“A home that feels like us”

About the project

This project began with a simple question: how can a beautiful new house start to feel like home?

The house in Switzerland was brand new, so there was no renovation to plan and no need to start from scratch. The foundations were already there. What was missing was a stronger sense of connection - a feeling that the living space truly reflected the family who lived in it.

I worked with a family of four, with two young children, through an online interior consultation. Before discussing furniture, lighting or art, our first conversation was about how they actually live. We talked about where the family spends most of their time, how the children use the house, what happens around the dining table, where they gather in the evening, what they love about their home and what they felt was still missing.

Through photographs, videos and video calls where the clients showed me the house from their perspective, I was able to understand the space remotely and, more importantly, understand the people living in it.

The family spends much of the summer outdoors. During autumn and winter, life moves downstairs, into the open-plan kitchen, dining and living area. This is where meals happen, where the children play, draw and colour, where books are read, conversations happen and family life unfolds.

The goal was not to create a perfect interior, but to create a living space that could hold the reality of family life - beautifully, comfortably and authentically.

Designing around the way a family lives

One open space, different identities

We agreed to begin with the dining and living areas. The intention was to bring these zones together as one coherent living space without making them identical. Each area should have its own identity while still belonging to the same visual story.

The focus was on creating cohesion across the open-plan space, introducing colour in a controlled way, adding stronger elements with character, improving the flow of furniture and lighting, and bringing more art and collectible design into the home.

The project did not begin with a blank page. Quite the opposite. The family already owned carefully selected, sentimental pieces, including furniture gifted by their their parents, and a small art collection. Rather than replacing them, I wanted to build around them and allow old and new to coexist.

I love the tension between different generations, materials and visual languages. Aluminium meets texture. Expressive color meets natural wood. Sculptural objects meet softer materials.

Sometimes it is precisely the contrast between elements that creates harmony.

The dining room: a future focal point

The dining area is the visual and functional centre of the open-plan space. The long-term vision included a new custom dining table - approximately 210 × 100 cm, large enough for the family and future gatherings, with a sculptural base combining solid ash, powder-coated steel and hand-turned wooden elements. The table would become a strong visual anchor while remaining in dialogue with the existing furniture and art. 

But we decided not to introduce it immediately. The children are still young and spend a lot of time at the dining table drawing, colouring and playing. A beautiful new table would eventually make sense, but right now it could place unnecessary restrictions on how the family uses the space.

So we parked the idea. Instead, we looked at what could make an immediate difference. The client already owned beautiful artworks that had not yet found their place in the house, and the dining room became the perfect setting for them.

A living room for four

The living room required a different kind of thinking. During our conversations, it became increasingly clear that the sofa was doing more than simply providing seating. It was where the family came together, especially during the colder months when much of their life moves indoors. So I challenged one of our original assumptions: did the sofa really need to stay?

A larger sofa could allow all four family members to sit together comfortably, making the living room more responsive to the way the family actually uses it.

This is an important part of my approach to interior styling. I don’t want to preserve an existing piece simply because it is already there. I want to understand whether it still serves the people living around it.

Layered lighting and considered storage

Lighting became another important layer. Rather than relying on one central light source, we looked at creating several levels of light that could change with the rhythm of the evening.

A focused reading light next to the sofa would provide practical illumination for reading and knitting, while softer ambient lighting would create a warmer, more cocooning atmosphere during the darker winter months.

We also explored replacing the existing TV furniture with a more considered storage solution. Because the family lives in Switzerland, I couldn’t resist exploring the possibility of USM Modular Furniture - a timeless Swiss design classic that could bring structure and character to the room. A combination of open and closed storage would allow the family to display cookbooks, ceramics and collected objects, while keeping everyday items and children’s toys neatly hidden.

The intention was to create a room that could shift throughout the day: open and lively when the children are playing, and calmer and more composed once the evening begins.

Making space for the things that matter

The family also needed somewhere to display the things they have collected over time: ceramics, family photographs, children’s drawings and small treasures. Instead of introducing a heavy storage piece, I proposed a lighter, sculptural shelving element.

The shelf would act almost like a line across the wall rather than a bulky piece of furniture. Positioned between the living and dining areas, it would be visible from different parts of the open space while allowing the family to continually change what is displayed.

A home should leave space for things to accumulate: memories, objects, drawings and discoveries.

Art, texture and warmth

Art was an important part of the project from the beginning. One of the pieces I selected for the living room was a handwoven textile work by Emma Terweduwe. Positioned on the wall facing the dining area, it would remain visible even when the family was sitting elsewhere in the open space.

The textile introduces depth, colour and movement, but also something less immediately visible: softness and acoustic warmth. Its texture changes as you look at it, giving the wall a quality that a traditional flat artwork cannot quite create.

This was part of a broader intention throughout the project: combining collectible design and functional objects with art in a way that feels natural to the family rather than staged.

The existing artworks, ceramics, books and personal objects were equally important. The aim was never to fill the house with new things, but to create the right setting for the things they already loved, and to give them confidence to continue adding to that collection.

Connecting the living spaces

The final area we explored was the hallway and staircase zone, which is visible from the kitchen, dining room and living room. Because it connects several areas of the house, it became an important visual link between them. Rather than treating it as a purely transitional space, I proposed introducing more sculptural lighting - pieces that function as light sources but also act as objects in their own right.

We also explored ways to soften and visually organise the wardrobe area, including the possibility of using a curtain that would connect it more naturally to the living and dining space. 

A long-term interior, not an overnight transformation

One of the most valuable outcomes of this project was realising that the house did not need to be completed all at once. After five weeks of conversations, ideas, adjustments and challenging some of our initial assumptions, we created a long-term plan for the living space. Some changes could happen immediately. Others could wait.

The dining table, for example, became a future step rather than an urgent purchase. The sofa could be reconsidered when the family was ready. Art, lighting, shelving and storage could gradually be introduced as the family continued to understand what they needed from the space. This approach allowed the project to remain connected to real life rather than turning into a checklist of things to buy.

Good interior design does not always mean doing more. Sometimes it means knowing what to change now, what to leave alone, and what to allow to evolve.

A home that becomes truly theirs

For me, the most meaningful part of this project was not the final selection of furniture, lighting or art. It was the confidence that developed throughout the process. My client is a creative person herself. She collects ceramics, loves beautiful objects, writes, draws and knits. Yet, like many of us, she had become hesitant about making decisions in her own home.

Sometimes, when we finally have the home we dreamed about, we can become strangely afraid of making the wrong choice. We expect too much from ourselves, and instead of allowing our creativity to unfold, we start looking for perfection.

This project was partly about changing that perspective. Through five weeks of conversations, brainstorming, challenging ideas and gradually becoming more open with each other, we created not only a design direction but a sense of confidence around the choices.

The result was not a completely new interior. It was a clearer direction: a living space with more character, more art and design, better lighting, more considered storage and  most importantly, a stronger connection to the family using it every day.

After five weeks, the clients were ready to move forward with the implementation with confidence in the project and, importantly, confidence in their own choices. And that is perhaps the best result an interior consultation can offer.

The house is no longer simply a beautiful new space. It is becoming theirs - one choice, one object and one layer at a time.