What interior designer Cameron Kimber says is the key to luxury will surprise you

Although known for his layered interiors full of timeless luxury, creating a luxurious home doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive, according to interior designer Cameron Kimber.

“For me, luxury is about comfort,” says Kimber. “It’s not about having gilt cornicing and silk damask curtains – as luxurious as those things obviously are – but how a house feels.

“It’s about beautiful sheets on a bed or thick towels in a bathroom. It’s about comfortable upholstery, the feel of a good fabric, the softness of a pillow or simply having a good light next to where you want to read,” he continues.

For Kimber, who established Cameron Kimber Design in Sydney in 1998, visual luxury is also an important factor in creating a comfortable and inviting home.

“When something looks beautiful to the eye, it makes you feel happy. It could be a beautifully maintained garden or a wall of paintings – some good, some bad, some done by the kids – but if they are hung well, and it pleases the eye, then that’s luxurious,” he advises.

Although Kimber doesn’t have a signature style (“Every house and client is different”), some staple principles will inform each job. A fan of classic interiors using quality materials, he likes to create layered spaces that reflect the fact that people actually live in a home.

“To create that lived-in look, we’ll put a beautiful cashmere throw on the back of a chair, use good cushions, have books stacked on coffee tables and position side tables for drinks and ottomans to put feet on,” he explains. 

When starting a new project, Kimber will take time to get to know a client to find out how they are going to live in a home. “Do they entertain a lot? Work from home? Like gardening?” he explains.

“Often, a client will say, we definitely want to keep this piece of furniture or this artwork, and that will inform how the house is going to look. But if I’m starting from scratch, I’ll work out what the client likes and, also taking into account the client’s personality and the architecture of a house, start putting a scheme together.”

When it comes to trends, Kimber says he’s seeing a lot of pattern and colour, particularly high gloss paint finishes in intense colours, which he thinks are a reaction against the grey interiors seen in recent years. Greens, pinks, purples and chocolate brown are all on trend, but Kimber says: “I’ve always used colour, and I don’t really care if a colour is supposedly in or out of fashion.” 

He’s also a big fan of using colour on walls but does advise that you need to choose your room carefully. “Australians are very cautious about going dark on walls as we love light interiors. But if you have a dark, south-facing room, it’s often better to make it darker rather than trying to paint it light, which never works,” he explains.

He also loves wallpaper but hopes we’ve seen the back of the wallpapered feature wall. “It looks as if you can’t make the commitment to use it on all the walls,” he says. “A feature wall does not spell luxury to me. Instead, it just says, I’m afraid and looks a bit cheap.”