Slow Interiors: How to Create a More Considered Home

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On August 26, 2022

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Decorating is a big investment which involves hundreds of decisions, and quite often, hundreds of pounds. You want interiors that will last – both in style and durability – but don’t know what you want or need. Our homes also can’t be overlooked when considering our environmental impact. This guide will give you the answers you need to make thoughtful decorating choices to create a nurturing home that supports slow living.

TRANSCENDING TRENDS WITH SLOW INTERIORS

Have you ever followed the latest interiors trends but been left underwhelmed with the effect? Slow interiors offers a solution through a more considered and thoughtful approach to how we decorate.

The term slow interiors is often referred to as part of the wider slow movement, which came into being with Slow Food in the 1980s. To us, slow living is a mindset which encompasses all of these areas of our lives – whatever you call them. It means curating a more meaningful lifestyle by living in self-awareness and making conscious, purposeful decisions that benefit you and the planet. A slow living mindset can help you achieve a home that is both more environmentally friendly and a better reflection of your own true style and needs.

“Slow living is less of a style and more a deeply personal mentality.”

- Nathan Williams, The Kinfolk Home -

MINDSET FOR THE HOME

While trends in homeware move much slower than in fashion, we’re all susceptible to rushing to buy the latest look, and often we regret it. We might regret it because it quickly goes out of fashion, or it jars with our other interiors, or it’s quite impractical – things we didn’t consider in our haste. Plus, adopting a slow living mindset for the home also means creating a home which is deeply unique to you.

The ethos of slow fashion is a useful guide when adapted for slow interiors:

Decorating true to your own style and transcending temporary trends
Reassigning true value to craftsmanship and design
Buying less and buying better quality
Taking the time to research the sustainability of brands and materials
Taking care to look after your purchases
Extending the life of furniture and decor items through upcycling and buying vintage
Creating a home with its inhabitants and desired uses at the forefront

On the other hands, slow interiors is about taking the time to think about how you want your spaces to feel, and how your home can become a nurturing space which truly reflects what’s important to you. On the other hand, adopting a slow interiors mindset means to deeply consider who and what purposes it serves before rushing into purchases. Finally, slow interiors means choosing the most sustainable options within your budget, or making the most of what you already own.

IDENTIFYING TRUE USES OF YOUR SPACES

Kate Watson-Smyth, author of Mad About The House, encourages you to ask yourself six key questions when embarking on decorating a room. If you don’t, she says you “run the risk of ending up with a room that doesn’t really work for the people who live there – which means they won’t use it”.

Who is the room for?
What is the room for?
When is the room going to be used?
Where do you want to buy from?
Why are you decorating?
How are you budgeting for it?

Without considering these questions and thinking what you want to achieve in the room and who it’s for, you could end up redecorating sooner than you think. And that’s clearly not sustainable.

“The function of our homes should dictate the way we decorate them, not the other way around.”

- Nathan Williams, The Kinfolk Home -

The way your home feels is your opportunity to create a space that’s aligned to what you value most in life. Love hosting informal dinners which go on into the early hours of the morning? An open plan kitchen with a big dining table and comfortable chairs may then be your main focus. Looking to create a feeling of calm and plenty of spaces to retreat into? Think carefully about lighting, colour and comfortable seating.

DECORATING TRUE TO YOUR OWN STYLE

Are you buying something because you’ve seen it in a magazine or on Instagram, or because it’s a true reflection of your style?

If you see a piece of furniture or decor and want to buy it, walk away or close the tab. Revisit the item in a few days or better, a few weeks, and see if it still gives you that same feeling. Much like with fashion, we’re swayed by the way items are styled in other people’s homes (or on their bodies), without truly gauging how it will fit in (on) our own.

Take the time to make a mood board and slowly find the right items. The way you decorate will be a feature of your home every day for years. Rushing to buy something you’re not entirely happy with will only leave you feeling discontented and likely to decorate again sooner.

And don’t forget to explore colour psychology in interior design which goes one step further than the traditional harmonious colour wheel combinations. In colour psychology there are four personality types which are drawn to one of four different groups of colours. Taking a moment to think about how you react to different combinations of paint colours and fabrics will help you avoid a jarring scheme.

CHOOSING QUALITY AND CRAFTSMANSHIP

Opt for simple classic shapes and durable materials that will stand the test of time. What does this mean?

Fast interiors is characterised by cheaper homewares brands and mass production. On the one hand, fast interiors allows more people to design a stylish home on a budget, and on the other, it leads to a throwaway culture. However, when focusing on slow interiors, we’d encourage you to buy the best quality – i.e. most durable – you can afford.

Investing in hardwood pieces that stand the test of time will mean you have to make fewer replacements. When buying anything, consider durability and where it will be used. Furnishings in high traffic areas of the home are much more likely to wear.

Handmade items with a real sense of craftsmanship offer the chance to own something unique and even a little imperfect. Artisan-made furnishings and furniture invite you to slow down and consider the hours put in to create them. In turn, this focus on slow design can inspire us to take time to value the things we love and create everyday moments of calm and reflection. Shopping small also allows you to support makers and creatives and sometimes the chance to protect long-established skills and trades.

With fast interiors offering products at cheaper prices, it’s easy to adopt a throwaway mindset. But if you truly love what’s in your home and recognise its value – which is your and the designer’s investment in it – you’ll be more inclined to make the effort to look after it.