WOW!house 2026 — *Salvesen Graham bedroom. Image credit: James McDonald.*

Last week, I headed over to London’s Design Centre in Chelsea Harbour for its annual WOW! House: an immersive experience of over 20 showrooms constructed from the ground up; designed by some of the leading high-end interior designers in the UK.

While all the rooms are extravagant and money is no object when it comes to the furniture, wallpaper and accessories that adorn the spaces (it is meant to ‘wow’ after all), I always come away full of decorating ideas for my own home that I will try to replicate at a lower cost.

Here are seven interior design ideas from WOW!house that you might also find inspiring:

Always consider what you can do with the ceiling

Not one ceiling in any of the WOW!house rooms was painted white. I think attention to detail on the ceiling is what really sets high-end design apart from everyday interiors, and it has really made me think about what might be possible for my own ceilings at home to elevate the rooms more than how they look now.

In the Benjamin Moore room designed by Young Huh, each spotlight was accentuated by a painted floral pattern within a grid system. If you are brave enough, then how about stencilling your ceiling to get a similar look?

Sean Symington Designs for Zardi & Zardi also took the wallpaper over to the ceiling for a cohesive space, while Phillip Jeffries Morning Room by Sara Cosgrove installed beams painted the same colour as the skirting.

I really loved this glossy burgundy ceiling within the bar area of the Black Edition & Romo Speakeasy Salon by Studio Duggan. If you have a small loo or a dark room, this is such a fun way to experiment with colour!

Aubergine, pale pink, green and blue work well together in a room scheme

One of my favourite rooms was the Black Edition & Romo Speakeasy Salon by Studio Duggan, due to the palette of aubergine, pale pink, baby blue and lime green. While these are not colours you’d instantly think to pair together, they actually worked so well. This is definitely a palette I'll be considering using within my forthcoming kitchen extension.

Cow parsley makes a great (free) flower arrangement

I’m always on the lookout for a cheap and easy way to create a statement focal point at home, and the huge display of slightly dried cow parsley in the Turnell & Gigon Group Drawing Room by Albion Nord created a huge impact within the carved out wall arches. I’ll be getting myself a tall vase and taking out my secateurs this week to recreate the look in my living room!

Make the most of fringes and trim

I think most of us don’t bother using fringes and trims in our everyday homes - it’s an extra expense and more fuss than we really need - but when you see it used well by high-end interiors designers, it makes me want to go that extra mile and incorporate it on armchairs, pouffes and curtains. I loved the heavily-fringed chairs in the Salvesen Graham bedroom, as well as the bases of the lampshades within Sean Symington Designs room for Zardi & Zardi. To start with, I think I am definitely going to invest in a few tassels to hang off cupboard knobs at home.

Art works hung over bookcases

I think this one is a bit controversial, but art hung over bookcases was everywhere at WOW!House. It definitely adds more interest to a bookcase than just placing books and decorative objects, as it adds more depth.

Splash backs look best with curves

This is one I am taking away for my own kitchen splashback - making sure that there are no straight edges and instead, having the marble slab cut with curves.

Lighting can carry a room

For me, lighting was the big winner at this year’s WOW!House. So many rooms featured great lighting that really elevated the rest of the design scheme, so the thing I took away was to look a little harder for my lighting (rather than just relying on typical lighting suppliers and standard lighting designs). I especially loved the sage green floral lighting in the Martin Moore Kitchen with Samantha Bartlett.