Kelly Hoppen is one of London’s most celebrated interior designers, a household name in an industry that tends towards btw renown rather than out and out fame.
Over a career spanning nearly 50 years she has worked on homes for everyone from David and Victoria Beckham to Boy George.
Such a wide-reaching and varied client list might seem surprising, especially for someone who is best known for beige, a fact she slightly bristles at. “I love colour!” she says. “But it has to be moveable. I like the base to be neutral.”
It is a testament to her ability to get to the core of what clients want and to create homes — and a career — that transcend trends.
Her talent has also won her gigs on Dragon’s Den and designing a range for Marks & Spencer.
So who better to ask for advice on how to decorate your home with style that will stand the test of time? Here are Hoppen’s top tips for creating your dream home, whatever your budget.
Be very clear about what you want out of your home
It is all too easy to get seduced by a picture on social media and decide you want to emulate it, often to terrible effect.
Kelly Hoppen and Boy George in his Hampstead home
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“You’ll feel like an alien in that space,” says Hoppen. “When Boy George walked into my home he went, ‘I want this,’ and I said, ‘You don’t really.’
“I’m very good at getting into someone’s head and extracting what it is they really want. So with George it was about his Gothic home that was part of his past, a door he wanted to close, but he still loved the house.
“So we worked out a way to integrate the calmness I create with his crazy artwork and incredible collection, things given to him by David Bowie or John Lennon.”
You may then have to be your own client and brief yourself, says Hoppen. What that means in practical terms starts with asking yourself the right questions about how you want to feel in a space — whether that’s calm, inspired, social — and how you want to use it; where is your favourite spot to sit, how you prefer to wake up.
The rest of the process is really just working out how to achieve that feeling and planning, planning, planning.
Mood boarding is not an airy fairy “interior designer in the movies” cliché but a crucial activity that will be revisited throughout the project, says Hoppen.
Lay all your samples, clippings and colours out and have a play around.
“I love colour!” says Hoppen, who helped Boy George add a yellow kitchen to his house
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Always start with the hard finishes — flooring, walls, doors, windows, and so on — then work in soft furnishings, your carpets and fabrics.
“This process doesn’t just happen once, I’m always going back and looking at my board with fresh eyes adding and taking things away,” says Hoppen.
After that, if you are not working with a designer you should still be able to find an app or similar that can draw up a sketch of how the scheme you have devised will look. At which point you will inevitably do yet more tweaking.
Home is a trend-free zone
“Your home should be like a pair of Levi’s, you can wear it in so many different ways,” says Hoppen. “If you add a great jacket or some boots you change the entire appearance.”
You can’t just throw away everything you already have in your home, so consider what you’re keeping, what you are definitely getting rid of and then look at anything that could be given a new life elsewhere.
For example — will that cushion now work better in the bedroom rather than disrupting the entire new living room scheme?
“I’m very against trends because I don’t believe that is how you live in your home,” says Hoppen.
Adapt gradually over time, rather than switching everything up by the season and shop in your own home first if you fancy a refresh, she suggests.
Ah that controversial topic. When Hoppen says moveable colour, what does she mean?
“Cushions, accessories, art, a border.” But otherwise let’s stay on neutral ground.
Or, if you really want a bold colour as your base, then go lighter on other major areas.
“We just did something for Simon and Lauren Cowell and we’ve used some beautiful dark greens, but the sofa will be in a light linen,” says Hoppen.