheerful colours and personal objects to lift their mood when they feel stressed?
Armed with this information we then get to work guiding the design in a direction that isn’t just about how things look but how they make people feel.
Wellness interior design trends
In a world that is so focused on images, when it comes to incorporating wellness into good design I often find myself refocusing my clients on the core design concept that we’re trying to achieve, rather than being distracted just by the visual elements.
When thinking about interior design and its effect on mood and mental health, these are some of the core design elements that I always turn to.
Embracing original architecture
We start every project by creating a link to the original architecture of the building, this could be through enhancing or re-introducing period features. There’s quite a trend for retail and hospitality spaces to create a surprise factor by designing interiors that are a complete departure from the exterior. With the homes we work on the opposite is true. We find that developing and nurturing an understanding of a home's architecture throughout the design process increases our clients' sense of connection to the building which improves their relationship with it and boosts their feelings of being grounded and reassured in the space.
Some examples might be to re-introduce original panelling details, coving and skirtings in a stripped-back period home, or adding simple modern touches to bland architecture that creates more balance and harmony in an otherwise dull interior. We also look at small considerations such as raising the heights of internal doors or adding a wooden border around a tiled kitchen to tie it together with the adjoining wooden floor in the dining room, this can go a long way to creating more balance and continuity in a home.
“Introducing applied mouldings is a great way to embrace the original architecture and using subtle coving in a modern setting is our favourite way to add a sense of gradual order to the interior. In the third image here, the applied fabric trimmings are an open and honest way of saying ‘hey, normally we wouldn’t have old school panelling in this setting, but look at how it transforms your experience of this room’.”
Creating interior design with warmth
For a home that feels warm, like it gives you a hug, add soft textures in places where you wouldn’t normally expect to find them. This could vary from fabric wallpapers, stretched fabric walling and tented ceilings and also soft textures in the obvious places you would expect to see them - rugs, curtains and cushions. This doesn’t mean you have to live in a stuffy old-fashioned interior, these textures can be added in even the most sleek modern spaces, where I would use neutral colours, simple patterns and natural materials such as cotton and linen. Colour can also be very comforting and warming, especially when the colours chosen work with rather than against the fundamental setting of a house.
Embracing nature in interior design
Instead of asking, ‘why do working and living close to nature make us feel better’ we ask ‘why have we forgotten that nature makes us happy?’ I often think of a line written by the poet Samuel Johnson “deviation from nature is a deviation from happiness” and this always brings me back and grounds me in nature. We use this ethos in all of our designs right from the very beginning from views to the outside, to the materials we and the colours we choose.
Working with colours that have a green undertone can have a positive impact as they have a natural link to outside spaces and create a sense of calm and belonging no matter how saturated or pale in colour. One of my favourites is the slate family by Papers & Paints. We always turn to natural materials in our designs, not only are they better for the environment, they are also calming and grounding.
Here we’ve used Slate 1 paint in a dining room, it beautifully complements the green view outside while still being fresh in summer and cosy in winter.
Here’s a lovely rich green wall used in our Wimbledon new-build project to warm up an otherwise quite stark hallway, the green against the gold and bronze touches always is a winning combination. In this instance we used Little Green’s Obsidian Green as the backdrop.
Designing rooms with purpose
Right from the start of a project we like to get to know every minute detail of our clients routines, habits and passions to create a design that works for them on every level. One of the most important things this allows us to do is to create clear zones and rooms in the house with a dedicated purpose and clear identity. Designing rooms with purpose means we can build in storage, functionality and furniture that allows our clients to make the most of how a space is used, that everything has a home and it can be clutter-free. Entering a home and just being able to focus on key pieces that have meaning to a client, rather than the clutter, is something that gives everyone a sense of stillness.
This dedicated workstation just off the kitchen in our Chelsea project is a great example of a home office that is placed in a sensible location - most people tuck a desk in a spare room which then never gets used as people tend to congregate around the kitchen to spend time together. Having a desk for life admin just outside the kitchen is a great way to combine the sociable and practical aspects of running a home. The second image is one of my favourite examples of a shelving unit with dedicated space for the client’s favourite personal objects and books.
Are you ready to design a house that has your well-being in mind?