For my first hotel project, I brought new life to the extraordinary building that is The Twenty Two, a five-storey, historic, former family home in Grosvenor Square, London, which opened in May 2022.
With opulent, maximalist interiors inspired by 18th century France, I paid tribute to the grandeur of this magnificent Mayfair building. One of the most exciting new openings this year, the design for this interior was on a grand scale, but there is elements that can be incorporated into a house.
Rather than being a home for a lifetime, hotel spaces will be inhabited for moments, not years, so when we created The Twenty Two, we had the opportunity to be more challenging in the color choices and experience.
As a result, these interiors are more theatrical than a home we would design for a client, but that doesn’t mean you can’t draw inspiration from hospitality spaces when designing your home, and especially looking for bedroom design ideas.
Natalia Miyar is one of the strongest international interior design talents to emerge in recent years. As a trained architect, she approaches design with a skilled understanding of balance and proportion, creating spaces that are both thoughtful and vibrant with a finely tuned eye for materiality. Her eponymous London studio is a conduit for creative collaboration characterized by a confident and artful use of colour, pattern and texture. With bases in London and Miami, the fast-growing transatlantic team led by Natalia effortlessly creates luxury homes sought after by a global stable of private clients who prefer a client-focused approach.
1. Luxurious informality
(Image credit: Natalia Miyar / The Twenty Two)
One of my key design goals for The Twenty Two was to create a sense of luxurious informality to elevate what could be a comfortable space. This was done through my choice of materials and textures combined with classic design elements juxtaposed.
Emphasis should be placed on using the right materials and textures to help set the tone for the space. I’m a strong believer in comfort – a fabric should not only look good, but feel good against the skin and it should enhance the experience of the room. We used rich, soft velvet throughout the hotel to help balance that sense of luxury and comfort.
Bed linen is equally important, you can’t go wrong with crisp white cotton or silk, both for comfort and to elevate your bedroom to hotel standards. Pair with rich velvet and fringe in signature, bold colors to fill the space with exuberance and energy.
2. Cohesion between chambers
(Image credit: Natalia Miyar / The Twenty Two)
Carrying themes, color palettes and design signatures across each room creates a unified, polished look. Viewing each room within the home as a whole experience rather than isolated sections allows for equal proportions of detail and quality, and each space can be accentuated with distinctive touches to bring out a greater sense of personality, while it remains coherent.
We wanted the experience at The Twenty Two to be universal for guests and members, and for everyone to benefit from the same level of bespoke detail, quality and style. That ethos should be carried over to your own home to help create a cohesive space – rooms can have distinctive features but should be united by a common thread and shared inspiration.
Unique and interesting pieces that act as conversation starters help bring personality to a space. Antique markets are often a great place to find rare decorative objects.
I had so much fun shopping the Paris Flea Market for vintage artwork, furniture and other objects to make every space at The Twenty Two a truly unique experience. The overall effect is fun and memorable without taking itself too seriously.
3. Lighting and technology
(Image credit: Natalia Miyar / The Twenty Two)
When it comes to lighting, it may be the last thing you notice in a hotel room, but it’s often the hardest thing to get right and sets the tone for everything else. There should be enough natural light during the day, and then low artificial light to achieve the perfect lighting scheme for different purposes, such as getting ready in the morning, or focused task lighting for reading, and soft calming lighting conducive to sleep is essential for the evenings.
Statement lights on bedside tables, dressing tables or desks, as well as floor lamps, create different levels and layers of lighting to illuminate the different surfaces in the room.’
For sleeping and relaxation spaces, light pollution can greatly affect your sleep patterns and mood. Try to avoid technology that gives off a strong glare or has lights on when on standby, as this can cause disturbance in low light settings and also clash with the ambiance of the space – instead opt for unobtrusive technology that can easily be hidden in the decor become
