Giles Kime: What the perplexing language used to describe modern interior design actually means

A Rita Konig decorated interior — The living room of a house in Mill Valley, California, that Rita Konig worked on with the architect Gil Schafer.

(Image credit: Eric Piasecki)

Last month, Dorothy Draper, the most influential US interior designer of the 20th century (her column was syndicated to 70 newspapers) was the subject of a Country Life panel discussion at London Design Week. She had a crisp, direct style that conveyed what she meant (‘if it looks right, it is right’, ‘too much of anything is the beginning of a mess’, ‘eating is really one of your indoor sports; you play three times a day, and it’s well worthwhile to make the game as pleasant as possible’).

Communicating with clarity about design has become a rare skill in the 21st century. When I mentioned in an Instagram post recently the growing ubiquity of imprecise words used to describe interiors, I was showered with additional suggestions. Here are some helpful definitions for the most unhelpful terms.

Artisanal (adj) Describes anything from gilding to grinding coffee beans.
Character (noun) If invited to a characterful house, you might want to pack your North Face to wear over your pyjamas.
Considered (adj) There’s a shadow gap between the walls and the floors and a bespoke iron stair rail.
Craft (verb) See artisanal.
Curate (verb) To arrange with minute precision your collection of studio ceramics on a floating shelf.
Custodian (noun) You are uncomfortable with the fact that you live in Grade I*-listed Palladian splendour, so describe yourself as a ‘custodian’ rather than an ‘owner’.
Elevate (verb) To invest in a new stone floor, discreet lighting and some Russell Pinch furniture.

Creative types — 'I promise, I'm just a custodian, really!'

Formal (adj) The planners wouldn’t let you knock down the wall between the kitchen and the drawing room, so you tell everyone that it’s great to have a grown-up space to entertain (but only at Christmas).
Good bones (noun) The structural elements of an old house of which an interior designer approves, but isn’t entirely sure what they are — or how they hang together.
Historic (adj) Old.
Honed (adj) A pared-back interior that was overthought, over-schedule and over-budget.
Informal (adj) Lots of open-plan space — and your cleaner has been poached by your neighbour.
Ironic (adj) An item that is expensive, but in poor taste. Often acquired after a glass (or three) of Sancerre in Bruton. The free tote bag was a bonus, however.
Palimpsest (noun) A tired property, untouched for 50 years, that has been moodily photographed by the fashionable estate agent to look like something from the pages of The World of Interiors. Ruinously expensive to restore.

Pared back (adj) No curtains. Or, indeed, much else.
Playful (adj) Like ironic, but akin to something you’d find in a nursery.
Soulful (adj) A pot made by someone who took up ceramics after a midlife crisis.
Storied (adj) A US import used as an alternative to ‘old’. Adopted by PRs and copywriters to describe hotels and restaurants more than 50 years old without much of a story.
Sympathetic (adj) Sombre paint colours, brown furniture and a Ziegler rug.
Thoughtful (adj) See ‘considered’, but add reclaimed materials.
Vintage (adj) Bought at a car-boot sale.

This feature originally appeared in the April 8, 2026, issue of Country Life. Click here for more information on how to subscribe.

Giles Kime is Country Life's Executive and Interiors Editor, an expert in interior design with decades of experience since starting his career at The World of Interiors magazine. Giles joined Country Life in 2016, introducing new weekly interiors features, bridging the gap between our coverage of architecture and gardening. He previously launched a design section in The Telegraph and spent over a decade at Homes & Gardens magazine (launched by Country Life's founder Edward Hudson in 1919). A regular host of events at London Craft Week, Focus, Decorex and the V&A, he has interviewed leading design figures, including Kit Kemp, Tricia Guild, Mary Fox Linton, Chester Jones, Barbara Barry and Lord Snowdon. He has written a number of books on interior design, property and wine, the most recent of which is on the legendary interior designer Nina Campbell who last year celebrated her fiftieth year in business. This Autumn sees the publication of his book on the work of the interior designer, Emma Sims-Hilditch. He has also written widely on wine and at 26, was the youngest ever editor of Decanter Magazine. Having spent ten years restoring an Arts & Crafts house on the banks of the Itchen, he and his wife, Kate, are breathing life into a 16th-century cottage near Alresford that has remained untouched for almost half a century.