Any designer worth their salt will tell you that constraint is often the making of a room. The features you cannot remove – the boiler that squats in the corner of the kitchen or the plasticky UPVC windows that would cost a fortune to change – force a kind of creative reckoning.
Learning to work with them intelligently rather than against them is one of the more useful skills a homeowner can develop.
What follows is a practical guide to the fixtures and architectural quirks that British homes dish out most often, and what to do with each of them.
1. Radiators
Never let a radiator get in the way of a great design scheme. The simplest intervention is to paint it to match the wall behind – it won't make it disappear, but it does make it recede.
Radiator covers hide them completely, but for a less bulky option, installing a narrow shelf above offers some level of disguise, as well as a convenient spot for keys and parcels in a hallway or decor in a living room. Draw further focus with a mirror above.
2. A chimney breast
The chimney breast is perfectly at home in a sitting room, where it provides a ready-made focal point and often a spot for a TV. It is considerably less welcome in a bedroom or dining room, where it simply eats up space.
The temptation might be to push furniture against it and hope nobody notices, but a more effective solution is to design the room around it rather than despite it. The chimney breast flanked by two alcoves is an invitation to add bespoke joinery — a handy built-in wardrobe in a bedroom or display cabinet in a dining room makes the most of the recesses.
3. Meters and fuse boxes
Meters and fuse boxes share two qualities that make them particularly awkward to live with – they are usually positioned with complete indifference to aesthetics, and they cannot be moved without significant cost.
The standard response is a flush-mounted cupboard door that conceals the whole arrangement, and when done well, this is entirely sufficient.
For the more adventurous, a framed artwork on a piano hinge that swings open to reveal the meter behind it feels both practical and faintly theatrical. In the kitchen above, the resourceful homeowners have used a chalk board in the same way to great effect.
4. Floors
For a floor you'd rather not look at, but one that is also too costly to replace, natural matting is the versatile salve.
The real advantage of matting – used in the kitchen and living room of the maximalist West Sussex cottage above – is that it can be cut and configured by hand to cover a floor in its entirety. Matting arrives in large rectangles (have a look at Tinsmiths), and each individual square can be snipped off to navigate around corners or protrusions, or tied together with twine to create larger runs. It is also, compared to the cost of replacing a floor, remarkably good value.
5. Exposed beams
Few features divide opinion quite like exposed beams. In the right room – usually bright with high ceilings and flooded with natural light – they bring warmth and a sense of history.
Problems usually arise when ceilings are low, which in older homes is more often the rule than the exception. The instinct to paint everything white in an attempt to lift the room is understandable, but a low white ceiling with dark beams simply emphasises the compression.
A more effective approach is to go in the opposite direction entirely and paint the ceiling in a deeply absorbing tone, which will quieten the beams down without erasing them entirely. From there, commit to the mood in the rest of the room with warm-toned upholstery and lighting that pools rather than floods.
6. UPVC windows
UPVC windows are affordable, practical and thermally sensible, yet almost universally disliked. In Victorian or Edwardian surroundings, they sit with a particular awkwardness, but replacing them with timber sash equivalents is astronomically expensive, and in rented properties or listed situations, simply not an option.
Here, paint is your best friend, and Zinsser Bull’s Eye 1-2-3 multi-purpose primer and sealer is the secret weapon. A single coat applied with a paintbrush creates a smooth, grippy base for whatever water-based eggshell or satin paint colour you want.
7. Bathroom extractor fans
The extractor fan is positioned for function and function alone, which means it is also often in full view, dead-centre on a bathroom ceiling. Distraction and diversion is your best bet – a wall covered in a bold tile makes the fan simply part of a busier visual picture.
Extractor fan covers have also become a their own little cottage industry – square and round options in brushed brass or plaster effect are widely available and require nothing more than a screwdriver to fit.
8. Boilers
Arguably the hardest working eyesore in the home – it is large, shiny, branded with manufacturer typography, and almost certainly positioned at eye level somewhere inconvenient.
Unlike the meter cupboard, it requires ventilation and regular access, which limits the concealment options considerably. A simple cupboard with a louvred door is the most common solution, and it won't truly matter if it doesn't match the rest of your cabinetry.
9. Built-in cupboards
Fitted wardrobes and cupboards left over from a previous occupant are both a gift and a problem. The gift is storage, which in most British homes is in genuinely short supply. The problem is that the wardrobe was designed to suit someone else's taste and budget.
The carcass behind those doors is usually entirely serviceable, and it is only the frontage that needs rethinking. New door fronts – whether flat-painted MDF, rattan insets, or a simple curtain on a tension rod fitted within the frame – can transform a wardrobe at a fraction of the cost of replacing it.
10. Pitched ceilings
Pitched ceilings are a fabulous thing to have in a home, but they are often painted white, which can diminish their impact.
Wallpapering a sloped ceiling, by contrast, can be transformative. A statement pattern carried up and over the pitch wraps the room in a way that feels cocooning, which is particularly effective in bedrooms. Artist Molly Mahon used this trick to great effect in her bathroom above.
Installation is of course more demanding than papering a flat wall, so this is no DIY job.
Spring homeware edit
Pansy Quilted Bedspread, Multi
Pli Green Pleated Desk & Table Lamp
Next Cath Kidston Cream/Blue Floral Quilted Storage
M&S Pure Cotton Floral Embroidered Cushion
Velvet Cushion, Rectangle, Butter Yellow
Catherine Lansfield Epping Textured Stripe Reversible Polycotton Duvet Cover Pillowcase Set
H&M Large stoneware serving plate
Scalloped Mint Green Vase
Rachel Edwards is the Style & Interiors Editor for Country Living and House Beautiful, covering all things design and decoration, with a special interest in small space inspiration, vintage and antique shopping, and anything colour related. Her work has been extensively translated by Elle Japan and Elle Decor Spain. Rachel has spent over a decade in the furniture and homeware industry as a writer, FF&E designer, and for many years as Marketing Manager at cult design retailer, Skandium. She has a BA in French and Italian from Royal Holloway and an MA in Jounalism from Kingston University. Follow Rachel on Instagram @rachelaed
