Upholstery: right fabric, right place
Always factor durability as well as aesthetics into your fabric choices, says upholsterer and TV presenter Micaela Sharp: “Ideally [for a chair or sofa] pick something with a high Martindale count” – the number of rubs a fabric can take before a thread breaks. “I’d recommend over 35,000, but a lot of domestic fabrics now go up to 200,000, like stain-resistant velvets, which are particularly durable.”
Embroidered fabrics are less suitable for seating as they’re more likely to fray, says Sharp, but work well on a headboard, as the texture disguises marks left by hair products, which a “flatter” fabric might show up. Otherwise, a well-placed pattern can hide a multitude of sins: “A small print on a sofa is not only much more forgiving of stains, it’s actually lighter on the eye than a big, single block of colour,” she says.
Luxury outdoor performance fabrics such as those from Perennials – designed to withstand everything from rainstorms to red wine stains – are becoming more popular for indoor upholstery, but they’re expensive, so Sharp suggests a more affordable stain-resistant fabric from a brand such as Linwood. The fabrics have some synthetic element, but brands such as Camira, which uses recycled ocean plastics, or Weaver Green, whose washable rugs are made from single-use plastic bottles, help reduce the environmental impact.
Among natural fibres, wool is a great option for upholstery, says interior designer Nicola Harding. “The lanolin in it repels water, which makes it harder to stain.” For a heavy-use sofa, Harding also loves corduroy – “a good, robust, family friendly material” – layered with cushions and rugs to protect from sticky hands and muddy paws. Try Tinsmiths, which stocks earthy, autumnal shades (tinsmiths.co.uk).
For light-coloured curtains add a dark or patterned border along the leading edge (the bit you pull) to prevent finger marks: “Sewing this on to shop-bought drapes will also give a more bespoke look,” says Sharp.
Furniture: older is often better
Older furniture was not only made to last, but designed to be repaired, says Isobel Gordon, founder of antique furniture sourcing company, Origo House. It’s also more forgiving in a house packed with kids and pets. With some hunting around you can pick up a bargain: “Just make sure you check for woodworm, sticking drawers, hidden cracks or wobbles,” says Gordon. Some imperfections are part of the charm: “In a recent project, we asked the restorer to keep a peace sign scribbled on the top of a mid-century oak chest of drawers, as it seemed part of its story.”
Bathrooms: save on sinks, spend on taps
Interior designer Ali Childs says decent taps are where your bathroom budget should go: “Even some high-end brands are guilty of making ones that break easily. Visit a showroom to test the function and weight of a tap before buying.” Money can be saved on the bath and basin, which can be bought secondhand or re-enamelled. She also suggests saving on expensive and often cheaply made vanity units by repurposing something vintage: “We’ve found old marble-topped washstands, which a stone yard can cut a sink hole in for very little money.” A solid wood piece is then easier to sand or repaint than laminated off-the-peg pieces, which “you can’t do much to fix when it peels and cracks”.
Tiles may be the most obvious choice for bathroom walls, but painted tongue and groove panelling can be cheaper and just as hard-wearing, provided you opt for a waterproof MDF, says Childs. For her wet room, fashion designer and interiors aficionado Kate Halfpenny lined the shower wall with horizontal shiplap sprayed with car paint by a local garage: “It’s a super-durable finish and it doesn’t mark like tiles or glass.”
Bathrooms are especially costly to redecorate, so be wary of following trends, like black taps and shower heads, which many plumbers caution against, as they can show up white water marks.
Kitchens: think outside the kitchen shop
If you’re designing a kitchen from scratch, consider how many built-in units you actually need, says Harding: “A kitchen maker is motivated to sell you as much cabinetry as possible, but a solid wood cupboard will often cost less and be better made.”
Halfpenny recommends choosing a darker colour for your units in a paint which is easy to use for touch-ups: “I have a chocolate eggshell shade from Little Greene on mine and it is so forgiving.” She also recommends handles in an unlacquered brass, which develop a lovely patina with use so they look better over time. One thing to avoid? “A stainless steel fridge – ours is constantly covered in grubby fingerprints.”
Quartz is the most hard-wearing choice for a worktop, says Childs, but if that’s out of budget a compact laminate is tougher than chipboard-filled, and far cheaper than stone. Wooden worktops are often dismissed as high maintenance, says Harding, but a stone surround for your sink area can prevent water damage. “Breaking up the worktop in this way will also make the kitchen look more bespoke.”
Avoid wood flooring in a kitchen if you have dogs and kids, says Riley Uggla of lifestyle platform The Condo: “It absorbs grease and moisture and it’s harder to maintain – porcelain or stone is more practical.” Other kid-friendly kitchen flooring options are vinyl (“make a feature of it with a chequerboard pattern,” says Childs) or marmoleum, a durable and environment-friendly version of lino made from 97% natural materials.
Paint: do your research
Every paint will show some wear and tear, the question is how wipeable and washable it is, says Farrow & Ball colour consultant Patrick O’Donnell. “A general rule of thumb is the higher the sheen of paint, the tougher the finish (so a gloss is generally strongest) but so many companies are now making resilient matt finishes it’s worth doing your research.” Don’t assume a darker shade will hide everything – “pale tones show up scuffs but dark ones can show up dust,” says O’Donnell. “The safest bet is probably a mid-based neutral,” he says, but don’t be slavishly practical. Instead, have fun with wall-protecting design details, like painting up to chair rail height in full gloss, then adding a matt paint in the same colour above.
Uggla also recommends trying out a limewash finish for high-traffic areas: “It has so much more texture than a flat paint, and the natural lines can be great for masking scuffs.”
Pets: lose the ugly sofa towel
Be realistic about your sofa colour if you have dogs: a pale colour will show up muddy paw prints, so add something tasteful the pooch can sit on. “Toast does some lovely blankets,” says Harding. “I put sheepskins on sofas for the dogs,” says Halfpenny. “They look nice and the dirt brushes right off.”
She suggests avoiding sisal if you have cats – “it’s basically what scratching posts are made of”; the same goes for carpets with a generous loop pile. Vinyl or laminate floors are more hard-wearing than wood if you’re worried about claw scratches, says Childs (Karndean is popular with dog-owners), and be realistic about your rug choices to prevent heartbreak: “One of our clients had a silk bamboo rug that the dog peed on and they never got the stain out.” Brands such as Ruggable offer tasteful, pet-inspired floor coverings which can be bunged in the washing machine.
Steal tips from hotels and holiday lets
Hotels are good places to look for design ideas that can take a hammering. Harding, whose projects include the Rose in Deal and London’s Beaverbrook Town House, says that in hotels she often uses wooden floors with a band-sawn finish as “the slightly rougher look is much more forgiving of scratches and marks”.
She also recommends synthetic sisal (see The Unnatural Flooring Company), which looks like the real thing but is so tough it can be scrubbed with bleach. “I used a waterproof version in the bathrooms of the Rose,” Harding adds. “It’s softer on the feet and easier to lay than tiles, which can break if the surface isn’t totally flat.”
Half-height panelling in a gloss paint is another hotel trick that Harding loves: “We did it in the bedrooms at Beaverbrook Town House – it gives everything a lustre and feels glamorous while being very hard-wearing.”
To protect against guest spills, in one hotel project Ali Childs reupholstered the cushions of a secondhand sofa in a plain spill-proof material – outdoor fabrics work well – and saved a beautiful but less practical fabric for the back, while for another commercial holiday let she had two sets of loose sofa covers made by Bemz for an Ikea couch, so they could be washed when needed: “You could have some made to protect your home sofa from dogs and kids, then whip it off before guests arrive.”
