Designing interiors that age gracefully

Most interiors look their best on the day of the photo shoot and slowly decline from there. We try to do the opposite: choose materials that wear in rather than wear out, so the rooms gain character with every year.

Floors you can live on

Solid oak, terrazzo, stone and good ceramic tiles all improve with use. They can be sanded, honed or simply cleaned back to life. Thin laminates and soft vinyl, on the other hand, scratch, peel and end up in a skip.

Honest surfaces

Lime plaster, clay paint and oiled timber can be repaired locally: a scratch disappears with a little wax, a chipped corner with a spoonful of plaster. Glossy lacquers and high-gloss foils show every mark and cannot be patched invisibly.

• Choose finishes that can be repaired, not only replaced.
• Prefer solid materials to thin veneers in places that get touched.
• Keep the palette short – three or four materials age together as a family.

A room should look better after ten years of family life, not worse. Choose materials that wear in, not out.

Leslie Alexander

Colour that lasts

Trend colours date quickly. We build the base of a room from the natural tones of its materials – oak, lime, stone – and add colour in things that are easy to change: textiles, a painted door, a rug. When tastes shift, the room can follow without a single wall being touched.

Joinery that lasts

Built-in furniture is where an interior is touched most. We draw it in solid wood or high-quality plywood with real hardware, and we leave a little spare space for the things our clients will collect over the years.

A well-made interior should feel lived in, not used up. That is the difference between a room that is redecorated every five years and one that is simply looked after.