close

What Is Home: Interview with Tom Dyckhoff

Home seems to be the word of the moment. Dulux referenced it when it announced its colour of the year recently and creative director Marianne Shillingford spoke at length about how, in times of uncertainty, all we want is to come home. To be home. To metaphorically hide under the duvet in a place where we can feel safe.

Now the writer, historian and broadcaster, known to many of you as presenter of The Great Interior Design Challenge, Tom Dyckhoff, has also taken up the theme.

Tom Dyckhoff has created the ultimate home with DFS that makes it too good to go out.
Tom Dyckhoff has created the ultimate home with DFS that makes it too good to go out.

He is currently writing his third book, which has the working title of Home: An Intimate History. In it, he revisits all the previous places he has lived – turns out there were 17 of them from where he was born, via student flats to his current abode – and explores the concept of what makes a home.

And even the word is a strange one. It doesn’t translate easily. Look it up in Google Translate and you often end up with the word “house”. The French have Chez Moi – loosely translated as At Mine. But most of the other European languages use a variation on house which doesn’t have the same resonance at all.

warmth, comfort and nostalgia create the perfect home says Tom Dyckhoff
warmth, comfort and nostalgia create the perfect home says Tom Dyckhoff

So is a home actually a feeling or an emotion rather than a noun? Tom suggests that to create a true home you need three things: comfort, warmth and shelter.

“In recent years we have been encouraged to think of our homes as a financial investment,” says Tom. “But home is actually an intimate place. I wanted to explore how much of home is the physical infrastructure and how much is about the details and the objects.

“It needs to be comfortable, but it also needs to provide warmth and security. Ideas of comfort will vary from house to house but the big hygge concept that has been around for the last couple of years is definitely part of that.”

the new Serengeti range from DFS includes a sofa, cuddler armchair and footstool
the new Serengeti range from DFS includes a sofa, cuddler armchair and footstool

In times of economic difficulty then the concept of home becomes ever more important and everyone builds on those three basic concepts. Tom has explored this in a collaboration with DFS to make your home the most comfortable place to be. Or, given the time of year, a room that is too good to go out.”

“It has to be enveloping and warm and a fire or a wood-burning stove is central to that centuries old idea of warmth and shelter. It has to be light, but you need a contrast between natural light – which is proven to be good for you – and electric light, perhaps in the corner so you can create a hygge nook or a private snug.

“Because there must be a different between the public spaces for entertaining and the private space for family. These days we need flexibility. It’s not open plan, it’s broken plan, which means creating zones within a more open space.”

every home needs fire either real or faux says Tom as well as plants
every home needs fire either real or faux says Tom as well as plants

Open plan living was a reaction to Victorian houses with their small spaces and sense of life lived behind closed doors. But, says Tom, we need to be clever about open plan to make it work. Changes of level, different zones and, ideally, moveable walls, are all modern ways to live in an open plan space.

“Our needs change through out the day as we do different things in the rooms and as the light changes. We need our homes to be both bright and enclosed.”

the perfect home needs lots of layers for tactility and comfort
the perfect home needs lots of layers for tactility and comfort

The next key to creating comfort, says Tom is layering and tactility. “We layer our clothes for warmth and texture and softness and it’s the same with our homes.” Sadly as the father of a two-year-old and a five-year-old, Tom says cushions and throws won’t stay on his furniture and are usually hurled to the floor but he’s looking forward to the time when he can reintroduce them to his living room.

His own home is a 1950s flat with floor to ceiling windows and, yes, a fireplace. “Home is the place you go for comfort and to that end I am neither a minimalist nor a maximalist. I believe in stuff,” he says.

“You need stuff to remind you who you are, you don’t have to hide everything away. Comfort is being able to touch ornaments and photos and stones brought back from the beach.

the new Serengeti range from DFS includes this black and white armchair
the new Serengeti range from DFS includes this black and white armchair

“Plants are also key both for our well-being and to keep that connection with the outside.

Tom has also noticed the disappearance of technology. “We all have it now so there’s no need to have it on display and show it off. These days it’s an accepted part of our homes and it’s much more embedded. Having said that I’m not afraid of having the television on show. It’s part of our lives why hide it?

natural colours from DFS
natural colours from DFS

And with that he is off to investigate the next chapter of his research into what makes a home. And I’d love to hear your opinions on what makes a home for you?

To create the look with DFS Tom has used the newly-launched Serengetti range – the four seater sofa is £999 and the patterned armchair (or cuddler as they have named it) is £749. This monochrome range also comes with cushions. I should tell you that this was not a sponsored post but that I was keen to interview Tom and I do rather like this range. 

Kate Watson-Smyth

The author Kate Watson-Smyth

I’m a journalist who writes about interiors mainly for The Financial Times but I have also written regularly for The Independent and The Daily Mail. My house has been in Living Etc, HeartHome and featured in The Wall Street Journal & Corriere della Sera. I also run an interior styling consultancy Mad About Your House. Welcome to my Mad House.

7 Comments

  1. A thought provoking post this morning – thank you! While I go along with the emotional connotation that the word Home evokes I also really enjoyed reading Bill Bryson’s thoroughly entertaining and educational book entitled “Home” which explains how the English Country Home has evolved over the years – A great read, especially curled up in a comfy sofa by a roaring fire!

  2. Interesting post. Warmth, comfort, atmosphere and a reflection of you/your family is what I think a home is. Its how you, your family and guests feel in it. I definitely believe in “stuff” too!

  3. I wondered why I loved the pictures so much and then I realised it’s photographed in Wynchelse – a cabin by Atlanta Bartlett and Dave Coote. I stayed there for a week and loved it. It looks great with the DFS additions and Tom has made it look like a nest. Who wouldn’t want to be on the cuddle chair in such a lovely home?

    1. Thanks for that link! They’re places look AMAZING!! I’ve been throwing white sheets over furniture since our first home, 13 years ago and STILL can’t get enough of it!

  4. Absolutely love the concept of ‘broken plan’ over ‘open plan’. I feel there’s a lot more longevity to broken plan design over open plan, especially as a family grows. Totally agree with plants as a connection to the outside and the importance of tactile objects that remind us of who we are. I was also rather pleased that he doesn’t seem to find tv on show too awful hehe, perhaps “the frame” can wait 🙂

Comments are closed.