Over the past few months, I’ve watched as people have moved into the flats in the recently completed block next to mine. And it’s left me feeling rather sad. While the building itself is a better-than-average redbrick construction with Crittall glazing, the interiors (or what I can see of them) are being filled with 50 shades of greige, from the curtains and blinds to the bouclé armchairs and pouffes positioned in more than a handful of windows. The new owners seem intent on replicating the show-home chic they saw in the sales brochure.
So when I started listening to the second series of Building Soul: with Thomas Heatherwick on BBC Radio 4, the designer’s opening words struck a chord: ‘There’s been an epidemic of inhuman buildings, plaguing our cities, stripping them of character, joy and soul. I call it the “blandemic”.’ He first explored this idea in his 2023 book Humanise and his first radio series, and it has proved controversial, but it did get me thinking. Is the interiors world suffering from a similar affliction? Are the characterful homes that grace the pages of House & Garden the exception and the greige view from my window the norm?
Though some might argue that uninspiring architecture necessarily breeds uninspired interior design, I don’t think that it’s quite that simple. I’ve seen beautiful period homes with rather bland interiors and less interesting modern buildings brought to life by richly layered schemes. So what’s really going on and how can we make sure that our homes, be they old or new, have soul?
‘Many may feel in the midst of a blandemic, a term that perfectly captures the proliferation of neutral, personality-free interiors,’ says art and interiors consultant Catherine Chichester, who likens the creation of such spaces to Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg wearing the same outfit every day. ‘I see this as their answer to our overstimulated, hyper-digitised lives. In an age of rapid information, visual clutter, and endless scrolling, we’ve turned our homes into blank canvases — not for creative expression, but for sensory silence. While the intention is to simplify, the result can be numbing.’
Patrick Williams, the historic building specialist behind Berdoulat, also fears that our sensory responses are being deadened by poor design. ‘It was with the arrival of modernism, and the entirely new way of conceiving and making our homes that it promoted, that sensory stimulation and a building’s ability to connect with the core essence of human existence was fundamentally altered.’ The same could be said for the mass-produced designs that have taken the place of hand-crafted furniture and furnishings in many homes.
‘All eras have their mass-produced elements, which is often a result of socioeconomic factors as much as “design”,’ points out designer Sarah Walter Boyd. ‘It’s about doing things quickly and cheaply, which is often to the detriment of quality and therefore negatively impacts people and our environment.’ Like Catherine, Sarah sees the damage that social media is doing, not just in taking over our lives but in exposing us to ‘un-inspired, consumer-driven images’. However, this is not the full picture. ‘Great design is always going on in the background, or in the shadows, that we often don’t see,’ she explains. ‘Frustratingly, many of the most beautiful spaces being created won’t be photographed or publicised. There are so many craftsmen and makers keeping old skills alive, and designing new pieces to keep the skills relevant – it’s about where and how you look that will steer what you see.’
I would argue that it’s also a case of how you’re using things and not just what you’re using, as even ostensibly bland pieces can form part of a soulful scheme. Wendy Nicholls, who heads up decorating firm Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler, thinks that this approach is already on the rise. ‘We’ve come out of the bland era into an era where people are expressing themselves more. Certainly, there is more colour.’ But colour is not the only form of expression. Wendy lists ‘good lighting, photographs, objects, fabrics you love, your choice of music, scent – whether of coffee, flowers or baking’ as other crucial ingredients of a characterful home.
Catherine agrees that the senses play a vital role, encouraging us all to source tactile, handmade and handheld objects, however big or small. ‘They have been touched, admired, repaired, cherished. A chair worn by decades of use. A bowl turned on a wheel by a craftsperson’s steady hand. Over lifetimes, these things have been loved into being. When introduced thoughtfully into a home, they hum with that energy.’ She says we should think ‘not trends, but truth’ by choosing objects that mean something to us.
Likewise, Sarah warns us against being too precious. ‘A great interior won’t take itself too seriously and a good decorative scheme should also age well,’ she says. ‘If it’s a busy household, fabrics that won’t show the wear and tear of life should be chosen, and coasters placed on tables ready to receive a cup of tea or glass of wine. But if scratches or spills do occur, they will hopefully tell the tale of a home that’s been used and enjoyed, and that’s what gives a house its soul.’
In newbuild properties, which lack what Patrick describes as ‘the comfort one associates with a connection to the past’, it is even more important to write your own story. Designer Susie Atkinson is an expert in such matters, having worked on an impressive penthouse apartment at Chelsea Barracks. Though this is certainly a very fine example of a newbuild development, there were still challenges to overcome. ‘It does take a lot of thought when presented with essentially quite “square” rooms, surrounded by lots of glass with few architectural details,’ says Susie. ‘My aim was to inject some character into the space – I didn't want it to feel like a new “development” but like a home. I love mixing old with new to make an interior feel that it has evolved rather than been “designed” as such. The joy for all of us in the studio is getting into a new mindset with each project rather than taking a copy and paste approach.’
It is a ‘copy and paste approach’ that initially filled me with dread when I saw it in action next door as well as on social media. But, having taken a step back, I would say we’re suffering from a mild outbreak of boredom rather than a full-blown ‘blandemic’ – and it’s nowhere near as bad as the plague of neutrals that broke out in the early 2000s. As Catherine says, ‘For every bland interior there is one created by an incredible designer that inspires us to create the exact opposite.’ And this can start with the very smallest of details.
