How to decorate a new build flat
The difficulty in decorating a new build is the opposite of that posed by most period houses: because new builds tend to lack hugely defining details (or perhaps because we haven’t yet alighted on a canonical contemporary style of decoration, because it would be clichéd by definition if we did), it can be hard to decide on a direction for your home. A Victorian villa has a specific set of strengths and weaknesses that you can play to, while a Georgian cottage has its own. A new build, in the popular mindset, doesn’t have… any?
None of this is to say that it’s not possible to bring character to a new build, as all the designers featured by House & Garden demonstrate with aplomb. In fact, the lack of distinct rules means that you have a very broad spectrum of options to choose from.
There are a few things we can probably take as given. First off, the walls of your new build are likely to be white, which means you can both choose how (if at all) to repaint them and how to add more warmth to your rooms. Keep your colour schemes unified throughout each room, at the very least – make sure appliances, furniture and decorative elements complement each other – and ideally, consider the colours that run through your whole home, too.
Consider the size of your living space. Spaces in a new build might not be as defined as in a traditional, older building. Any combination of the kitchen, dining space and living area might well all be open-plan and merged together. This can have an impact on how you dress the space – dining benches alongside your table might work better to save space over individual chairs, for example, if you want to fit a sofa or sitting room-style area into the same space. Rugs can be useful in determining which part of an open plan is meant to be used for what purpose. We also love the use of glass partitions or doors to separate one part of an open plan space from another; this lets light flow between them, but gives a useful sense of separation.
Note, too, that appliances can act as statement pieces, if you’re short of space. A large fridge – perhaps a retro-looking Smeg in a striking colour – is as valid a source of envy for your guests as a sculpture or a painting that might not fit on your wall. Don’t feel restricted in choosing from different periods of furniture, either. The fact that you’re working with a relatively blank slate of a building means you can add character through historic pieces that you might not otherwise be able to make fit in an older build. Superficially damaged or worn pieces of furniture will tell their own stories if you let them, and give your new build the feel of having been lived in even if it hasn’t, yet.
In short, the guidelines are there, but they’re relatively loose, which means inspiration can strike from anywhere – so take a look at these takes on new-build flats featured by House & Garden’s favourite designers for ideas on what direction you might want to take your own.
Paul Massey1/14This 1930s maisonette by Henri Fitzwilliam-Lay has lots of lessons for a newbuild flat. We love the texture on the chimneybreast, which is clad in ‘Rombini’ tiles by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec for Mutina. Layers of rugs also help–here a vibrantly patterned antique weave is laid over a larger sisal floor covering–as do bright, textured fabrics, including the owner’s Indian quilts.
Christopher Horwood2/14Colour is a key element in bringing character to a white box of a space, as James and Saskia of Howark Design have proved in this warehouse flat near London Bridge. The bright red gloss doors that lead from the living room to the guest bedroom were ‘a bit of a brainwave,’ admits James, while the sage green kitchen and navy blue sofa create pops of colour that lead the eye through the space.
Owen Gale3/14Lishan Tham of Studio Shan bought this apartment in Holborn as a total blank canvas, after the 1920s office building had been converted into flats. The glass doors between living room and kitchen are a great option for an open plan space. “I quite like fluid spaces between the living and the kitchen” she says, though with a family, the option to close doors is a necessary one, and so she installed large white-paned glass doors to separate the spaces. ‘The glass made it feel a lot bigger’, she explains. ‘There’s so much light here that the glass doors lend themselves to bouncing it around”.
Owen Gale4/14Similar glass doors separate the sitting room from the study at the other end of the space in Lishan's apartment.
Owen Gale5/14Joinery is a great help when it comes to decorating a newbuild, providing storage and visual interest in one neat stroke. In her former Television Centre apartment in White City, Sophie Ashby and her husband Charlie Casely-Hayford added shelving and cupboards to one end of the living space. There is more storage concealed in the furniture: Charlie’s daughter Rainbow’s playbox doubles up as a coffee table, and a sofa bed has a side table that’s also a bookcase.
Paul Massey6/14Boring kitchens can be an occupational hazard of newbuild flats. The antique dealer Dorian Caffot de Fawes and his husband Thomas Daviet, an interior designer, did not have endless funds to decorate their south London flat, and installed simple units from Ikea in the kitchen. Thomas then added stripes of bright yellow Japanese washi tape to the cabinets, creating what Dorian describes as ‘a little splash of sunshine’. The idea was inspired by the striped pool towels at Hotel Il Pellicano in the Tuscan seaside town of Porto Ercole.
Rachel Whiting7/14Responding to the challenge of turning a 'corporate-looking' flat in the Barbican into a welcoming home for her clients, Maria Speake used reclaimed materials to create a warm interior compatible with the Brutalist Seventies architecture. The furniture is mostly mid-century Italian; its elegant shapes add femininity and soften any harshness, while rugs delineate the different spaces and add texture and warmth.
Mark Fox8/14For costume designer Cobbie Yates and his partner Joseph Hyland, the chance to move back to Cobbie's childhood flat in south-east London was the ideal way to buy a first home, and together they have transformed it into a perfectly modern home, suffused with warmth and character. Most of the walls in the flat are limewashed, which is a brilliant way to add character to a room while still keeping a contemporary feel.
Ngoc Minh Ngo9/14Soft colour on the walls of this Chelsea new build decorated by Sophie Ashby ensures the flat doesn’t feel like a white box. The open-plan sitting and dining room is drag-painted the colour of milky coffee; it's a clever trick that softens the large space. The neutral palette is pepped up with splashes of indigo, green and coral and some wonderfully decadent details: teal cushions woven from peacock feathers glimmer exotically on the sofa. The large abstract painting by Frédéric Heurlier Cimolai behind the sofa subtly brings all these elements together.
Ngoc Minh Ngo10/14Lining the walls of a box-like room in a textured wallcovering can make it feel enveloping and sumptuous. In the main bedroom of the same flat by Sophie Ashby, silk 'Madison' wallpaper from Stereo provides a bold background to the set of nude studies from Lorfords Antiques. The walls are covered in fawn-coloured silk and smart rosewood cabinets flank the bed - don't be afraid to use antiques in a new build!
Dean Hearne11/14Tamara Lancaster has used an 18th-century chest in the ex-council flat she lives in to gently suggest history – a piece of furniture that has a story can be a good counterpoint to a building that is only a few years old.
Dean Hearne12/14In Tamara’s sitting room, a painting by Julien Meunie provides a strong focal point. The sideboard was made by Farsø Møbelfabrik and the George Sherlock ottoman is upholstered in ‘Kaleidoscope’ by Soane. The ceramics are from 8 Holland Street. A low console mirrors the shape of the sofa opposite.
Lauryn Ishak13/14Elizabeth Hay has clad this 1980s flat in Singapore in explosive colour and pattern, and remodelled certain architectural elements. The ceiling has a glossy lacquered finish that is almost mirrored, reflecting colours from the decoration below.
Lauryn Ishak14/14In the daughters’ bedroom in the same flat, an extensive East Asian sub-theme runs throughout: Quadrille’s ‘Kalamkari’ wallpaper inspired the ebullient scheme, the beds are upholstered in ‘Rajkot’ from Lisa Fine Textiles, and the rattan pendant light is from Indonesia.
