Inspiration | News | Interior Decorating Tips | Wallpaper | October 15, 2019

Creating a Sense of Home this Autumn: Q+A with Interior Designer Yoko Kloeden

As we head into the colder months, a sense of relaxation, comfort and home is becoming even more important with the changing seasons. So this month on the blog, we thought we'd bring you an insight from one of our favourite interior designers; we've long admired Yoko for her skill in crafting beautiful spaces that people can feel connected and comfortable in.

We feel very lucky to have had a chat with Yoko about her approach to designing a home and more specifically, the stunning bedroom space she created for her daughter. Below you'll find her insightful advice about choosing colours for rest and restoration and tips for creating a room for a loved one in your own family home.

Hi Yoko. Could you begin by telling us a bit about yourself and your journey into interior design?

I am an interior designer based in London. I grew up in Japan and my first career in finance/business took me around the world. I was always living in short-term/ temporary apartments and hotels and found my mood influenced so much by the quality of a space I was in.

The birth of my first son made me pause and reflect on what I wanted to do with my life. Interior design was a natural decision to me in this world, where we are all spending more time than ever online and everyone is craving a restful physical space away from digital ones.

We understand you designed a bedroom for your then 2-year-old daughter. How did you approach creating a room in your own home?

Our home is a haven and a refuge where everyone can rest and connect with each other. To me, the best materials that evoke the sense of restfulness and reinvigorate people are natural materials and nature motifs. I did a mood board for each room as if my home was a project for a client. Every room has an element of nature in it.

How did our Hua Trees Mural feed into your vision?

I have always been a fan of Sian Zeng’s dreamy drawings and was originally thinking of using her Woodlands Wallpaper in Brown Pink. However, I already had a vintage klim rug in my daughter’s room I brought back from our family trip to Turkey and had decided on the colour schemes from this. When Hua Trees Mural came out, it was spot on in terms of motif and colour.

The colour pink seems to be a big feature of your daughter’s bedroom; how important is colour when crafting a space for comfort and relaxation?

It is my daughter's favourite colour (for now). Colour used in homes needs to be restful and again, for me, it tends to come from tones found in nature.

How did your daughter respond when she first saw her bedroom? What does she think of it now?

She was really excited to have her own room as she didn’t have one until then. She is 5 now and still likes her room (and pink).

Do you have any advice for someone looking to put together the perfect bedroom for their child?

Think about how often you are willing to redecorate your children’s bedrooms because a toddler and a teenager have very different aesthetics. There are lots of wallpapers out there, which work equally well in children’s bedrooms as well as in grown ups’ bedrooms. Similarly, rather than spending a fortune on nursery furniture, I would choose relatively flexible furniture (bunk bed which could also be used as two single beds, storage system with adjustable shelvings etc.) This will allow you to move things around as they get older.