Television makeover gurus don’t always practise what they preach. The interior designer Anna Ryder Richardson is a case in point. Although she shot to fame by giving humdrum suburban homes a flamboyant face-lift on the BBC’s Changing Rooms show (think indoor helter-skelters and entire rooms in painted fuchsia pink), she hasn’t extended this gaudy design ethic to her own home in the centre of Glasgow.
The four-storey Georgian building in which she lives with her restaurateur husband, Colin MacDougall, and their daughters, Bibi Belle, 4, and Dixie Dot, 3, has a tasteful, futuristic feel. But it took four years, rather than a matter of days, to achieve. “Decorating this house is like painting the Forth Bridge,” Ryder Richardson says. “As soon as the painters get to the end, they have to start all over again.”
The house, a former office block that used to be the headquarters of the Scottish Football Association, is a fusion of Ryder Richardson’s love of space-age fittings and MacDougall’s more earthy tastes.
The expansive upper level, which doubles as a guest suite and party space, is calm and white. This is where Ryder Richardson showcases her love of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey with a round bed from Ikea, a repro 1960s television, a dish-shaped sculpture in which she lies to meditate and a bathroom whose outer walls are coated in giant white bubble tiles. “Not many people want to live in a futuristic space like this, but, my goodness, they want to stay in it,” she says.
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The sitting room has a cosier feel, with its retro-print curtains and exposed sandstone surrounding the fireplace. “Colin opened up a wall like this in his last flat, and I loved it, because it introduced me to a new way of living. I was a real Chelsea girl before — the parties, the shopping, the gay friends — and then I discovered Scotland, with its mountains and nature and lochs. My tastes have expanded.”
There are still plenty of sci-fi features in the house, however, such as the bath that can be lit in different colours, to suit your mood, and the light tubes in the stairwell that project surprisingly calming swathes of neon green, pink or blue onto the walls and up into the rooms above. “We’re quite light-mad here,” Ryder Richardson says. “Some people have said that it must be like living in a nightclub, but it’s much gentler than that, and actually quite therapeutic.”
Would she do anything differently? “I would spend more money. I’d love a mad, swirly carpet going all the way up the staircase, and I’d have a lot more art. I’d paint the flat roof green and turn it into a golf green, too, because you can see it when you fly into Glasgow.” Perhaps the house will be granted a touch of her theatrical design flair, after all.
ANNA'S TOP FIVE TIPS
1 DECLUTTER
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Don’t hoard rubbish just in case. Declutter, throwing out anything you can do without.
2 HIDDEN STORAGE
Good storage will let your house breathe. Turn a whole wall into a hidden storage unit with MDF. Paint it the same colour as the walls, so it’s almost not there.
3 WHITEWASHING
If you have a new space, paint everything white, then live in it. This will help you to see where you want to introduce colour, pattern or texture. Sometimes a blank canvas is where you need to start to get rid of other people’s tastes, too.
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4 LIGHT FANTASTIC
Lighting should accentuate the architectural features of a room. Good electricians know how light works, so let them get excited about your house and come up with a lighting scheme for you. You may want spotlights, mood lighting from lamps or feature lighting for your dining table and sofa. Everywhere from Bhs to B&B Italia has great lamps.
5 MIX’N’MATCH FURNITURE
Beautiful furniture doesn’t have to be expensive. You get some great design on the high street at Argos, Ikea and Sainsbury’s. Don’t be afraid of going to bespoke furniture shops, either, as you will be getting true design and quality. Think of it as pairing a Chloé handbag with a New Look T-shirt.