Nothing beats the feeling of stepping into a five-star hotel room and being enveloped in a sense of luxury interior design, comfort and indulgence. The stresses of your day-to-day life simply fade away as you relax into a world of cocooned luxury. But why keep such treats just for trips away? If you bring a bit of hotel chic into your own home with a full bespoke interior design, you can reap the benefits all year round.
We love Soho hotels like Ham Yard and The London Edition which are great examples of the trend for introducing more colour, texture and pattern into hospitality design. They radiate fun, sophistication and elegance, and it’s this sense of style which can be brought into domestic interior luxury architectures to replicate that sense of a luxurious getaway.
So, with that in mind, here’s the Roselind Wilson guide on how to bring hotel-inspired design into your own home…
Using a neutral palette is the perfect way to create a luxurious hotel feel. Pared-back tones have a restful quality which makes them ideal for a bedroom because they will help prepare you for a good night’s sleep. But neutral doesn’t have to mean dull. A neutral scheme can be dynamic and full of life while still retaining a calm and relaxing feel. The important thing to remember when decorating with neutrals is to bring in plenty of different patterns and textures to create depth and interest.
For our Eaton Square master bedroom, we used a palette of greens and soft greys to create a calm and welcoming space. The neutral palette goes beyond the walls here because we brought in neutral drapery and upholstery to create a peaceful space where one can escape from the stresses of the day. Metallic silk textures were introduced to exude understated glamour and the velvet chaise lounge at the foot of the bed adds a further element of luxury.
Embracing the trend for metallic fittings in materials like brass and brushed gold is a surefire way to bring a hotel vibe into your home. We find that fashionable metallics and iridescent finishes can really transform a scheme. From copper and chrome to bronze and brass, integrating interesting metallic finishes into a design scheme creates a pleasing, harmonious look. This can effortlessly be incorporated into a hotel-style headboard to frame the luxury bed design.
In the case of our Fitzrovia project, for example, the bespoke, antique brass bedside lights bring contrast and glamour to the opulent master bedroom. And when it comes to bathrooms, natural stone is a material guaranteed to add drama and luxury. Stone won’t go out of fashion because it’s such a timeless material, and if well maintained it can last a lifetime, making it well worth the initial outlay.
Our Eaton Mews North bathroom is a case in point. Exquisite Turkish lilac marble has been chosen here to create a decadent look in this beautiful white bathroom. High-end hotel designers often choose marble for bathrooms because it signals luxury and gives a smooth, elegant finish.
There’s something about symmetry which is innately satisfying – one of the reasons why it’s often used in luxury hotel design to help create a calm, balanced ambiance. In the home environment, this technique can be adopted to great effect in a bathroom by selecting symmetrical dual basins and matching taps.
In our award-winning luxury interior design Belsize Park bathroom, the chunky vanity unit in Honed Ocean Black Travertine is a masterclass in symmetry with its pair of hammered bronze basins and vintage brass taps.
Symmetry within a design scheme doesn’t always mean that elements mirror themselves on either side, but rather that components within the scheme flow well together. Symmetrical interiors create a relaxed atmosphere because they are easy to assimilate and instinctively make us feel composed and comfortable.
Textured wallcoverings are a great way to get that hotel feel. They’re often used in luxury hotels because they add interest and depth to a space. Layers of contrasting texture on a bed provide a sense of opulence, as do cushions in luxurious fabrics combined with plush faux fur throws.
Add hotel chic to your bedroom by creating contrasting textural layers which help bring a design scheme together, while adding warmth, depth and character. Combine rough and smooth finishes such as leather, woven fabrics and metallics to completely transform a space and help create a truly individual look. In our experience, it’s the tactile elements in a room – such as a chunky woven rug or a luxurious velvet cushion – which are the ones that make the greatest impact.
We all know that lighting is an essential part of creating that luxury hotel room experience. After all, when you’re in a hotel bathroom in which the lighting really works you certainly know about it – nothing lifts the spirits like looking your best as you’re getting ready!
For the bathroom of our Eaton Mews North project, we placed great emphasis on the lighting scheme and the way in which it was controlled. The circuits were split to allow the spotlights to be operated separately from the wall lights and under-counter lights. The wall lights provide perfect task lighting for applying makeup or shaving.
Lighting is also important in terms of setting the mood and feel of an interior scheme. This is especially important in hospitality design in which beautiful hotel rooms create mood and atmosphere through a carefully considered layered lighting scheme. Ambient lighting can really help recreate that hotel feel. To get it right, you should focus on two things: what the light fixture looks like and the effect you want the light to achieve. Lights that can adjust and dim are ideal for the sleeping area, whereas a bright table lamp is perfect for a desk area.
Part of the appeal of a luxury hotel bathroom is that sense of space. A large, generous bathroom will always feel more luxurious, so make sure you allocate as much square footage as you possibly can to your bathroom to create a feeling of space and luxury.
Opt for an indulgent, freestanding bath for the ultimate in relaxing soaks. And make sure you include his-and-hers basins to add that touch of luxury hotel glamour.
Give your bathroom that hotel feel with embedded speakers and Bluetooth so that you can listen to your favourite music and podcasts while in the bath or shower. It’s also worth thinking about other high-tech options such as ‘smart glass’ shower enclosures and room dividers that can turn from clear to frosted at the touch of a button.
Buy the biggest and most luxurious hotel-style bed you can afford and dress it with gorgeous, high-thread count linens. A beautiful hotel-style headboard upholstered in a luxurious fabric such as leather or textured grasscloth is also a must and gives that sense of drama and opulence that is key to luxury hotel bedroom designs.
Choose striking artwork and accessories such as colourful lamps and cushions that will make your bedroom really stand out in the style stakes. Take the opportunity to play with colour as well as scale. For example, when you dress the bed use larger cushions as the backdrop to smaller ones. And don’t forget to add textural layers such as a faux fur throw or a luxurious bedspread, or emulate hotel headboard designs.
Bespoke joinery and luxurious storage details can help to emulate hotel luxury. Create integral shoe racks and why not source leather inserts for drawers for storing jewellery and watches? Also, think about adding a few of the smaller touches you often see in hotel bedrooms which make you feel pampered. Bring in a high-quality, scented candle or a beautiful flower arrangement to add visual appeal and a pop of colour.
Photography by Richard Waite
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