‘We’re definitely seeing more people asking for spaces that are really personal to them,’ reveals Tom Fox, co-founder, CEO and chief creative at HÁM, the interior design studio and British homeware brand. ‘If you’ve got the room, it’s a real luxury to have somewhere that’s designed specifically for a hobby, whether that’s arts and crafts, sports, countryside pursuits or music. But you have to consider how these spaces will actually be used, whether it’s mainly for preparation, storage or practice – that then informs everything from the seating to the layout.’
Recently, the company has created a number of such rooms for clients with real passions. In Cornwall, Tom and his team designed a cool-dude surfing room in a converted garage as somewhere to store equipment, with hanging space for wetsuits above a free-standing cast-iron bath, a hardwearing floor that can be hosed down and panelled walls in whitewashed timber as a backdrop for oceanic artworks (including a wall-mounted surfboard, naturally).
In Oxfordshire, they carved out a beautiful flower-arranging space with direct access to the garden, a generous workspace featuring a Victorian sink and a pleated fabric curtain for hiding all the practical bits and pieces from view.
Flower rooms are taking root in the US, too. ‘A client in Wisconsin entertains all summer long and flowers are a real passion – not only for decorating the various guest spaces, but to create wonderful tablescapes for dining – so her curated collection of vases, jugs and baskets needed to be corralled into a well-organised room where the best vessel can be easily identified,’ says Emma Burns, joint managing director at interior decorating firm Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler. ‘The open shelves we designed enables this at a glance and the jalapeño-green walls are intensely fresh and provide a delicious backdrop.’
And what about Emma’s own hobby? At her home in Oxfordshire, the designer has created a ‘book barn’ complete with galleried reading room and secret bookcase bar to house her collection and nourish her love of reading – with a negroni in-hand. She explains: ‘Post-pandemic, we’re all happy to spend more time at home, pursuing hobbies and interests in spaces that we can completely control. Ultimately, it’s our job as designers to create homes that reflect the lives, tastes and pleasures of the people who live in them.’
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These spaces are no longer scarce. In the last three months alone, UK searches for ‘hobby room’ have jumped up by 5,000%, a breakout term according to Google Trends, while those for ‘cinema room’ have increased by 40% in the same period. Want a listening room? You’re not alone, with a 30% spike in searches since August. And how about a cosy spot for playing cards? Up by 20% since summer, apparently.
Brian Woulfe, founder and director at Designed by Woulfe, explains: ‘More and more, our clients want their homes to feel deeply personal, and we’re seeing a real shift towards spaces that are designed around the individual rituals and interests of the people who live there. Rather than every space having to serve a conventional purpose, clients are looking for rooms that reflect how they actually spend their time. There’s also a growing desire to create more moments of escapism within the home.’
A response, perhaps, to an increasingly tumultuous world outside the front door? Like Tom at HÁM, Brian says that a hobby room starts with its intended use – a home cinema needs to be comfortable for long periods of time, while also considering lighting, acoustics, sightlines and technology – but not so precious that you are reluctant to use it often.
‘These spaces also offer a unique opportunity to be more expressive,’ he adds. ‘Because they tend to have a more defined purpose, you can afford to push the design further, introducing pattern, colour or pieces that might feel too playful elsewhere.’
Designed by Woulfe recently created a jewel box-like cinema room in a north London home, and Brian went hell-for-leather with theatrical House of Hackney wallpaper and richly upholstered seating. While in the children’s craft room downstairs, he went all-out with bespoke joinery to store everything, and left plenty of wall space for exhibiting drawings. Crucially, it’s a space that doesn’t feel led by adults – full of colour, play and imagination.
More fun and games have been had by Scotland-based interiors studio and gallery Phina Designs, with the creation of a cinema-slash-gaming room on the top floor of a country house in Edinburgh.
‘The clients’ children are keen gamers, so we enclosed the fireplace to accommodate a large TV and bespoke cabinet, all designed with ample ventilation for the gaming equipment,’ says managing director Georgina Fraser. ‘A custom Super Mario artwork was commissioned for the room to add a bit of fun, while a SMEG fridge is neatly concealed in the cabinetry for snacks and drinks.’ Distinctly adult touches come in the form of limited-edition Togo by Ligne Roset chairs upholstered in Pierre Frey fabric – both purchased and stored by the clients two years in advance – such is their passion for indulging their love of the silver screen in designer comfort.
And what about those with rather more niche hobbies? There are rooms for that, too. Anthony Earle, creative director at Artichoke Interiors, was recently commissioned to design a ‘charcuterie kitchen’ for a carnivorous client in Sussex who has a keen interest in traditional butchery. It’s hardly surprising – he keeps Charolais cattle on this Georgian estate. Naturally, the space adjoins the tasting room and wine display to enable field-to-fork dining, while the room itself features heritage tiles, an oversized prep island topped in Carrara marble (complete with a carved channel inspired by a butcher’s block) and a professional dry-ageing cabinet.
More niche still, perhaps, is a museum-grade art archive the luxury interiors company designed and built for a client who collects 16th century Indian artwork. Historical knowledge and meticulous craftsmanship have been channelled into a bespoke cabinet in a private study to house the collection, with consideration given to everything from the way the paintings are stored to how they can be handled and viewed expertly. Anthony explains: ‘The house is an Arts and Crafts-influenced English interior, so we chose fine solid oak and worked with its existing architectural language, designing the appropriate cornice and mouldings for the piece. Then we brought in details from Mughal architecture and decorative art, particularly the ogee arches and fine marquetry.’
But the most specific of hobby rooms is possibly the garden observatory currently underway for a client of Adam Arya – co-founder of architecture firm Arya Douge – for the sole purpose of star-gazing. ‘The design requires an extraordinary level of precision with the building’s orientation, geometry and glazing all meticulously calculated to optimise views of the night sky and celestial events,’ he says. Clearly, when it comes to spaces for pastimes, the sky really is the limit.
