Future perfect

Interior designer Alex Dauley has a very smart vision for how her home will look in just a few years and it's a plan we can all be inspired by, as she tells our executive editor Pip Rich

- Pip Rich

Pip Rich This is the first time a room at WOW!house [Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour's annual installation] has focused on a space for empty nesters, but that's exactly what you've done. Why? And how is a home different when the kids have left?

Alex Dauley Well, that's going to be my life in a few years, and I'm looking forward to the next stage, to being a bit more selfish and bold with how my home looks. It's very family friendly right now, and I want sumptuous, tactile materials, to not be worried about sticky fingers touching things, to go a lot more sophisticated.

PR What materials encapsulate that grown-up approach for you?

AD Marble, mohair, velvet. I'm going to have lots of warm brass, polished plaster and limewash, things that are lighter in colour as I won't be so fearful of spills. I want natural materials, linen, silk, warm woods like walnut that have rich tones. Poured floors - I can see it now. You know, your children leaving home is a massive wrench and there will be tears, but reinventing your home is a way to put a positive spin on what could be quite upsetting.