8 min readOn June 2, the annual WOW!house in London opened its doors to the public, inviting design lovers inside to experience around 6,400 square feet of pure creativity and bring incredible ideas to their own homes.
The showhouse—sponsored by numerous esteemed brands—takes place inside the Design Centre in Chelsea Harbour, where every year since 2022, select designers have been invited to redecorate 22 full-size rooms and outdoor spaces with the opportunity to show off the new home trends they’ve been seeing and loving from across the pond.
If you find yourself in London between now and July 2, consider stopping by. A portion of every WOW!house ticket sold will go to United in Design, a charitable trust founded by interior designers and built around creating equal opportunity pathways into the interior design industry.
House Beautiful’s Carisha Swanson had the opportunity to tour this immersive space and see what these talented designers have created for 2026. Below, check out the 11 applause-worthy details that caught her eye.
Studio Enass’s Escapist Layering
In the Garden Folly Room by Studio Enass, founder Enass Mahmoud created a fantastical hideaway, decorated with rich layers of red and green and globally inspired elements. “I wanted people to walk in and escape the outside world,” Mahmoud says.
From the walls wrapped in Phillip Jeffries “Amalfi Silk,” to the arabesque “Minaret” dotted tiles by Ca’ Pietra, to the bohemian “Reverie” glass pendant light by Gladee Lighting, Mahmoud’s North African and Arabic heritage is on full display and melded together with other transportive details. “For me, this is a lady's den,” the designer adds. Capture this same vibe with an immersive pattern, embellishments throughout (like tassels, fringe, or a scalloped border), and warm tones for an emotionally rich space.
Albion Nord’s Octagonal Architecture
Upon entering Albion Nord’s drawing room, one is met with linen-lined walls by Filling Spaces, a custom kilim rug by Tim Page Carpets, and cushions made from different fabric swatches from Turnell & Gigon Group, the sponsor of this room. However, possibly the most unexpected and intriguing detail is that Ottalie Stride, founder and director of the studio, designed an octagonally shaped room.
Stride was inspired by historic drawing rooms of the Georgian age, which have long been considered a hallmark of refined taste. It’s a quietly grand space, with a domed skylight and hand-painted alcoves, that shows how craftsmanship trumps perfection and that rooms designed for conversation rather than screens can still be relevant in today’s world.
Young Huh’s Lacquered Artworks
Designer Young Huh and sponsor Benjamin Moore created a “Minhwa Salon” that’s absolutely filled with color. The salon is wrapped in lacquered walls that are inset with 55 painted boxes, inspired by the miniature paintings that depict the lives of Mughal rulers found in the Millions Room at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna.
The high-gloss scenes—some in the minhwa style, others left plain—are depicted in a range of Benjamin Moore hues like Galapagos Turquoise, Citron, and the alluring Jade Garden, creating a joyful, lighthearted setting.
“One of the things that's really important in Korean art is that there has to be negative space to balance tremendous color and saturation,” Huh says. One look at this room practically confirms that high-gloss color is back, especially when used in architectural ways, like a painted niche, framed panels, or color-blocked millwork.
Sara Cosgrove’s Analog Emphasis
The best feature in designer Sara Cosgrove’s “Morning Room,” designed in collaboration with Phillip Jeffries, is the enchanting Aura mural by the wallcovering company. It’s magical to look at, as it completely wraps the room in soft, glazed movement and creates drama as the lacquer catches the light. However, the feelings it evokes—calmness, peace, elation—add to the theme Cosgrove was going for, which is a highly couture analog sanctuary meant for magazine reading and long conversations.
“I've had so much sensory overload in the last few years,” she explains. “I just wanted to create a space that I would feel completely calm and relaxed in.”
Take a closer look and see that the entire room was created around experience rather than excess. It’s a celebration of craftsmanship, with other woven Phillip Jeffries wallcoverings, bespoke upholstered pieces by Kassavello, a custom Topfloor by Esti rug, a Perspex coffee table, and a sculptural stone fireplace all decorating the room. It pushes the idea of an anti-algorithm space, which can be captured by anyone willing to commit to calming color palettes and textural layering.
Salvesen Graham’s Romantic Canopy Bed
This primary bedroom, designed by studio Salvesen Graham, resembles one found in an 18th-century country house. “We created this client who is an English woman who's moved to America for love, but she wanted to feel a connection to home,” Mary Graham, cofounder of the design firm with Nicole Salvesen, says. “We like to think she might have slightly driven her husband out of the room.”
Its tall ceilings are decorated with classic architectural details by Adam Architecture, giving it a grand crown yet not taking away from the layers of pattern and color that meet joyously. It’s gentle and feminine with botanical motifs from the “Constance” wallcovering and the blossoming bedding, but it’s the four-poster bed by Nicholas Walton with canopy fabrics that really serves as the heart of the room.
The pattern-on-pattern wallpaper, fabrics, and rug create an English garden inside with a lived-in feel. Soft romance is coming back to the bedroom, and it’s showing up through mixed florals, stripes, skirted furniture, gathered fabric, and warm lighting.
Studio Duggan’s Hidden Bar
There’s nothing like lounging in a rich speakeasy hidden away from the rest of the world, and that’s exactly what Tiffany Duggan of Studio Duggan was going for as she and Black Edition for Romo created their speakeasy salon. This sultry retreat is covered in rich textiles, from the entrance framed by dark brown curtains with a rust reverse to the tented ceiling anchored by a plaster frieze by Atelier & Blundell with Ovolo London to the wall-to-wall green carpet with a lilac border by Jennifer Manners.
“We wanted to make sure it still felt quite intimate and a little bit theatrical,” Duggan says.
The hidden bar, concealed within the “Imani” wallcovering, is a delightful reveal and truly captures the speakeasy atmosphere. Concealment, as Swanson puts it, is the new luxury as multipurpose furniture, disguised storage, curtain-covered shelving, and, of course, hidden bars make any room feel more intimate and personal.
Martin Kemp Design’s Fabric Panels
Step inside this circular parlor by Martin Kemp Design and find yourself enthralled by its soft illumination, asymmetric furniture, and three-dimensional artwork. The designer of the space, Martin Kemp, explains that this room is “designed to entice before it reveals,” as its comforts are discovered slowly.
Mirroring the pendant light composed of semi-translucent panels, there are fabric panels suspended in the air and cascading down the walls to create a sense of movement while filtering out the outside world. The cocooning panels feel like an intimate art installation, wrapping around the seating area featuring many pieces from Avenue, Kemp’s new furniture brand. Fabric is being used more frequently to create soft architecture within a space, dividing rooms, softening acoustics, and creating an entirely new atmosphere without a hard renovation.
Sean Symington Design’s Upholstered Walls
A space designed to celebrate the joy of living, designer Sean Symington’s “Withdrawing Room” doesn’t hold back. The room, created with sponsor Zardi & Zardi, proves that even your most cherished pieces are meant to be part of everyday life and enjoyment. “We created this sort of fictional client, this idea of a transatlantic Upper East Side lady who maybe spent some time in England,” Symington explains.
There are collectibles all around—the antique bergère chairs reupholstered in “Eaton Check” by Colefax and Fowler, a bespoke sofa, a sculptural chandelier by Porta Romana, a hand-knotted wool rug by Stark Carpet—but the most heart-stopping feature is the archival “Primavera” fabric by Zardi & Zardi that covers the walls, ceiling, and doors. He adds, “I knew I wanted lots of layered seating. I was like, ‘How much more furniture can we fit in?’” It’s entirely immersive and shows how pattern drenching continues to evolve into something not perfect but something that creates emotional warmth.
Fettle Design’s Rippling Canopy
Outdoor rooms matter just as much as those indoors, and Fettle Design’s garden terrace, designed in collaboration with Perennials and Sutherland, shows just how beautifully it can be done. The romantic, Italian-inspired terrace is adorned with luxury furnishings—like the green, orange, and white sofa and the Murano glass table lamps—that perch atop red and white cement tiles from The Mosaic Factory.
The most fantastical element of this alfresco-inspired space is the rippling canopy overhead, made from a cheery “Nonna” check fabric, pulled from Perennials and Sutherland’s latest La Dolce Vita fabric collection, and punctuated with glittering glass spherical pendant lights by Sogni di Cristallo. Though not everyone can have an aperitivo fantasy outside their house, the importance of the outdoor space can be captured through decorative lighting, patterned textiles, and hospitality-inspired seating.
Samantha Bartlett’s Botanical Threads
The most striking design moment in Samantha Bartlett’s kitchen, which she designed with sponsor Martin Moore, is actually the entire theme. The generous skylight emphasizes the botanical threads woven throughout the cook space, from the more obvious touches, like the magical “Ivy Shadow” chandelier by Tord Boontje for Porta Romana, to the more theoretical, like the color palette made of muted green walls, grained fumed oak, bronze detailing, and verdant Verde Natura quartzite countertops.
“As a studio, we're really inspired by Mother Nature, so we wanted to bring in the stems and all the hues from nature,” Bartlett says.
Though it’s entirely bespoke, this kitchen is incredibly functional and works as a living environment. “It shows how you use a kitchen through all different stages of the day and night—hosting friends or having a morning ritual coffee,” she adds. The kitchen space, as a whole, is softening and embracing more atmospheric materials, like aged metals, visible grains, and architectural furniture, to encourage that lived-in feel.
Russell Sage Studio’s Invisible Technology
The Momentarium: That’s what designer Russell Sage calls this room, which he created in collaboration with sponsor Nucleus. It’s a completely immersive space with state-of-the-art technology that doesn’t just count as a feature but creates the entire atmosphere. The best part, however, is that all of the high-tech pieces disappear into the landscape of the room.
The sound system by L-Acoustics has speakers embedded around the room, creating a sound field that’s felt as much as it is heard. Curtains made from Fromental’s acoustically transparent fabric cocoon the room, and Sony displays featuring Fiona Skinner were chosen for their color, depth, and restraint. Lie down on the circular daybed and find that above you are more screens that spirit you away. It’s all unified by Crestron, so that sound, visuals, and light respond together to shape the mood. Even the lower tech is impressive, like the curved wooden cabinets by PS Interiors, which are illuminated from below to look like they’re floating.
Quiet luxury has taken on a whole new meaning when it comes to the invisible tech that can be scattered around one’s house. Swanson explains that the smartest rooms hide their systems completely to prioritize mood, comfort, and experience rather than visible devices.
