Each the Shoreditch home—which Ashby and Casely-Hayford rented for years—and the appointment-only Blewcoat showroom are entrance and middle in Ashby’s first monograph with Rizzoli, House, Artwork, Soul, together with 11 different distinctive Studio Ashby initiatives: suppose a Victorian bathhouse turned seaside villa in Brighton full of De Gournay wallpapers in chinoiserie prints and textiles in shades of turmeric, cumin, paprika, and saffron; a San Francisco condo the place the blues of the Pacific are echoed in Murano glass and Isaac Julien prints; and a Left Financial institution bolthole overlooking the Seine whose Seventeenth-century rooms have been remodeled within the spirit of French designer Jacques Grange.

Because the ebook is launched—and Studio Ashby celebrates its tenth anniversary—Sophie displays on classes from a decade in inside design, and lets Vogue in on the 5 frequent errors she all the time advises her purchasers to sidestep.

1. Whenever you’ve put in lovely flooring, it’s pure to be reluctant to cowl it up, however having a bigger rug all the time makes an area really feel extra welcoming and beneficiant. I typically recommend ordering a carpet massive sufficient to suit the entire furnishings in a room on prime of it quite than one thing your espresso desk floats on in the course of an area.
2. I’m all the time seeking to create fascinating geometric juxtapositions—placing an angular armchair subsequent to a comfortable couch, for instance. That not solely provides a room a extra dynamic really feel, however while you incorporate plenty of totally different types in a house quite than shopping for into one development, your décor has extra longevity, too.
3. Lighting is deceptively tough to get proper. I usually go for ambient over directional lights. As a rule of thumb, it’s finest to keep away from having any bulbs seen, whether or not you’re trying down right into a desk lamp or up right into a factory-style pendant.
4. If your own home incorporates rooms with low ceilings—as many Victorian and Edwardian terraces do in London—paint not simply the partitions however the doorways, the skirting board, and the ceiling the identical colour. It would make the area really feel a lot brisker and fewer disrupted by datums.
5. No matter your finances, don’t overlook the worth of artwork, and don’t be intimidated about shopping for it. In the event you can afford to buy unique works by blue-chip artists, that’s nice, however it’s not a necessity. I all the time advocate that folks begin by going to exhibitions and getting prints of the works they liked on the finish.

Studio Ashby: House, Artwork, Soul is out now.