Personal Space: Alanna Doherty

Ever wanted to take a look around the homes of Britain's most stylish residents? In Personal Space, we take a deep dive into design, looking at the moodboards of industry insiders to find out how they curate their space. From luxury finds in designer boutiques to secondhand shopping secrets, we ask the experts for the interior design tips that made their house a home. Next up, Alanna Doherty, content creator and founder of Groovy House photography studio, takes us through her love of colour, considered curation, and how to create a memorable space.

How would you describe your interior design style?

First and foremost it is colourful and bold! I've started to think of it as "elevated maximalism."

If we were to walk into your house on any given day, what would we be likely to see?

I spend most of my time at Groovy House and you’ll find me in my mustard wardrobe room either trying on clothes and jewellery or editing on my orange (of course) iMac. I’m trying to be more intentional with my maximalist apporach as I get older and not just collecting and hoarding pieces for the sake of it. I think great design shows a certain restraint and I’ve been trying very hard to practise this!

What aesthetic style, era, or vibe speaks to you the most?

It has to be '70s interior style. I’m a print and colour girl so when I look at '70s design, the shapes and the boldness of the prints bring me so much joy. I understand that everyone has different aesthetics but the warmth that print and colour brought to interior design back then was truly special. I think it’s a real shame that we’ve lost a lot of that and that trends are now so muted and neutral!

What made you fall in love with the house you live in now?

When we first viewed the house I fell in love with the tall ceilings and insane natural light. Finding a location for a studio that had the features of a home was proving really difficult and then we found this house that actually is a commercial property! It needed an insane amount of work because it was so old but I was smitten with the charm of the original features, like the fireplace in the Blue Room.

What are some of your favourite rooms in your house?

Ah that’s a really hard one! We spent so much time transforming the space so I really do love them all equally. But the wardrobe room is truly special because it’s the one room that I have just for me! It’s filled with lots of textures, patterns and colours and is made even better by the colours that my clothes, shoes and accessories add.

What are some of the best buys you have invested in for your house?

My Lrnce rug, its hanging on the wall in the Marrakech Room and is definitely one of my favourite buys. I’d been eyeing Lrnce for years and years and could never justify purchasing a rug from the brand until I visited Marrakech last summer and headed to the flagship store, and I had to take the plunge. Imagine me, 10 days in Marrakech and coming back with 3 suitcases by myself, one of which was only homeware pieces for Groovy House!

Second would have to be all of the incredible curtains that I purchased from La Redoute. Because I don’t own the house I wasn’t allowed to change or paint the doors throughout and they were very commercial looking, so I decided that using curtains that matched or complimented the wall colour would be the best solution. It turned out even better than I had imagined and creates so much drama in every room. It also allows my guests to shoot from any angle in the house!!

Where are your favourite places to shop for...

Vintage and antiques: I don’t have any specific places that I shop for vintage but my favourite thing to do is to bring back vintage pieces from my travels. In the studio you will find lots of items from Morocco, Barbados, Spain and many other places that I’ve visited.

Affordable pieces: Habitat, Dunelm and H&M home always have some fab colourful interior items!

Luxury investment pieces: I won’t lie, I shop more more affordable and mid-range items but if I could afford pieces from House of Hackney, they would be in every corner of the space!

Textiles, accessories, and decorative finishing touches: Colours of Arley, A Rum Fellow, Spicer and Wood, Sister by Studio Ashby, Dowse and Abode Living.

Whose interiors might we find screenshotted in your saved folder as inspiration?

There are quite a few creators whose interiors I absolutely love. A few that I constantly save and take screenshots of are Paola Mathé (@findingpaola), Josh and Matt (@joshandmattdesign), Rosemary Hotel (@rosemarymarrakech), Skylar Marshai (@skylarmarshai), Abi Marvel (@studio.arva) and Hayley Stuart (@iamhayleystuart).

How do you refresh your interiors for each season?

I am not a person who changes my style in clothing or interiors based on the season or current trends. I prefer to refresh my interiors if I’m feeling it in the moment. For me, I love to switch things up by changing little trinkets to bring new life to a space. But since I do love interior design and have so many ideas running around in my head for my space, I can’t wait to refresh Groovy House again! But, as I’ve only been in the space for less than a year, I’m really enjoying the labour of our love right now.

As more of us are working from home than ever before, how important is curating a workspace in the home, and what is the inspiration behind yours?

Groovy House is my workspace, and although it isn’t in my home, it’s incredibly important to have your workspace reflect your style and create the vibe that you want to have while working. Most of us spend more time working than we do at home relaxing, so if you can make your space feel special, you absolutely should. For me, I thought about all of the elements that would bring me the most joy so that I would be excited to work and inspired to create while there.

The inspiration behind my wardrobe and office space in the studio was Barbados, where I grew up. I was surrounded by gorgeous flowers, palm trees and clear blue waters so I designed a space that had all of the colours and patterns that I love: yellows, oranges, pinks, polkadots and of course I had to add in some 70s inspired prints!!

As the founder of Groovy House, your maximalist approach to design has changed our expectations of what a photography studio looks like. How did you come up with the idea and how did you find the process of creation to fruition?

As a content creator who has always loved changing up my backgrounds, I struggled to find studios that fit my aesthetic. I was spending so much money and time travelling all over Brighton and London to find studios to shoot in and would have to trek tons of props (on topof the products that I needed to shoot for brands), to try to make the studios reflect my personal style. The only studio that I truly loved was my friend Abi Marvel’s [Arva Studios]. She is an incredible creative mind who has always inspired me with her style and interiors, but I was still struggling to shoot all of my content at her studio as her style is quite neutral compared to my colourful maximalism. After years of struggling to work from home I decided to create my dream space and hopefully fill the gap in the market by offering creatives a bold alternative to the studios available now!

Groovy House is based in Brighton and Hove, how has the look and feel of the town influenced your style?

I wouldn’t say that Brighton has influenced my style, but rather that it was the closest reflection of my style out of all of the cities in England which is why we moved here. I love the colourful buildings, the ocean and friendliness that Brighton and Hove offers.

What are some of your favourite pieces in Groovy House and your own home collection?

There's a set of colourful glasses in the Blue Room that were my grandparents’ wedding present from 60 years ago, and they are definitely my most treasured. When my grandmother was downsizing her home last year she invited all of her grandchildren to take pieces from her home and I spotted these glasses right away. They were all different colours and she told me that they had never been used before—it was meant to be! The Lrnce rug that is hanging on the wall is definitely second because of the love that I’ve had for the brand for many years, and it’s so chic that it pulls the Marrakech Room together sooo well. If the studio were burning down I would definitely try to take it out with me!

Do you have any tips on how best to shop antique, vintage and secondhand?

Truly, the one main tip is patience! I think a lot of people try to shop vintage but don’t take the time to find the gems, or they walk in expecting to find something specific and get disappointed when they can’t find it. Vintage is best when expectations are only being open to whatever you find.

What advice would you give anyone wanting to redecorate their space who doesn't know where to start?

- Design your space for you and not based on what you see is trending. There are so many interiors that I see online that look exactly the same because it’s what’s “in” at the moment, and that's so sad to see. When these trends are over you’re left with a space that you don’t actually like or want to live in!

- Have fun and experiment. The Kitchen for example took me two and half months to design and decorate because I kept experimenting, making mistakes, and learning as time went on. By the end I found exactly what I wanted and was so happy with the result, and now I can even add tiler to my cv!

- Scour Pinterest before you start designing. I think great design shows restraint like I said before, so it’s good if you have a general idea of what you like and don’t like before you start. Of course, experiment with your designs, but if you don’t know whether you like neutral, colourful, modern or vintage design you’ll be so overwhelmed by choice when you decide to start.

Shop Alanna's Style: