THE JOURNAL
IDEAS FROM WOW!HOUSE
The Design Centre’s annual showhouse isn’t just a place where designers can
let their imaginations fly, but a world full of design tips and tricks to take away. Emily Brooks traces the zeitgeist at this year’s show
INTRODUCING CURVES Each designer started with a rectilinear space, but many added curved walls, especially to cosy spaces for small- group gatherings, including Alex Dauley’s ‘date night’ Nucleus Media Room, the Shepel’ Home Bar by Toni Black of Blacksheep and the Dedar Library by Pirajean Lees. In Dauley’s case, the curve served a practical purpose too, hiding tech such as speakers. Makers showed off their bespoke skills: Dauley asked Julian Chichester to design an extra-long L-shaped sofa (upholstered in velvet from Zinc Textile) while the Home Bar’s room sponsor Shepel’ demonstrated its key skill of custom furniture with a curving bar. In the Fortuny + Bonacina + Barovier&Toso Primary Bedroom, Tomèf Design broke up sleeping and sitting areas with a curtain on an S-shaped ceiling track, creating a sinuous room divider.
BORDER PATROL WOW!house leaves no surface undecorated, and it was striking how many designers picked out features with interesting edges and borders. Fromental created an Arts and Crafts-inspired wallcovering with a Japanese twist, with a border that framed large panels of flowers; while Brigitta Spinocchia Freund’s door architraves for the Stark Curator’s Room were carved timber panels (made by Féau Boiseries), replicas of art deco originals. Alessandra Branca showcased Casa Branca’s Srinagar collection with a pretty border that edged the paisley fabric walls, and Emma Sims-Hilditch used a sprig-patterned wallpaper border at picture-rail height, against a secondary trim of rope moulding – effortless layering at its finest.
THE PAINTED FINISH WOW!house had its first paint sponsor in 2025, Benjamin Moore, and colour and paint effects were uppermost in designers’ minds. Benjamin Moore was also a room sponsor for the Dining Room, where Peter Mikic commissioned artist Billy Metcalfe to use its paints to create an abstract work across one wall. Emma Sims-Hilditch used fresh tone-on-tone green to great effect in the Courtyard Room. Designers also employed specialists to create paint finishes, combining colour, depth and texture: there was a velvety custom- coloured deep yellow distemper by Matthew Bray & Matthew Collins in the Lopen Joinery Kitchen, and a dark blue marble-dust finish by Faberby Studio for the Hector Finch Snug by Thurstan.
CHAIN REACTION Instead of merely mounting a mirror or work of art on the walls, designers repeatedly used visible systems that were integral to the overall design. In the Powder Room, Nicola Harding hung a pair of Drummonds mirrors on chains suspended on a rail, using a similar system in the loo, where integrated lights illuminated a gallery of small pictures (making them easy to change around, because a hanging system leaves no trace on the walls). In the Samuel Heath Bathroom, Laura Hammett designed bespoke mirrors that took a similar approach, with dual mirrors suspended from a frame, while in the House of Rohl bathroom, 1508 London hung robes from a bespoke dressing rail, tucked into an alcove.
10 SMART
LEFT: In the Dining Room, designer Peter Mikic commissioned artist Billy Metcalfe to create a spectacular abstract wall mural that used room sponsor Benjamin Moore’s paints. Mikic’s bespoke dining table incorporated slabs of semi-precious stone such as lapis lazuli, malachite and quartz – a colour palette that proved a recurring influence to designers across the WOW!house rooms
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