Twenty-nine years separate Terence Conran’s iconic guide to decorating, “The House Book,” and his primer, “The Ultimate House Book” (Octopus, 272 pages, $39.95). In between, a lot has changed.
Houses have acquired “trophy” kitchen ranges and bathrooms have turned into home spas, part of a trend to remake everyday dwellings so that they feel like fine hotels.
Living has shifted from self-contained rooms to flexible eating, living, sleeping zones — a concept pioneered by urban loft dwellers.
And the impact of fashion on interior design has sped up so that the return of bell-bottoms is almost concurrent with the return of orange chairs.
In the course of those 29 years, Conran has changed too. He’s given up long hair and gained a Sir in front of his name. But this eminent British designer and retailer hasn’t lost his knack for dispensing advice.
“When people say, `My rooms are tired — what should I do?’ I tell them, `Take everything out of your room,'” Conran says. “And if you can’t move everything out, put a large tarp over it.”
The next step to take: Assess your space with a fresh eye. Analyze where the light falls and at what time of day. Think about traffic patterns and how you live in the room. Pay attention to eyesores — dangling wires and unsightly pipes, doorways that aren’t symmetrical, trim that doesn’t suit the room.
“Make the shell as good as it can be,” says Conran. “Then start bringing back what you need. You’ll be amazed at how much goes in the pile for the garage sale.”
He’s followed his own advice and rethought everything in his house in Kintbury, England. “I had to,” he explains. “The boiler blew up, and there was black soot everywhere.”
As for color, his tendency is to paint everything white until he’s lived in his rooms for a while. He’ll use six or seven hues ranging from chalky white to white that has a hint of violet.
“I think of it as priming the canvas,” says Conran. Later he’ll decide that a blue or a green might look great on the walls, but white is his holding color.
Decorating, he explains, takes time. You have to study not just your rooms but yourself, your family and your lifestyle habits.
“It’s not like buying a party dress,” Conran says. “You can’t do it in a day and a night.”
He advises spending time clipping pictures from magazines and creating a scrapbook of images that you respond to because of color, line or mood. And while you’re considering your style, rethink your lighting, which, according to Conran, “makes or breaks a room.”
Put absolutely everything on a dimmer that can be put on a dimmer, and then take into account these five pointers:
– Layer your lighting, says Conran. “Three or four relatively dim lights can still deliver the same overall level of illumination as one moderately bright light.”
– Use uplights, sconces, angled spotlights to bounce light off ceilings and walls — and make your room, any room, feel bigger.
– Steer clear of bare bulbs. This may sound obvious, but many fixtures, particularly those that hang over kitchen tables, position a bare bulb at eye level.
– Don’t let your shadow darken a room. If you’re chopping vegetables or reading and your task lighting is behind you, you’ll be casting a shadow over your own work.
– Avoid fixed fixtures unless a room has a fixed function. Recessed ceiling lights are great in bathrooms where traffic paths (sink to tub) are defined. In multiuse rooms, keep lighting flexible with a variety of light sources that create overlapping pools of light.
It’s this kind of excellent advice that has made Conran one of the most trusted names in decorating. His five whole-house primers are still among the best around. If you’re lucky enough to have an original version of his 1974 “House Book,” re-read it. If not, dip into “The Ultimate House Book.”
In a world of specialization, a general decorating book lets you think about your house from soup to nuts. Which is something Conran recommends doing roughly every five to seven years.
Unless, of course, a boiler explosion intervenes.
