London - You know a hotel room feels good when all you want to do is wrap up in the fluffy bath robe, snuggle under the covers and order room service.
But you know your hotel room’s truly great when you love it so much, you want to take the whole thing home.
Thankfully, groups such as Soho House and people like hotelier/designer Kit Kemp are creating collections they’re not only using for their hotels, but for those who like five-star luxury at home.
Soho House’s style struck success when British designer Ilse Crawford and group founder Nick Jones began the era of cosy country house chic with the 1998 opening of Babington House, Somerset.
The style is at the heart of the group’s Soho Home Collection (sohohome.com) — put together to furnish its own hotels (there are 17 from London to Berlin, Manhattan to Istanbul, with five more to come) and by requests from guests wishing to replicate the look. “Nothing says Soho House more than our crystal glasses, the pattern inspired by vintage wallpaper print and named after the Barwell Barn at Soho Farmhouse,” says Vicky Charles, head of interior design for Soho House & Co.
The thought they’ve put into creating the ultimate hotel experience is reflected in the range, from the George Smith hand-made Chesterfield sofas to the bedside lighting.
“Our lamps are designed not to wake the person next to you in bed — they have a dim light that can easily be angled so that it pinpoints your book, rather than flooding the room,” says Charles.
Alternatively, Darlings of Chelsea also does a good range of deep-buttoned leather sofas (darlingsofchelsea.co.uk).
A photo posted by D A R L I N G S (@darlingsofchelsea) on Sep 5, 2016 at 12:59am PDT
At The Pig’s dreamy countryside escapes in Hampshire, Somerset, Dorset and Devon, the look “isn’t over-designed, but all about the unique pieces we’ve collected that make each space feel as if it’s evolved over time”, says Judy Hutson, designer and co-founder with husband Robin.
“No two hotels feel the same, nothing is too shiny, it feels very personal.”
The same ethos applied to the new Bert’s Box at The Pig in the New Forest — “we kept it simple, working with just two materials, reclaimed timber and monochromatic zig-zag tiles to flow throughout, making it feel big, lovely and luxurious,” says Lee Thornley of interior design team Bert & May.
Kit Kemp, design director of Firmdale Hotels, the group behind the Ham Yard Hotel in Central London — whose wallpaper and fabrics are available through Christopher Farr (christopherfarr.com) — says: “I like fabric designs that breathe. Often I see designs from other manufacturers that are too tight and busy in their repeats”.
Meanwhile, Conran for M&S has produced a range of cushions printed with designs by one of her favourite British artists, the late Breon O’Casey.
At A-list favourite Claridge’s, we hear guests love the Sleepeezee mattresses, made to its specifications (sleepeezee.co.uk). So much so that one royal visitor even ordered 40 for his own palatial home.
The hotel’s deco tub chairs, by Linley (davidlinley.com), are much ordered, too, but if the £4 000 price tag is a bit steep for you, Oliver Bonas’s just as sweet little velvet Le Cocktail, £425, or tub chair, £445, will do the trick (oliverbonas.com).
Finishing touches are also key — a cosy throw (like the new Loch Lomond check version by Lorraine Kelly for JD Williams, £19, (jdwilliams.co.uk), interesting artwork (try vintage prints from King & McGaw, from £14.95, kingandmcgaw.com), and a groovy lamp in a neon bright like Habitat’s Tommy double-headed desk or floor lamp, from £50 (habitat.co.uk) will complete the look.
As to applying the practical ingredients of what makes a great hotel room to your own home, Kemp (whose latest hotel The Whitby will open in Manhattan in December) has a formula.
She says “a generosity of scale, a good bed (and a good light to read by), somewhere to sit and put on your shoes and a place to sit, like a window seat, to watch the world go by” are all key.
Daily Mail