From where to start when designing a room, to balancing style with kids and dogs, and what she looks for in a sofa.
Presenter, podcaster and businesswoman Vogue Williams is certainly someone who wears many hats, but anyone who has peeked inside her gorgeous Howth home, or read one of her interiors columns on IMAGE.ie, will know that on top of her many talents, she is a dedicated interiors lover.
Launching her new sofa range with EZ Living Furniture, chatting to the Irish star, it’s clear that this was a project close to her heart. “I’m kind of addicted to interiors,” Vogue laughs. “I started out in college doing construction and quantity surveying. I didn’t absolutely love being on a freezing cold building site, but I always loved everything to do with interiors. I just really enjoyed the process of everything furniture, everything design-wise in a house.”
With homes in Howth and London, she’s had plenty of practice in designing spaces, and knows how key sofas are in defining a living space, both in how it looks and how you feel in the space. “I just think when you’re at home, you want to be in this really cosy, comforting space. And sofas, to me, are one of the most important things. I want to feel like I can just be swallowed by a couch, but to look really stylish.”
The collection is made up of three styles, The Howth, The Carnaby and The Kenmare, plus a swivel chair called the Piccadilly which can stand alone or be paired with other ranges. Within each style there are different pieces, nine fabrics, 59 colours and nine patterns to choose from, and Vogue explains that when working with the team at EZ Living Furniture, she tried to think about styles that would suit different kinds of people.
While The Howth in the blue stripe is her favourite, currently pride of place in her Howth home (“I’m obsessed with stripes’” she admits), she knows that when she was younger and living alone, she would have preferred The Kenmare.
With kids and a dog at home, she also wanted to make sure the designs were durable, saying she doesn’t believe in saving things for best. “They have to be like life-proof. I don’t want a sofa to just sit there and you never use it. These are very much durable and they’re there to be used and to be enjoyed and to last a long time.”
When it comes to designing your own space, Vogue has lots of great tips. “If you’re starting out, you need to decide what kind of vibe you want. And in a sitting room, for example, I probably would always start with a sofa because I think that you can build stuff around it and that’s your main centrepiece,” she says. “Build the rug, the coffee table, the paint colour around it.”
Or, if you’re simply looking to refresh a space, she’s a huge believer in the power of paint, and is a fan of colour-drenching. “You can completely transform a room with paint.” She acknowledges that it can be difficult to choose a shade, so recommends really spending time with swatches, and loves sticking them up on your wall to see how they’ll look in situ.
No matter what your style, at the end of the day she emphasises that the feeling you have in your home is key to any design. “I spend a lot of time at home. I really genuinely do. It’s my favourite place to be. And so having comfort there when you’re at home is just super important.”
The Vogue Williams Sofa Collection is available exclusively at EZ Living Furniture.
Also Read
