There is a certain confidence to an Uns Hobbs room. An antique can sit happily beside something contemporary, a raspberry-red kitchen island is allowed to have its moment, and a patterned lampshade might be the thing that pulls the whole lot together.
Nothing feels too coordinated or overly polished. Her interiors have the rather lovely sense that they have grown over time, bringing together artwork, furniture, colour and lighting with plenty of character but very little fuss.
Uns studied interior architecture before spending 15 years in advertising and marketing, eventually setting up Uns Hobbs Interiors in 2022. That combination seems rather apt: an understanding of how a room works, an eye for the details that give it character, and a strong instinct for the story a home should tell.
We caught up with Uns to talk about mixing old and new, designing around the people who actually live in a house, where lighting fits into the process and why the things you already own are often the best place to begin.
How would you describe your interior design style?
“Warm, comfortable and brave.”
It is a wonderfully concise answer, but Uns’s rooms show what she means.
They are layered without feeling cluttered, colourful without losing their calm, and filled with pieces that look as though they have found their way into the room over time rather than arriving together on a delivery van.
“I think people are too afraid to mix it up. You can love a colourful, layered home but also love contemporary pieces, antiques from all eras. The key is to pick things you love.”
Hear, hear.
There is no need to pledge allegiance to one period, one palette or one very specific Pinterest board. A playful lampshade can give an older base a completely different character. A room becomes more interesting when the things in it have different stories to tell.
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Where does Uns find inspiration?
Art, architectural details and antiques all play their part.
Uns also has a collection of House & Garden magazines from the 1980s and 1990s, which she returns to for proof that good interiors have rather more staying power than the trend cycle would have us believe.
“It’s fascinating how designs just don’t date. They still look as amazing today as they did then.”
That idea runs through her work. Rather than asking what happens to be fashionable at the moment, Uns begins with the house itself and the people who live there.
“I try not to focus too much on trends. Instead, I look at the architecture of the house, the personality of the client and the things they already own and love.”
It sounds simple, but it is a useful rule. The original features, the furniture you could never part with, the painting bought on holiday, the slightly eccentric chair inherited from somebody else. Those things are not obstacles to designing a room. Quite often, they are where its personality starts.
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Where should you start when designing a room?
Before the paint chart. Before the cushions. Even before the fabulous lamp you have already decided absolutely must go somewhere.
Start with the floor plan.
“Every project begins with the floor plan. You can’t design a room properly without exploring the different ways it could be laid out. The layout affects everything that comes afterwards, including furniture, lighting, joinery, window treatments and how you move through the space.”
It is perhaps not the most glamorous part of decorating, but it makes everything that follows considerably easier.
Think about where people naturally walk, where they sit, what they need to see and how the room is actually going to be used. Once that structure is working, decisions about furniture and lighting have something solid to respond to.
It also means lighting positions can be considered properly rather than discovering, several weeks too late, that the loveliest reading chair in the house is sitting in a gloomy corner with no socket anywhere nearby.
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Give every room something that makes it special
A beautifully planned room does not have to be a sensible room.
“I try to include one or two standout elements in every room. It might be a beautiful piece of furniture, an amazing window treatment, bespoke joinery or an unexpected colour combination. There should always be something that makes the space feel extra special.”
The key phrase here is one or two.
Character does not mean every object has to compete for attention. Often, it is the contrast between something memorable and the quieter pieces around it that gives the room its confidence.
In Uns’s own interiors, that might be a raspberry-coloured kitchen island, an unexpected combination of fabrics or a wonderfully generous, patterned shade. The rest of the room is allowed to support it.
It is a rather achievable way to think about decorating too. You do not necessarily need to transform everything. One beautifully chosen element can change the rhythm of a familiar room.
How does Uns approach lighting?
Lighting, unsurprisingly, comes in very early.
“All decorative lighting needs to be considered from the beginning.”
For Uns, different lights have different jobs. Table lamps create atmosphere and provide a softer glow. Wall lights can draw attention to architectural details and artwork. Reading areas need a more focused task light.
It is a straightforward approach, but one that avoids expecting a single central fitting to somehow do everything.
A room tends to feel much warmer when light appears at different heights and in different places. A table lamp might illuminate one corner, while a pair of wall lights brings artwork to life and a reading lamp makes an armchair properly useful after dark.
The effect is layered, rather than flooded.
And crucially, the lighting responds to the room. It is not a decorative afterthought applied once all the “important” decisions have been made.
Why lampshades matter more than you might think
Uns is particularly fond of what a lampshade can do.
“A lampshade can completely transform a room. It’s a great way to add colour and pattern, and the colour changes the light too. I have two red fabric shades that I love because they bring so much warmth into the room!”
Quite right.
Changing a lampshade is one of those pleasingly low-effort, high-impact decorating moves. The base stays exactly where it is, no electrician needs summoning, yet suddenly the lamp feels different and the light itself has changed.
A gathered fabric shade can soften a room. An ikat introduces movement and pattern. A richer colour can make the glow feel warmer in the evening.
It is also a very good way to experiment if you are slightly nervous about colour. Painting four walls red is a commitment. Putting a red lampshade on a lamp is much less alarming, and it may be all the room needed anyway.
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How do you mix colour, pattern and different periods without making a muddle?
This is really where Uns’s “pick things you love” philosophy earns its keep.
Rather than trying to make everything belong to exactly the same design period, she looks for a broader relationship between pieces. Colour might connect an antique chair to a contemporary textile. A patterned lampshade might pick up a tone found elsewhere in the room. Traditional joinery can provide a calm backdrop for something much more playful.
The result is collected rather than coordinated.
And that distinction matters. Rooms where everything matches can sometimes feel strangely impersonal. A home with a few oddities, hand-me-downs and pieces from different decades often has far more life in it.
So mix the eras. Put the modern piece beside the antique. Keep the furniture you genuinely love.
A room does not need a perfectly behaved family tree.
Uns’s approach to creating atmosphere
For all the practical thinking behind her work, Uns’s interiors ultimately come back to feeling.
Soft light, fabric, pattern, artwork and colour work together to create rooms that feel comfortable enough to live in, but interesting enough that you keep noticing things.
That is perhaps why her three-word description works so well.
Warm, because colour, fabric and pools of light keep the rooms from feeling stark.
Comfortable, because layout and function come before decoration.
And brave, because there is always room for something unexpected.
The raspberry island. The patterned shade. The antique that does not technically “match” but is far too good to leave out.
Why Pooky?
For Uns, variety is a big part of the appeal.
“They have such a great range, so much variety. There’s something for everyone, and the quality is always amazing.
That breadth is what makes Pooky such a natural fit for Uns’s interiors. There is room to choose by instinct as much as function: something sculptural here, a patterned shade there, and something quieter where the room already has plenty to say. The pieces do not have to match exactly. They just have to earn their place.
In other words, the lighting can be mixed just as confidently as everything else.
Uns Hobbs’ golden rule? Choose what you love
There is a reassuring lack of prescription in Uns’s approach.
Once the practical bits are sorted, trust your eye a little. Keep the inherited chair. Choose the patterned shade. Hang the artwork you have always liked rather than the one that happens to suit a passing fashion.
Homes become personal through the things we choose to keep, collect and bring together. So find the pieces that make you smile and give them room to get along.
Explore the full Uns Hobb collection to create your own warm, comfortable and brave and comfortable colour scheme.