As the UK opens up a little bit further and the weekend papers were all about being able to stay in hotels again I thought I’d share five of my favourite hotel rooms which have a homely feel – admittedly this might be the opposite of what you actually want at the moment – and might provide inspiration for your own places and spaces.
I was also reminded of this hotel in Venice which popped up on my phone memories over the weekend and so I have included Windsor, Venice, Paris, Rome and Portugal, as the only place that is, currently, on the green list which means, for the UK at least, that it’s the easiest to visit. The rest (apart from Windsor) will involve tests and quarantines but, that’s not to say we can’t take the inspiration from pictures.
All look cosy and comfortable in different ways. For years hotel luxury was synonymous with white, minimal interiors, but gradually a more relaxed sense of home has come in. Vintage furniture, warm colours – your dream home on steroids if you like. If you didn’t have to have Lego and loo paper and Other People’s Opinions. That sort of home.
And so we find vintage furniture, layers of Persian rugs, wallpaper and even, in what feels quite bold, the strong colour of the Hotel Des Deux Gares, designed by Luke Edward Hall, which won’t be for everybody. It’s not for my home that’s for sure but I’d love to say for a weekend and see if a little bit of it rubbed off around the edges.
Above is the newly opened Hoxton in Rome. I have stayed (for work reasons) in the one in Paris and it remains one of my favourites. Yes it’s a great building but the designers also made clever use of the space when it came to the bathrooms and it remains one of the places I point to when people ask me about making space for an en suite or bringing light into a windowless bathroom (create a high internal window and borrow from the room next door or make a large internal window and install frosted glass).
Above is a panelled bedroom and while (as previously discussed) panelling isn’t right for everyone you could use textured wallpaper or just paint behind the bed and then contrast it with the headboard in a tonal shade. I’m guessing this curvy leather number by Fameed Khalique might be out of the budget and skills of many of us. But, as ever, take the idea and see there’s a way you can use it. It might be about adding cushions in interesting shapes and fabrics to contrast with a plainer, more traditionally shaped headboard. Or ditching the headboard in favour of a painted panel and going all out on the bedding instead of plain white.
Finally, you can rent this three bedroom house in Porto from Wendy at Homeplace Online. This is the smallest bedroom but I love the dark green paint and the wallpaper. She could have done the woodwork to match the background of the paper but this is cooler and really makes a feature of the wallpaper.
I hope you have enjoyed wandering through these rooms. I really wasn’t thinking of redecorating my sitting room but there is something about the plaster pink walls and olive green velvet chairs that is taking up residence in a corner of my brain…
I love it and really thank you for sharing the article
That tiny bedroom in Portugal is lovely but why have a three bedroom rental with two double beds? A double room, twin room and a single room is much more flexible. I have to discount so many ‘5 bed apartments’ because they have two double beds and so aren’t suitable for a family with 3DC.
The image gallery of Cheval ,The Edinburgh Grand – former National Bank of Scotland , is also well worth a look for its wonderful original features throughout and beautiful rooms. Have stayed there for special treats – a beautiful building. My favourite room here is the Windsor.
I do like the room in Portugal but best not to travel yet awhile. Instead blow the budget and stay in the UK at a hotel owned by the genius decorator of hotel rooms, Kit Kemp. Or go off to the Isle of Tiree and stay at the Reef. It’s all plain white and simple, to truly get away from it all.
Someone asked whether panelling can look modern when you last featured some. The Hoxton hotel shows it definitely can. I think the chunky squares are very versatile and are not tied to any particular era.
I love all these rooms and I’m definitely going to rent that place in Porto when we can finally have a holiday. The modern monochrome painting in the first photo totally makes that room, otherwise it could have looked a tad old-worldy. Beautiful.
I love how the radiator has been painted to match the wooden panelling in the hotel in Windsor, that’s such a harmonious colour scheme.