In all the years I’ve been writing about interiors I’ve never heard a designer say that they want to create spaces that give people solace. But that’s the main aim of the London-based designer Cat Dal — to create a sense of being held, nurtured and comforted, and I felt it was the perfect feeling to cherish this Christmas.
"I like to use color palettes to evoke emotional responses, to fill homes with natural, tactile materials and to make sure there is enough storage so that the home never feels cluttered," Cat says. "If your home can soothe you, and give you lovely moments every day then, yes, it can become a place of solace."
Here, Cat walks us through this modern home, dressed to impress for the festive season.
Price: $34
Adorn your table in festive decorative items like these delicate tree candlesticks to achieve the same effect as the Christmas table in this house.
Price: $3.99
Bring a wreath-lined street to your Christmas dinner with these sweet festively painted plates.
Price: $16.99
Get the same Candy Cane impression for your Christmas table scape with these red-striped napkins.
Her work on this four-story home in St John’s Wood, London, is a haven of comforting color. Terracotta, deep blues and sandy wood tones combine into a scheme that wraps you up in warmth and joy. "And it radiates a casual charm," Cat says. "You feel you can walk in and be at ease, much of which is down to choosing materials like wood in place of marble. They soften rooms."
"Because blue is a colour found in natural landscapes, it’s very soothing, and feels very creative to work in," Cat says. Bring this look into your own own with Etruria, by Little Greene.
Price: $74.99
This rattan desk chair has the same look at the Soho Home Hayward chair used in this home.
Price: $69
Get the smooth curves of the Portobello reading lamp used in this house's library.
This approach makes the house the perfect backdrop for Christmas decorating. Its high ceilings invite tall trees, its living moss wall in the dining room was crying out to be filled with string lights, the rich wall colors shimmer under the flicker of candlelight. "At Christmas, the home is both fresh and vibrant," Cat says. "The glow of the candles pick out the warmth of the tones we used so perfectly. There’s a nostalgia that comes from a home like this; its grand proportions and informal use of color softening your soul somehow."
One of the successes of the way Cat has designed this house is that, when the decorations come down in January, it won’t feel bare. The Victorian architecture, and all the cornicing that comes with it, has become a backdrop to the family’s art collection, displayed in group clusters in the entryway, and to the curated collection of books and objets that fill the joinery in the home library, the room which the family spend most of their time.
"The rich blue is very restorative," Cat says of the color she chose for the cabinets, "and this has become a very creative space. It’s where the kids gather to do homework, draw, and catch up with their mom – a less grown-up space than the terracotta living room which is more for adults to read or drink wine in peace."
In fact, peace is a feeling that permeates this property, which gently wraps you up in its warm-hearted design. It might embody the spirit of Christmas, but it is a mood that lasts all year.
