Every WOW!house room was utterly unique, yet there were many design threads that ran through the whole house, capturing the zeitgeist and influencing the industry for years to come. Here are just some of those ideas – from colour palettes to furniture styles – that were the key takeaways.
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 (above left), the Shepel’ Home Bar by Toni Black of Blacksheep (above centre) and the Dedar Libary by Pirajean Lees. In Dauley’s case, the curve served a practical purpose too, hiding tech such as speakers. Makers showed of 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 (above right), Tomèf Design broke up sleeping and sitting areas with a curtain on an S-shaped ceiling track, creating a sinuous room divider.
WOW!house leaves no surface undecorated, and it was striking how many designers picked out features with interesting edges and borders. Fromental and Chad Dorsey created an Arts & Crafts-inspired wallcovering with a Japanese twist, with a border that framed large panels of flowers (above left); 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, (above centre) and Emma Sims-Hilditch used a sprig-patterned wallpaper border at picture-rail height, against a secondary trim of rope moulding (above right) – effortless layering at its finest.
The perfect geometry of the sphere was a stepping-stone motif across the rooms. Sometimes it had astronomical roots: Brigitta Spinocchia Freund placed a lunar painting, Hunters Moon by Wanda Koop, above the fireplace in the Stark Curator’s Room (above left), while lighting from Lasvit’s Constellation collection, in the shape of Cassiopeia and Ursa Minor, snaked across the ceiling in the Phillip Jeffries Study (above centre). Elsewhere it felt more architectural: neighbouring room sponsors Adam Architecture and Cox London collaborated on a globular lantern set into the fanlight above the front door (above right), and Cox London’s designer Victoria Davar extended the concept, arranging a series of stone balls on the floor.
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.
Passementerie went super-sized at WOW!house 2025. Kelly Hoppen CBE used a bespoke-length ‘Ebony’ fringe from Houlès, draped to the floor around her tessellating ottomans (above left); while Toni Black of Blacksheep used Samuel & Sons’ ‘Margaux’ bullion fringe on Shepel’s custom sofa in the Home Bar (above centre), complemented by fringed lighting. There was supersized trim of a different kind in the Treasure House Fair Morning Room: Daniel Slowik edged his cushions in lavish pleated fabric frills (above right). their bold scale complementing the opulence of the antiques.
When architects also take on interior design, the big ideas they put into buildings can often bleed into the smaller details. Ben Pentreath Studio’s Kitchen had shelving with an elegant colonette framing detail (above left) and a central table supported on octagonal columns; while Tomasso Franchi of Tomèf Design was inspired by a Venetian hotel room for the Fortuny + Bonacina + Barrovier&Toso Primary Bedroom. His bed (above centre) took the form of a typically Venetian ogee arch, with smaller arches around the base. In other rooms, designers used the architectural motif of the plinth to (literally) elevate sculpture, lighting and other objects, including in the Hector Finch Snug by Thurstan (above right).
Transmitting beautiful soft light, semi-sheer fabrics were WOW!house’s moment of understated luxury. Pirajean Lees designed a pendant light (above left) for the Library in room sponsor Dedar’s ‘Wide Wool Qb’ fabric, made from the softest virgin Australian wool. Semi-sheers were also used for shades in the Hector Finch Snug: the ‘May’ desk lamp (above centre) is an Arts & Crafts-inspired design with a brass frame and pleated shade. Semi-sheer curtains and blinds extended the theme, including in the Cox Entrance Hall by Victoria Davar (above right); The Snug’s designer, James Thurstan Waterworth, worked with Nest Design to create a Roman blind made from delicately stitched together linen from de Le Cuona.
If there was a recurring colour thread, it was that of semi-precious stones and minerals, from amber to malachite and amethyst: colours intrinsically associated with opulence. In the Benjamin Moore Dining Room, designer Peter Mikic custom-designed a dining table (above left) inlaid with semi-precious stones. Turquoise, jade and amethyst were Nicola Harding’s palette for the Drummonds Powder Room (above centre), while Daniel Slowik’s peridot-coloured trellis fabric was the backdrop for the Treasure House Fair Morning Room (above right).
These materials could be neutral, too, with designers embracing not their colour but their luminosity: there were onyx pots and bowls in the House of Rohl Primary bathroom, and shimmering mica on the ceiling in the Phillip Jeffries Study.
Art and artists provided a leading inspiration at WOW!house 2025, from Victoria Davar, who imagined an artist-owner for her Cox London Entrance Hall, to Brigitta Spinocchia Freund, who was inspired by Katy Hessel’s The Story of Art Without Men to create a room where female creators took centre stage (above left). There were unexpected juxtapositions of eras and scale – Davar placed an enormous contemporary abstract canvas by Richard Zinon in the architecturally classical hall (above centre). And there were tips to take away for displaying art: in the Casa Branca bedroom, Alessandra Branca’s landscape-format painting of greyhound after Jean-Baptiste Oudry was hung low over a console (above right), making it immediately engaging at eye level and drawing the art and design closer together. Mostly, what came across was the joy of curating what you love.
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 (above left). 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.
If you missed WOW!house 2025 or want to relive your visit, head here for a virtual walk-through.
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