Hugh Metcalf

Hugh is Livingetc.com’s editor. With 8 years in the interiors industry under his belt, he has the nose for what people want to know about re-decorating their homes. He prides himself as an expert trend forecaster, visiting design fairs, showrooms and keeping an eye out for emerging designers to hone his eye. He joined Livingetc back in 2022 as a content editor, as a long-time reader of the print magazine, before becoming its online editor. His love for luxury design, and talking to designers with something to say in how they decorate homes for his clients has led to bringing conversations like why human-centric lighting is so important, to how AI and the metaverse are influencing interiors, to the pages of the magazine and website.

Hugh is a kitchen and bathrooms expert, having spent time as the deputy editor of a (now-defunct) kitchen and bathrooms magazine in the UK, as well as project managing a handful of redesign projects himself. He once gathered all the biggest names in kitchen design in a private member’s club for a symposium on what it means to be a kitchen designer today.

Having written for “hands-on” design brands such as Homebuilding & Renovating and Grand Designs magazine, Hugh’s knowledge of what it takes to create a home goes beyond the surface, too. He can tell you what it takes to make a home energy efficient starting from the build, can explain to you how an “air source heat pump” works, and understands the tricks architects use to perfect the layout of new homes. With a fondness for covering spectacular architectural small-builds around the globe, he was once filmed as an expert for a documentary on the rise of the “Tiny House” that aired on Korean television.

He’s also written for Good Homes magazine, Your Home magazine, and has a perhaps surprising knowledge of how to knit, sew and more, having started his career working for craft publications.

Though not a trained interior designer, Hugh has cut his design teeth by managing several major interior design projects to date, each for private clients. These vary from project managing the extension and complete remodel of a two-story London garden flat, to the (largely) remote design of a Swiss chalet. He’s a keen photographer and stylist in his spare time, too — as at home styling an over-the-top Christmas shoot for Your Home magazine’s cover, as photographing a furniture collection for a modern home decor brand.

He's also a keen DIYer — he's done everything from laying his own patio and building an integrated cooker hood from scratch to undertaking creative IKEA hacks that help him achieve the luxurious look he loves in design for his own home, when his budget doesn't always stretch that far.