Interior designer Jake Arnold has set the style agenda. Richly sumptuous rooms that look comfortable as well as elegant are his calling card. Boucle furntiure, daybeds, indoor trees and curved edges? He set these interior design trends.
And while most designers I speak to talk about how a room can make you feel (relaxed, say, or energized, perhaps. Uplifted, or soothed), LA-based Jake had an idea that felt like a totally new one on me. Rooms that can make you feel optimistic. Yes, he believes that the right approach to interior design can lead to spaces that fill you with a positivity for the future. Have you ever heard anything more enticing?!
1. CREATE LAYOUTS THAT INVITE CONVERSATION
'Layout is key,' Jake says, when explaining how to create an optimistic room. 'Before I even start specifying anything, I do a lot of development on the layout. What you want is to create living spaces with multiple seating options, zones in which you can have intimate conversations or areas you can have bigger ones with more people involved.'
2. INCLUDE A DAYBED
One of Jake's signatures is to create spaces that have daybeds in them - but they're more than just a bit of decadent decoration or langorous take on living room furniture.
'I love them because they're double sided,' he says. 'You can sit on one and part of you can face the sofa in one direction, the other part can face the dining table - it’s so sociable.' They are the ultimate in convivial - and therefore optimistic - seating.
Elvie daybed
Kaliko daybed
Rise daybed
3. ALLOW LIGHT - BUT NOT TOO MUCH
Finally, for a space that will make your heart sing and spirits soar, light is a key factor. 'Warmth is about nourishment and having an environment you can relax in,' Jake says. 'To do this, lighting is everything. Allow as much natural light as you can into a room, and then create shadowing by adding a sheer drape that gives you a dappling.'