10 newbuild rooms that demonstrate how to add character to a blank canvas
The magic of a well-preserved historic house will not be lost on many House & Garden readers – we can all understand the appeal of the beautiful proportions of a Georgian townhouse, or the charm of a wonky 17th-century farmhouse. Such houses come with a story and a character all their own, and visual interest baked into the architecture, which comes through whatever decoration you superimpose on them. The boxier shapes and blank canvas rooms of a newbuild, however, can feel soulless by comparison. When everything is new and regular, and there are no elaborate mouldings, fireplaces, wonky floors or nooks and crannies to work with, how do you add character and warmth?
The interior designers and tastemakers on our pages use a variety of different approaches – some imposing a more traditional look on houses like this, and others leaning into the modernity. But there are certain qualities that run through every good example: adding texture, often through natural materials like wood cladding, brick floors or grasscloth wallpaper; adding patina, usually through a judicious use of antiques; making clever use of textiles such as rugs and curtains; and prioritising impactful art that lends personality to the space. Scroll down for 10 rooms that illustrate these principles to a tee.
TARAN WILKHU1/10When plans for a kitchen extension turned into a demolition opportunity, Joanna Bibby saw a chance to create her ideal house in the Wiltshire countryside. The new design is clean-lined and flooded with light, but Joanna has introduced plenty of character with natural materials. Belgian bricks in three different hues – laid in a non-uniform way – provide the main semblance of pattern inside the house, and look particularly lovely with heaps of greenery in this space overlooking the garden. We love how Joanna has made use of contrast, which always helps to create a sense of texture: the rough brick contrasts with the smooth walls, and the distressed Chesterfield chairs are an excellent foil for the modern surroundings.
Michael Sinclair2/10Another favourite house that makes excellent use of texture through natural materials is the Devon home of the founders of Pinch, which won our Project of the Year award in 2024. Much of the ground floor has concrete ceilings and unplastered breeze-block walls, which could be extremely cold in the wrong hands, but the couple have warmed it up with lots of beautiful wooden surfaces. The couple bought a batch of Douglas fir and used it to make a lot of the built-in joinery in the house, including the kitchen cabinets. The industrial feel is balanced by decorative touches, such as the portrait from Catherine Waters Antiques and a wall display of baskets from the Greek island of Tinos.
Paul Massey3/10Wood has also been used to great effect in this stylish Passivhaus in the Somerset countryside. The walls in most of the main rooms and hallways are clad in oak boards, which instantly adds warmth and a Scandinavian sort of cosiness. The matchboarded ceiling also contributes to the comfortable cabin aesthetic.
Mike Garlick4/10Designer Sarah Vanrenen has overhauled this blank white box of a newbuild flat in London for a client who was downsizing from a large country house. She has made use of strong colour, including a teal grasscloth on the walls and painted woodwork in a bright turquoise, with red accents in the accessories. Crucially, she has also used plenty of antiques, but in a relatively pared-back way, making sure the lines are clean, the upholstery is modern, and the flat as a whole isn't overstuffed with things.
Helen Cathcart5/10In this newbuild house by the sea designed by Martin Taylor Architects, Isabella Worsley has created a comfortable, warm interior, but with a fresh and contemporary edge. Organic and natural textures were chosen in a bid to make the rooms feel harmonious with its seaside setting.
The bedrooms are relatively low-ceilinged, but Isabella has lined this one with grasscloth to add texture and warmth, which instantly elevates the space beyond just being a bare box. Isabella has used a simple, contemporary pinch-pleat design for the curtains on the huge windows, but trimmed them with a beautiful fabric (Robert Kime's ‘Suzani Red’) to match the headboard. The bedside tables are Lorfords, the mohair rug is Justin Van Breda.
Paul Massey6/10Where the more traditional feeling houses above have used grasscloth to introduce texture to the walls, this Cotswold newbuild, decorated by Kate Guinness, has simple raw plaster walls, which can be just as interesting (as can limewash, which creates a similar effect).
The right fabrics and soft furnishings can also make a world of difference in an architecturally pared-back space. In the bathroom a Moroccan rug and a blind in Duralee’s ‘72087’ red/blue linen mix pick up on the base of the bath painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Hague Blue’.
Kensington Leverne7/10Sophie Ashby has tackled plenty of newbuild and modern houses over the course of her career, and is a master of finding the right blend of furniture, artworks and fabrics to make an interior sing without necessarily jazzing up the bones of the space itself. In this modern house in south London, the living room has simple white walls, but the stuff inside the room is beautifully curated. Texture comes in the nobbly fabrics she has used for the sofa and cushions and the rich surfaces of the sideboard and sculptures on top of it, while colour arrives in the form of David Hockney's Four Part Splinge print.
Kensington Leverne8/10Elsewhere in the same house, Sophie has illustrated another great way to bring character into a blank space: joinery. Having lots of books and objects on display brings character in any case, but really well-designed shelving can become a decorative element in itself. This alcove is lined in a grasscloth wallpaper with chunky shelving that gives the space a sense of purpose.
Paul Massey9/10It is impossible to overstate how important art is in giving a room its personality, and if you have a fairly blank box to work with, then we say it's time to go big. An enormous print or a fabric wall hanging will work wonders, even (perhaps especially) in a room with low ceilings, where it can bring a much needed sense of generosity and scale. In this London flat by Henri Fitzwilliam-Lay, walls in ‘Slate IV’ by Paint & Paper Library, used throughout, provide a calm backdrop for artwork including Tom Hammick’s large painting Living Room.
Dean Hearne10/10This bedroom in lighting designer Rowena Morgan-Cox's modernist house in Peckham also illustrates how much impact a large artwork can have, and we love how she has also paired it with loudly coloured textiles, including curtains by Studio George in Romo’s ‘Celino’ and a Zara Home x Collagerie bedcover.
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