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Money can’t buy you love. And when it comes to the contents of your home, you can’t buy proof that you’re stylish either.
Sure, you can deck out your home with the kind of flashy, eye-catching decor that celebrity magazines typically feature, but the real signs that a home belongs to someone with a posh pedigree are much more subtle.
We spoke to leading industry professionals, including interior experts, kitchen designers and business owners, to reveal the subtle signs in a home that scream elegance and privilege.
From cutlery and cushions to the size of your TV, here’s our ultimate guide to making sure your home is up to par…
soap bars
Upper-class people also tend to be impeccably frugal (our dear late queen is a prime example of someone who hated waste). A good bar of soap lasts for countless washes, while ordinary, fancy soap bottles dry out pretty quickly. And plastic is terrible for the planet.
Various dogs (probably cocker spaniels)
A rowdy, ankle-high group of dogs smells of luxurious country living. Reflecting those cheerful, outdoorsy types who love nothing more than walking around the countryside with a collection of barking mates around their wellies.
“Open the door of a posh home and there’s no doubt you’ll be greeted by a number of dogs, most of which will be some sort of working breed, often used on the hunt at the weekend,” says Ruth Beeton, co-founder of Home Sale Pack. “Although there will inevitably be a smaller, ‘popular’ breed running the show for good measure.”
It’s also worth noting that the house may smell like wet dog and the couch may have dog hair stuck to it, but that’s all part of the stylish package.
Sheets and blankets (not duvets)
When a stylish person wakes up from work to go to work due to illness, they don’t have duvet days, instead they snuggle up under Egyptian cotton sheets and elegantly woven blankets. It’s true that duvets make it easier to make the bed, but the rustic style of the sheets and blankets is the hallmark of true class.
Silver photo frames
Elegant homes have many of these, often inherited or given to family members on milestone birthdays and anniversaries. They literally frame an upper-class heirloom, whether it’s a public high school class photo or anything involving horses.
Butter dishes
Good parenting is beautifully expressed in a dollop of butter served on its own plate. Frankly, it is quite common to allow that whiff of mass-produced packaging to show through. A commercially spreadable variety served in its packaging is anathema to elegant homes. It is much better to unwrap a loaf and place it in a butter dish. The same goes for a small container and spoon for mustard or any other condiment (bring that ketchup bottle to the table!).
Boot quarters and battered vests
Ah, the sturdy, sleeveless quilted vest. Can there be any other item of clothing, short of the family tiara, that truly conveys upper-class credentials? Especially if it’s hanging in a boot room, not the hallway, next to wellington boots so splattered with mud that you can no longer tell their colour (green).
‘The specific term boot room is an elegant revelation. “Think exposed brick walls, a worn rug perfect for wiping off muddy paws and perhaps a Barbour jacket or two hanging casually on hooks,” says Sylvia James, interior design expert at HomeHow.co.uk.
Counterintuitively, outdoor clothing is no place for designer brands. The more worn and worn the garment is, the more authentic its stylish credentials will be.
Dirty Land Rover
Mud is synonymous with elegance, so having a dirty off-roader in the driveway is also a key signal. There’s a strange kind of relativism at play: the more elegant you are, the less clean you have to be (as long as it involves mud). Porsche and Mercedes sports cars are synonymous with money, but not class. “You can expect to see a lot of Land Rovers of all years, especially Defenders, from the newest ones to the classic shapes in Ascot green,” says Ruth Beeton.
Accessible pantries
A hallmark of the truly elegant, and as such, they are often places to store home-made jams and elegantly labeled jars of chutney.
“Pantries are a hallmark of luxury homes, subtly signaling a level of wealth and sophistication,” says luxury kitchen designer Tom Howley. Unlike standard kitchen cabinets, he notes, “these largely reflect the homeowner’s attention to detail and commitment to a well-appointed lifestyle.”
fresh cut flowers
Truly elegant homes reflect a love for the land. Not least is a well-tended garden and the need to bring its fruits indoors to brighten up the house, which is why freshly cut flowers are likely to spill out of vases when the owner of the house is well-mannered. A wilted bouquet of flowers from the gas station will not do. Posh people will never tell with such flowers.
open fireplace
The roar of a fireplace is key to a good family home. It exudes (sorry) a lot of elegant elements. The hard work of working the land and chopping firewood, the memory of cold stately homes and a natural focal point to gather, hall-style, and play riddles. A crackling log fireplace will outperform even stylish underfloor heating when it comes to displaying high-class credentials.
The Aga
The same goes for an Aga – the older and rustier the better. True elegance is all about being timeless (even if it often gets cold as you wait impatiently for the damn thing to heat up).
Family cutlery
Look, buying cutlery is a very reasonable thing to do these days, with many of the big supermarkets selling utilitarian packs of knives and forks en masse. But it’s nothing like the legacy of family cutlery, which typically requires two hands to lift a fork, and is likely to be pewter, engraved and steeped in history.
And, by the way, purchasing specific cutlery for each food is not a sign of good parenting. There have been no fish knives in royal palaces since Edward VII denounced them as “very common.”
…and don’t forget the tureen
A gleaming silver soup tureen nestled among your everyday dinnerware could be a family heirloom, a subtle hint of generations of elegant lunches and dinners.
Cushions made with family tweed
In upper-class homes you rarely see cushions from Next in muted tones or a nice blanket from John Lewis. An elegant family can have its own seat, both in a country house and in a sitting place. And if that includes tweed, why not make a cushion out of it?
Small radio in the kitchen
You won’t find Alexa in the kitchen (posh people bark at servants, not appliances). In its place will be a small radio tuned to polished shows like Gardeners’ Question Time and The Archers (even after that sexy, sweltering shower scene, much more enjoyable when provided solely through sound effects).
Same goes for a small TV in the living room. Billboard-sized flat screens are for chavs. Who needs 60-inch TVs anyway? These people don’t watch Bridgerton. They are Bridgerton.
Cloth napkins and napkin rings
You can pull out the pretty napkins for special occasions, but those who have been well-brought up use cloth napkins even when it comes to a modest dinner in the kitchen.
Fancy people don’t use hideous floral paper napkins, and folding them into some fancy shape and stuffing them into a glass is an absolute no-no. Instead, it has to be cloth, with the napkin rolled like a tube on a napkin ring.
Anything other than what’s on display on the table is a sign of awful decor (and manners). “Even the most casual meal is adorned with neatly folded linen napkins. Monogrammed borders are a subtle nod to family,” notes interior design expert Sylvia James.
