Interior design ideas for every home at London's Wow!house

Janes Austen fans, gather round: The morning room might be making a comeback. Think about a relaxing space filled with eastern light where Mr Darcy's mother attended to her daily correspondence at Pemberley, although today she'd be emailing rather than picking up parchment and a quill.
Interior decorator and antique dealer Daniel Slowik has worked up a morning room as one of the 22 rooms and outdoor spaces at London's Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour's WOW!house.
I'm not exaggerating when I say WOW!house is appropriately named, as what else would we expect when some of the biggest names in interior design globally are given free rein to design a room for it?
Forming the entrance, set under the centre's lofty atrium, is the façade of a Georgian townhouse designed by Adam Architecture. It's an imposing, monumental structure nodding to the design output of more than two centuries ago, itself inspired by the buildings of ancient Greece and Rome. 'This front facade is a clear homage to the great architects of the Georgian era; Sir John Soane, Nicholas Hawksmoor, George Dance the Younger and John Nash,' says designer Darren Price of Adam Architecture. 'But it is a contemporary interpretation of the past rather than a replication, demonstrating that the enduring language of classicism remains as relevant and inspiring today as it was 250 years ago.'
The WOW!house entrance hall by Victoria Davar of Maison Artefact.
Making the point nicely is a reference to Latin inscriptions we often see chiselled onto classical buildings. Price has repeated the word 'wow' rather humorously and placed the year 2025 above the door like a house number, giving it a contemporary touch.
Inside, we land in the first room, this one an entrance hall which continues the notion of historic, giving off distinctly French chateau vibes but with contemporary accents. 'I was inspired by the idea of an artist finding a charming historical building and turning it into a place of optimism and creativity,' says Victoria Davar, designer and founder of London-based antique dealer and interior design practice Maison Artefact.
The Benjamin Moore colourful dining room is designed by Peter Mikic.
She began with the architectural framework, raising the ceiling height to five metres and commissioning and adding a floating staircase to give the notion of rooms at the top. Reclaimed stone flooring and period doors and architraves give it the feeling of a permanent structure.
There's also a styling layer beyond the visual and tactile, a reminder from previous years that scentscaping is an integral part of WOW!house rooms. Teaming up with a home scenting atelier of note each year — in 2024 it was the splendidly fragrant Dr Vranjes, and for 2025 it's Jo Malone.
At the entrance, Davar has chosen fresh and summery pomegranate, lime and basil, with a smoky, woody note. 'The scent is there to magnify the vision of the interior designers,' says Céline Roux, Jo Malone London's global head of fragrance.
'They all talk about how they want people to feel in their rooms, and that's exactly what we do too. We use the same language. Do you want a space to feel fresh and energised? Do you want it to be comforting? Do you want something that is tranquil, that can help you unwind? Or something floral that brings the outdoors in?'
Fragrance of oak, myrrh and tonka bean set the atmosphere in The Curator's Room, designed by Brigitta Spinocchia Freund, principal and creative director of interior architecture and design practice Spinocchia Freund. There's a subtle nod here to art deco design, which happens to be celebrating its centenary.
Treasure House Fair Morning Room by Daniel Slowik.
Spinocchia Freund has also collaborated with specialist decorators, lighting studios and panel makers, with each contribution helping to add depth and character. Decorative columns are crafted by Féau Boiseries to a 1920 design for the residence of fashion designer Jeanne Lanvin, and an ottoman by another fashion designer, Luella Bartely, is finished in exquisite needlework by modern artisan embroidery studio, Hand & Lock.
The Curator's Room by Brigitta Spinocchia Freund.
It's sumptuous stuff throughout the rooms, with a level of detail and quality that insists on slow strolling and a feeling of immersion. It's invigorating for those of us who love interiors but are somewhat jaded by social media's offerings and the constant conveyor belt of trends.
Rarely do we get exposure to this level of interiors as it's usually commissioned for high-end private homes, so if you're looking for inspiration beyond the relentless online design algorithms, a flying visit across the water is recommended.

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Irish Times

2 hours ago

• Irish Times

The bond between John Lennon and Paul McCartney: ‘For sure they loved each other... they found a way to share that love with the world'

In 2020, in the enforced stillness of a pandemic lockdown, Ian Leslie sat down to write a long, impassioned defence of Paul McCartney . The resulting 10,000-word essay, published on his Substack, the Ruffian, contended that McCartney is an underrated musical and cultural force. Leslie did not expect much reaction 'for a piece arguing that Paul McCartney was good at music', but it went viral, drawing praise from Beatles scholars and fans around the world. For Leslie, a self-described Gen X Beatles fan who fell in love with the band through his parents' LPs, that essay was the beginning of something much bigger. 'Because the piece was praised by people who knew a lot about The Beatles, I thought, maybe I've effectively just given myself licence to write about them … but I didn't think it was an option, because I didn't have that background and, obviously, there are a lot of books about The Beatles, as I am constantly being reminded,' he says. Encouraged by the positive response to his essay, he began to think, 'Wow, maybe I could do that.' Leslie's viral essay led to John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs, a brilliant book exploring the creative partnership at the heart of The Beatles. Their bandmates, George Harrison and Ringo Starr , feature too, of course, but what differentiates John & Paul from all those other Beatles books is Leslie's focus on the intense, often volatile and ultimately transformative relationship between Lennon and McCartney. READ MORE At the heart of the book is the idea that these two musical geniuses didn't just write songs together but also communicated through them. 'They discovered, as teenagers, that the song could be a vessel for everything they couldn't say out loud,' Leslie says from his home in England. 'It was a kind of emotional panic room.' They were two boys from Liverpool who had both lost their mothers young, a bond that created a private gravitational pull between them. 'You've got these two emotionally intense teenagers, at the most intense stage of a young man's life, and they find this magical outlet, this way to connect, not just with the world but with each other.' It's this emotional dynamic that Leslie believes is often flattened in typical Beatles biographies; he has read most, if not all, of them. 'The music was their language,' Leslie says. 'It's how they argued, supported each other, competed and connected. Even after the band split they were still talking to each other, just through songs written apart.' Leslie was about seven years old when he discovered The Beatles. He was rifling through his parents' record collection when he found Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and a compilation album that featured a photograph of the band taking part in a Japanese tea ceremony. 'They just seemed very mysterious and glamorous to me – they have done ever since – and that was the beginning of it.' [ Seeing but not quite hearing The Beatles in Hammersmith, 1964 Opens in new window ] Leslie's background is in advertising, but his previous books, Born Liars, Curious and How to Disagree, are about human behaviour and psychology. He is known for taking a familiar aspect of human nature and uncovering fresh angles. No surprise, then, that he wanted to take a well-trodden story such as that of Lennon and McCartney and reappraise it. 'That central relationship in the group is the thing that absolutely is like the molten core of The Beatles, and the thing that really fascinated me,' he says. The Beatles: Paul McCartney, George Harrison, John Lennon and Ringo Starr taking a dip. Photograph: John Loengard/TimeAs a writer on psychology Leslie brings a fresh perspective to the friendship. 'There is more than one reason that we get Lennon and McCartney so wrong, but one is that we have trouble thinking about intimate male friendships,' he writes. 'We're used to the idea of men being good friends, or fierce competitors, or sometimes both. We're thrown by a relationship that isn't sexual but is romantic, a friendship that may have an erotic or physical component to it, but doesn't involve sex.' In each chapter Leslie takes a deep dive into a song to more fully understand the Lennon-McCartney bond. Each of the 23 songs in the book, from Come Go with Me, the song Lennon sang at their fateful 1957 church-fete meeting in Woolton village, to Here Today, the song McCartney wrote after Lennon was murdered, in 1980, become emotional landmarks. When Leslie writes about a work as ubiquitous as She Loves You, he somehow manages to restore the shock of how new it once sounded. Reading the book, you find yourself stopping to listen to each song – and, with Leslie's insights, hearing them in a different way. 'I knew pretty much from the beginning that's what I wanted to do,' he says. 'I don't think you can separate the music from the relationship, and these were guys who lived and thought and felt and communicated through songs. They learned to do that as teenagers in each other's bedrooms and front parlours, and that becomes their primary channel of communication about the things they care about most.' Although Leslie's book veers away from indulging the polarising narrative around the two friends, he admits that he has always been 'a Paul person'. 'He was the one who fascinated me. I felt he'd been treated unfairly in terms of his reputation,' Leslie says. For me, as a fellow Paul person, one of the successes of the book is that it draws me more towards Lennon. Leslie is pleased about this. 'I wanted to be careful that I wasn't biased. I'm glad that it kind of sent you to John. I mean, partly, that's what happened to me as well, because I set out with that kind of approach, to say, 'Look, these two guys basically created each other.' Paul McCartney and John Lennon at the Finsbury Park Astoria, London, in December 1963. Photograph: Val Wilmer/Redferns 'It's ridiculous to talk about John versus Paul, right? You couldn't have one without the other musically, creatively speaking, and even in terms of personality. So as I was researching and writing the book I was sort of opening my own mind to how extraordinary John was.' John & Paul, Leslie explains, was a balancing act. It needed to be accessible to people who didn't know much about their back story, 'which is a lot of people, especially young people'. At the same time, 'the material had to feel fresh even if you know all about The Beatles'. He was working on three levels. 'One is what happened. It's important to me that we tell the story of The Beatles and not just assume people know it,' Leslie says. 'The second level is the John-and-Paul relationship. And the third thing is the music, and how does the music change and develop? They all have to be interwoven, so you can see how they're all playing off against each other. That was basically the challenge of writing it.' What the book powerfully communicates is the sheer unlikeliness of what Lennon and McCartney created. Leslie returns often to the mystery of their personal and musical partnership. How did two working-class young men, in a postwar industrial city, end up making the greatest popular music of the 20th century? How did both of them turn out to be world-class songwriters and singers? 'It's almost a kind of magical meeting, the two of them coming together at that time,' Leslie says. 'Sometimes you worry that if you're enchanted by something the magic will go, because it'll just become a series of facts and information. And actually, in this case, it's kind of the opposite. I think, in terms of The Beatles and John and Paul's relationship, the more you learn about it, the more detail you accumulate, the more mysterious and enchanting it gets. And I wanted to convey a little bit about that in the book.' When you're writing a story that's so familiar to so many, 'it can feel like the author knows exactly how and why all of this happened … so now and again I sort of step outside the frame and go, 'I don't know how this happened',' Leslie says. This incredibly vitriolic song is not the kind of song you write about somebody that you're exhausted by, or that you're bored by, that you just can't be bothered with It's why John & Paul begins with Lennon and McCartney's first meeting, on a hot summer's day, 12 years after the end of the second World War and a decade before Sgt Pepper. 'I wanted to capture that. John's there at the fete, playing bad skiffle, when he first meets Paul, and 10 years later they're making a psychedelic masterpiece that revolutionises music. It's hard to believe ... I still don't understand it,' Leslie says. He suspects some kind of 'hidden hand' in this. He mentions Rick Rubin's well-ventilated theory that The Beatles were the best proof available of the existence of God. 'The more you look into the story of The Beatles, that's how I feel about it. I can't explain this.' The book is particularly revealing about the acrimony that developed between the two friends in later years, and how their relationship ebbed and flowed after The Beatles split, when Lennon was with Yoko Ono in the United States and McCartney had settled into family life with his wife Linda. 'Most relationships or marriages end because the partners essentially get bored or exhausted by each other. The fire goes out altogether. That's why a lot of long-running groups split up eventually,' Leslie says. That didn't happen with The Beatles 'because they essentially split up prematurely, when they were making the best music of their career. This never happens'. 'You split up because you're not very good or you're making mediocre music, the spark is gone and you're a bit bored and so on. They never did that. They split up and they have this terrible argument when they're still doing incredible stuff.' Lennon's song How Do You Sleep?, which is full of cruel digs at McCartney, features in the book for good reason. 'This incredibly vitriolic song is not the kind of song you write about somebody that you're exhausted by, or that you're bored by, that you just can't be bothered with. It's a song you write when you really want somebody's attention, because you have very, very strong feelings about them,' Leslie says. The Beatles in 1976: Ringo Starr, John Lennon, George Harrison and Paul McCartney. Photograph: Getty Images Arguably, they were still being inspired by each other when Lennon was fatally shot outside the Dakota, his apartment building in New York, and Leslie is insightful about the emotional fallout for McCartney of his best friend's death. In the book he describes McCartney's appearance on Desert Island Discs years later, visibly struggling not to cry as one of his chosen songs, Lennon's Beautiful Boy, is played. What does Leslie think Lennon would be up to now, had he lived? 'The thing about John Lennon is that he's never really what you want him to be, which is why he's so cool and fascinating and interesting. I don't think he'd ever settle into your nice, sweet grandad mode. I think he would have been on Twitter, you know, saying the most terrible things.' Did he have revelations about McCartney and Lennon as a fan himself while writing the book? 'Absolutely. It's such complex music, even when it sounds very simple, that you can always go back to it and hear different things. And, yes, that happened to me, but it was also the mission of the book to take something very familiar that we take for granted and ask people to think about it again,' Leslie says. 'We think we know The Beatles. We think we know John and Paul. I wanted to reastonish people with what they did and who they were. And, of course, the music is absolutely essential to that. I want people to hear I Want to Hold Your Hand and go, 'Oh my God,' or She Loves You and go, 'This is actually incredible. It's not just this song, it's a masterpiece,' you know.' Not even Lennon and McCartney, the mercurial protagonists themselves, could decode the full mystery of their bond. In one of the final quotes in the book, from 1981, McCartney remarks that they 'never got to the bottom of each other's souls'. [ 'A festering wound': The true story of the Beatles break-up Opens in new window ] As Leslie puts it, 'What we can say for sure is that they loved each other and that through music they found a way to share this love with the world – and in doing so they made the world an immeasurably better place.' John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs is published by Faber & Faber. Ian Leslie is in conversation with Tom Dunne and Paul Howard at the Pavilion Theatre , Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, on Wednesday, July 9th

The Irish Sun

11 hours ago

• The Irish Sun

We're raising our children without rules – they don't have a bed time and they only go to school if they want to

A COUPLE who are raising their children without rules have shared an insight into their everyday life. The family-of-five described themselves as "unconventional", with the young children allowed to set their own schedules each day. Advertisement 2 A couple who practice 'unconventional' parenting shared an insight into their everyday life Credit: YOUTUBE Adele and Matt spoke to the YouTube channel the The Brighton-based pair shared 11-year-old son Ulysses and daughters Astara, six, and Kai, three. All three children are being raised with "no strict rules" in any aspect of their lives, including meal times, bed times, and school. "The children listen to their bodily cues, they sleep when they're tired, eat when they're hungry," said Matt. Advertisement Read More On Parenting He joked that this does mean that their diets include a lot of "junk food", such as crisps, cookies, chocolate, and pizza. Matt clarified that their "unconventional parenting" style was about giving their children the freedom to choose. This began at a young age as the kids decided when they wanted to stop breast-feeding and co-sleeping with their parents. While their oldest son co-slept until the age of 11 and stopped breast-feeding around six, his younger sister was happy to move into her own room at five and quit breast-feeding the year before that. Advertisement Most read in Fabulous Exclusive Exclusive Meanwhile the youngest Kai still sleeps in her parents' bed at three and continues to breast-feed, with Adele saying she didn't see either ceasing any time soon. This feeds into the couple's main parenting philosophy which involves attachment parenting their children when they are young as well as practicing gentle parenting. How one poly couple make it work while raising teenage sons This close relationship is continued all the time as the children do not attend school. Instead, Adele and Matt use an "unschooling" technique at home, though they clarified this is not considered homeschooling. Advertisement According to them, it lets the child lead what they learn, with nature playing a huge part in their education The family even have a garden farm, which includes a flock of chickens and roosters, as well as rabbits and dogs. "We do not worry about them not being in school, I'd worry about what they'd miss out on if they weren't in school actually," Adele said. Different parenting techniques Here are some widely recognised methods: Authoritative Parenting This technique will often foster independence, self-discipline, and high self-esteem in children. It is often considered the most effective, this technique is where parents set clear expectations - enforcing rules - whilst also showing warmth and support. Authoritarian Parenting This is opposite to authoritative parenting, as it is where the parent sets high demands but is low on responsiveness. It involves ensuring the child is obedient and often employ punitive measures. While this can lead to disciplined behaviour, it may also result in lower self-esteem and social skills in children. Permissive Parenting Permissive parents tend to be indulgent and lenient, often taking on a role more akin to a friend than an authority figure. They are highly responsive but lack demandingness, granting children a lot of freedom. This method can nurture creativity and a free-spirited nature but may also result in poor self-regulation and difficulties with authority. Uninvolved Parenting Uninvolved or neglectful parenting is marked by low responsiveness and low demands. Parents in this category offer minimal guidance, nurturing, or attention. This often leaves children feeling neglected, which can have significant negative effects on their emotional and social development. Helicopter Parenting Helicopter parents are extremely involved and overprotective, frequently micromanaging their children's lives. Although their goal is to protect and support, this approach can hinder a child's ability to develop independence and problem-solving skills. Free-Range Parenting Free-range parenting encourages children to explore and learn from their surroundings with minimal parental interference. This method promotes independence and resilience but requires a safe and supportive environment to be successful. Attachment Parenting According to Each of these parenting techniques has its own set of strengths and weaknesses. The key is to find a balanced approach that aligns with the family's values and meets the child's needs for a healthy, happy upbringing. "A conventional education I would say is definitely failing a large majority of children right now." Advertisement Astara shared her hopes to learn how to write when she's turns "seven or eight" but in the meantime she is focused on things like gymnastics and ballet. As well as "outside school", the couple's unconventional parenting approaching also relates to medical care. They opt to "respect our children's bodily autonomy" and try to steer clear of vaccines and medication unless absolutely neccessary. Instead, they use alternative forms of care, such as herbal teas and extracts or "anything holistic without outside effects". Advertisement And as for how they invision their children's futures, the couple said they are with whatever lifestyle they choose when they grow up. 2 The children are allowed to decide what they learn, when they go to bed, and what they eat Credit: YOUTUBE

The Irish Sun

19 hours ago

• The Irish Sun

Noel Gallagher and Pete Doherty are ego-free and fantastic – it's crap rockers who are c***s', says Britpop legend

THEY were both notorious hellraisers with prickly reputations in their 20s as they embraced rock 'n' roll debauchery. But, now in middle age and their reputations as great songwriters secured, Oasis's Noel Gallagher and Advertisement 6 Ocean Colour Scene's Steve Cradock has sung the praises of three rock legends 6 Noel Gallagher was in the studio with Cradock working on Paul Weller's new album Credit: Doug Seeburg 6 Pete Doherty is a big fan of Ocean Colour Scene and recently joined them on stage Credit: Getty Guitarist Cradock, 55, who has also played with Speaking exclusively to The Sun from his home ahead of the band's performance at Cradock will be heading to see Oasis this summer with his sons, Sunny and Cass, and feels like the newly-reformed group "deserve to be the biggest band in the world again". Even though Ocean Colour Scene knocked Oasis's Be Here Now off the top of the UK album chart in 1997 with their third album Marchin' Already, Cradock acknowledges his band didn't have the same cultural impact as the Gallagher brothers. Advertisement READ MORE ON BRITPOP "Oasis changed the whole country," says Cradock. "The Beatles did that. I think maybe The Jam did that. Maybe the two-tone label did that. Maybe Arctic Monkeys had done that. We're just a group from Birmingham who were around at that time. "Oasis changed the way people dressed and they had such incredible characters, you know, Noel and Liam. Liam was just a one-off and they broke the f**king mold, I think. And, you know, good on them." Meanwhile Doherty, who now lives a quiet life in a small French seaside town with his wife Katia de Vidas and their daughter Billie Mae, two, recently joined Ocean Colour Scene on stage to sing backing vocals. "He's always lovely, Pete Doherty," says Cradock. "I like him a lot and he seems to be a fan of the group and always has been apparently. Advertisement Most read in Showbiz "He's just lovely, and I'm pleased he's managed to get himself straight, you know. "It's the people who are no good who end up being c**ts to me because they have to be, don't they? They've got to have it. I don't know, I don't want to get into psychology or anything but most people I meet are really lovely people, really nice ." Noel Gallagher looks stony-faced as he makes lonely Tube journey to Oasis rehearsals – but Liam's entrance is chaotic Though he was immersed in the raucous Britpop scene that preceded Doherty's rise to indie stardom in the early noughties, Cradock managed to come through the wild parties relatively unscathed. He admits he was never on "Pete's level" but says "the 90s were very hedonistic so we've all had our moments. But that sort of bullsh*t, when you see people who pass through all that rock and roll death, it's all just bullsh*t man." Advertisement When asked if the pair have big egos, Cradock delivered an emphatic no, saying: "No I don't think there is. Most people are really lovely." Classic rock fans can also breathe a sigh of relief that The Whole Lotta Love singer features on Weller's upcoming album and Cradock says he turned up ready and willing to work like a regular session musician. "He was prepared for it, like a working musician, not a rock god," he says. Advertisement "He was humbling and he played some beautiful harp. Then we asked if he would sing and he sang and it was just like, 'wow'." Mod fan Cradock rejoiced in hearing Plant's tales from his days before superstardom, particularly how he played a role in a notorious battle between two subcultures on the south coast. 6 Weller is a 'creative force', according to Cradock Credit: Rex 6 Robert Plant blew Cradock away when he sang in the studio Credit: Redferns Advertisement "He told me he left the Black Country in '64 on his hand-painted Lambretta, went down to Hastings and got involved in the mods and rockers fight and then drove back on his Lambretta. "It blew my mind the fact that you've got this sort of rock icon who was originally a mod fighting the rockers. "He was a gentleman and he's a great singer and he's really tuned in to what's happening in that moment you know, a true professional, a G. He's a f***ing G." Music fans can hear Plant do his thing when the record is released on July 25. Advertisement Godiva Festival takes place at Coventry's War Memorial Park July 4-6 6 Ocean Colour Scene dethroned Oasis on the UK album chart in 1997