"It’s Nice to Walk In and Be Met by a Bit of Brightness" — Designer Filippo Cavalgno Answers Your Questions on Making a Home Feel Cozy and Welcoming
The London-based interior designer on neutral colors, hallways, and reading corners — all ideas to make a home feel so welcoming at this time of year
There's something undeniably comfortable about the homes that designer Filippo Calvagno creates. And it's not that 'coziness' you see in schemes that are just layer on layer of pillows and throws. It's more nuanced than that.
The colors, the textures, the layouts — it's more a feeling. And, all the while, these rooms feel modern and fresh, too.
So, Filippo is the perfect person to answer your questions about hunkering down in a cozy living room, creating a welcoming hallway, and finding the warmest-feeling neutral.
Filippo is a London-based designer, with a Sicilian background, born in Germany, and has lived in the States, and says this global nature has strongly shaped how he approaches design. "My background in dance also influences my work, particularly in how I think about movement, rhythm and how people experience space."
"I Want to Create a Cozy Reading Corner in My Living Room to Hunker Into This Winter — I Don’t Have a Lot of Space, so How I Can Do This?"
"I placed a Ligne Roset Togo seat next to a fireplace and it became an instant reading corner (the client said it was low enough that it was also the perfect baby changing station, too)."
"The great thing about a reading corner is that it doesn’t have to be a corner, and in fact you can just set yourself up to hunker down by putting the right things next to your favorite armchair that is already in the living room.
The essentials are: a chair, of course, a table lamp, and a side table; it can be as simple as that. For the chair, it needs to be big enough for a person to be able to curl up in it — it’s nice when the feet can be in there with you, too. Kind of like a single person’s loveseat.
Then put a low table next to it — this is where you can keep your book, your drink, and maybe some incense you want to burn to really help the atmosphere be conducive to reading and relaxation.
And then a little light — enough to read by, perhaps angled so that you don’t strain your eyes, a fabric shade to diffuse and soften the light. This can easily fit into a living room rather than have to be a whole space in its own right.
Lastly, choose materials that don’t feel precious — a slubby linen, a warm leather, a boucle. Anything that encourages you to sit and read for hours.
"With Lots of Guests Coming This Season, I Want to Make My Hallway Welcoming, but Don't Want to Encourage Everyone to Leave Their Shoes Everywhere! How Is Best to Do This?"
"Do make sure you have a cupboard for this somewhere ready at hand."
"That is the big problem with entryways — you want to make them wonderful to walk into, to have all the ingredients people need to feel at home, but also to discourage them from simply kicking off their footwear and leaving there, which too many people seem to do.
So I like to add a bench, which offers a place for guests to perch and remove their shoes, but then I’ll do a bit of styling trickery and place an antique urn or vase underneath it, something that leaves no room (or question) of it being a place to store your trainers.
Although I tend to use darker, warmer colors in most rooms, in a hallway I usually go light — it’s nice to walk in and be met by a bit of brightness. And I always include a large mirror so people can check themselves going in or out. Ultimately, you want it comfortable and warm, but not too much of either, or people will linger there, leave bags everywhere, and turn it quickly into chaos."
"What Are the Best Neutral Paint Colors for a Room That Feels Cozy?"
"I love a warm, neutral palette, and my go-to white is Dimity by Farrow & Ball. When you see it on the walls, it just looks white at first — there isn’t any creaminess to it that you sometimes get with warmer hues. And then the sun will hit it, and you start to get a really rich amber or even pink glow. I used it in my own home, in clients’ projects. I also really like Lick’s Pink 02, which is so versatile and pairs brilliantly with brown, a shade I use a lot."
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