Giles Kime: Cushions, rugs, upholstered stools and sofa blankets are the ingredients of a pleasing new trend

Illustration of a living room with a red sofa and stone fireplace

A spongy upholstered footstool is the friendlier, 21st-century incarnation of the coffee table.

(Image credit: Bryony Fripp for Country Life)

There are rooms that people live in — and those that exist in some alternative dimension that can only be viewed in the pages of magazines and on Instagram. They owe their ethereal quality to the magic wand of a stylist: one well versed in the art of choosing camera angles that flatter the appearance of a space and shoving coffee cups, reading glasses and piles of laundry out of the frame. In their stead, they inject bunches of flowers, piles of arty books and plumped cushions and leave gleaming surfaces that give the impression that the daily has just exited stage left.

There’s no denying that there are people who live in houses that are devoid of anything that detracts from the beauty of a space. It’s hard to know exactly how they function, but the discipline and commitment to their cause is admirable. Increasingly, however, even the diehards have relented a little, a departure that has spawned an emphasis on layering, the interiors equivalent of dressing in base, mid and outer layers, with a scarf thrown in for good measure.

The key ingredients include anything that will take the edge off an over-thought, hard-edged interior, particularly textural cushions, throws, deep-piled rugs and spongy upholstered footstools — the friendlier, 21st-century incarnation of the coffee table. Fleece, mohair and cashmere are all big favourites. Layering is a well-established approach in Scandinavia, where pared-back interiors are transformed in the winter, not only with textiles, but also candlelight, as part of a domestic concept known as hygge that celebrates community, fellowship and simple pleasures.

Squiggly pattern rug — A Modernism Throw designed by Tara Bernerd for Frette, the revered textile brand that supplies St Peter’s in Rome.

Last month, the interior designer Tara Bernerd launched a new collection of wool and cashmere cushions and throws with Frette (the supplier of altar cloths for St Peter’s in Rome, no less) that looks set to join Hermès in the elevated end of the market. The simple graphic patterns and punchy palette speak to a mid-20th-century aesthetic and acknowledge that even modernists like to snuggle under a blanket in front of a boxed set. As she points out, they also offer an effective way to switch up the mood in a room. They are an example of the importance of texture in a space, injecting a tactile quality, as well as warmth and the capacity to absorb sound. Few spaces echo more alarmingly than a sparsely decorated minimalist interior.

This feature originally appeared in the December 3, 2025, issue of Country Life.

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.