From Drapes To Drama

Aren't there a lot of decorating programmes on the TV of late?! Either decorating or finding a new home. When purchasing a new house, you're always informed to look beyond the décor and at the potential of our house and what you as a person can do with it. Through researching my topic of "Interior Design" I stumbled across the question as to whether interior design is necessary. Is it simply a luxury or is it vital in shaping a house so that we can call it "home"? If we take the idea that it is a way of making "home" then how can we allow people to decorate our homes for us? Does this imply that the feeling of "home" can be inflicted upon us?

I don't know about anyone else, but when I came to RHUL, I really thought about taking the right items with me that I could decorate my room with in order to make things homely. But when it came down to it, it was my mum who put things up for me, so she put the homely touch on my interior. For some reason, knowing that she had done it made the décor "right" and "homely". I know that if Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen came into my house and decorated the place, it would not feel right to me, because personally, I think interior design is about adding your own special touch to your surroundings and not simply decorating in the "up-to-the-minute" colours.

Perhaps as some interest for a performance idea, we could explore the struggle between the ideals of "home" and those which are inflicted upon us.

Claire Stainer