A design for life
Designer, writer and television presenter Kevin McCloud is best known for the successful Grand Designs show on Channel 4. Here, the architectural business owner talks about the potential of our homes as spring approaches.
I’ve recently been visiting projects around the UK where designers are experimenting with natural light, renewable materials, and clever, modular solutions that make a house feel larger without building extensions. There’s something quietly revolutionary about that: making the most of what you already have.
It’s also a year when interiors are becoming more personal. That means fewer ‘look at me’ statements, and more subtle cues of character. A well-placed handmade bowl, a sofa that’s clearly been lived in, shelves that tell a story…ultimately these are the things that make a house feel like home.
This year also seems set to be about honesty, warmth and understated elegance. The era of copy-and-paste interiors is fading; people are looking instead for things that feel rooted, crafted, specific.
In practical terms, consider what your home does for you. Does it calm you? Inspire you? Does it offer you light, or peace, or a place to gather? A little light, thoughtful material choice, and a nod to sustainability, can transform the ordinary into something quietly exceptional.
So as this year really opens out before us now, let’s live lightly – in our homes, and through them, in the world around us. It’s a subtle, beautiful kind of luxury.