How to Find Your Interior Style: Creating a Romantic & Collected Home
- May 24
- 5 min read
Updated: May 29
Creating a Home That Feels Personal, Layered, and Timeless
When we first bought our Victorian flat in London, one of the biggest challenges wasn’t the renovation itself, it was figuring out how to create a home that actually felt like us. The world of interiors can feel overwhelming. Every scroll brings another perfectly styled room, another trend, another “must-have” piece of furniture. When you’re starting from scratch, it’s easy to feel pressure to make everything look finished immediately.
But over time, we realised the homes we were most drawn to all had one thing in common: they felt collected rather than decorated. The spaces that feel warm, timeless and deeply personal are rarely created overnight. They evolve slowly through travel, memories, vintage finds, inherited pieces and objects gathered over many years. Creating a home has become less about following trends and more about curating a space that reflects our experiences, aesthetic and way of living.
In this post, I’m sharing the principles that helped us develop our own interior style, from mixing old and new pieces to collecting slowly and designing a home that evolves naturally over time.
Collect Slowly & Organically
One of the biggest pieces of advice we can give is to collect unique pieces gradually rather than rushing to fully furnish a home immediately. Some of our favourite items have been discovered while travelling — from local craft shops in India and Sri Lanka to antique markets in Mexico and ceramic studios in Japan. These pieces now sit naturally throughout our home, carrying memories and stories that make the spaces feel deeply personal.
You don’t need to travel internationally to approach interiors this way. The same mindset works when visiting nearby towns, independent markets, vintage fairs or small local makers close to home. The important thing is allowing your home to evolve naturally over time rather than trying to perfect everything at once. We actually began collecting pieces for our future home more than ten years ago, long before our renovation started. Having a long-term vision helped us build a style that feels layered and individual rather than overly curated or trend-led.
One example is a pair of ceramic wall vessels we discovered in Santorini during our honeymoon in 2021. Their uneven glaze, hand-shaped curves and soft ivory finish bring warmth and quiet imperfection into the room while also holding sentimental value that makes them irreplaceable.
Combine Old & New
For a home to feel truly unique, we believe it’s important to balance contemporary pieces with older items that carry character and depth. Vintage furniture, inherited objects, antique artwork, brass accents, thrifted finds and collected ceramics help create interiors that feel layered and timeless. When everything is bought brand new from the same retailer, spaces can often feel flat or overly trend-driven. Mixing old and new prevents your home from feeling tied to a single moment in time.
Some of our most treasured pieces have come from family members, including a woven wicker chair, a hand-blown glass vase and an antique oil painting passed down through generations. These older pieces sit alongside contemporary lighting, modern cabinetry and minimalist architectural details, creating contrast and warmth throughout the home. This balance between contemporary simplicity and collected vintage charm has become one of the defining characteristics of our interior style
Alongside antique and inherited pieces, we’re also constantly drawn to contemporary makers creating objects with a timeless, handcrafted feel. Some of my favourite pieces are the ones that blur the line between functional object and sculpture; textured ceramics, aged terracotta vessels and organic handmade bowls that add warmth and quiet character to a space.
I’m particularly inspired by makers whose work embraces natural imperfections and earthy materials, like this handmade Nordic-style matcha bowl, this beautifully aged terracotta pot and this sculptural paper mâché bowl. Although contemporary, pieces like these still feel deeply connected to traditional craftsmanship and sit effortlessly alongside vintage furniture and antique décor.
Adding smaller handcrafted objects throughout a home is one of the easiest ways to create a space that feels layered, collected and personal without needing to completely redesign a room.
Know When to Invest & When to Save
Designing a home can become expensive very quickly, particularly during a renovation. One of the most useful decisions we made early on was identifying where we were willing to invest for long-term quality and visual impact, and where we were comfortable saving.
For us, materiality mattered deeply within the kitchen design. We had a very clear vision for the marble backsplash and decided it was worth investing in bespoke stonework around the cooker and sink to achieve the exact look and proportions we wanted. At the same time, we knew we didn’t have the budget to spend tens of thousands of pounds on fully bespoke kitchen cabinetry. Instead, we prioritised the elements that would create the strongest visual atmosphere and found more cost-effective solutions elsewhere.
This approach allowed us to create a kitchen that still feels elevated, personal and thoughtfully designed without exceeding our budget. A personalised interior rarely comes from spending the most money. More often, it comes from thoughtful choices, patience and understanding which details matter most to you.
Creating a Home That Evolves With You
Perhaps the most important thing we’ve learned throughout our renovation is that creating a home is an ongoing process. The most interesting interiors are rarely finished. They evolve gradually through collecting, rearranging, restoring and simply living within them. Styles shift, memories accumulate and spaces naturally become richer over time.
Rather than chasing perfection, we’ve tried to create a home that feels calm, expressive and deeply connected to our experiences, balancing minimal architectural design with whimsical vintage details, romantic textures and objects that tell a story.Ultimately, personal style cannot be bought instantly. It’s built slowly through time, curiosity and the pieces you choose to live with every day.
If you’re currently renovating or trying to define your own interior style, remember that the most beautiful homes are rarely created overnight. They’re shaped gradually through thoughtful choices, collected objects and the memories attached to them..
Ke Takeaways to remember
- Collect slowly rather than rushing to fill every space
- Mix vintage and contemporary pieces for a more layered look
- Prioritise atmosphere and character over perfection
- Invest in the details that create the biggest visual impact
- Choose pieces that hold personal meaning or tell a story
- Let your home evolve naturally over time
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