Kunal Trehan, with his practice of interior design, Touched Interiors, based in Manchester, has an international reputation as a designer of ultra-luxury interiors for the world’s most discerning clients. It is not as demanding as in painful, but it does require the highest expectations. The very wealthy have their own way of working, and managing the expectations of money holders is a skill that must go hand in hand with talent and an unwavering ability to deliver exactly what is promised, when it is promised. This is why Kunal is participating in the latest BBC Interior Design Show, Home almostIt was a surprise, not a surprise to anyone who knows him.
Kunal Trehan joined the new TV show Virtually Home in early 2021
– Credit: BBC / Lion Television
I admit, when I first contacted the BBC regarding Home almost In the early spring of 2021, I was initially apprehensive; I had to really think about it. I’m known to work on very high-end projects and for that you need a certain amount of budget. These were easily accessible budgets, but for me design is design no matter how much is spent, and this program is about inspiring people and I think I’m at a point in my career when I have a lot of tips, tricks, and trade secrets. “I built, I thought it would be great to share that – and is there a better platform than the BBC?”
The concept of the program is simple, and it’s driven by something we can all relate to – two people with conflicting design ideas trying to agree on how to redecorate a particular room in their home. Fifteen different couples – spouses, partners, parents, and a child – meet with one of the four interior designers to discuss their design dreams, sometimes diametrically opposed to each other. The designer creates two solutions and both are presented via advanced virtual reality – not with the goggles we know so much, but with projected design using lighting technology, giving homeowners the opportunity to see how the designs will work in their lives. Homepage. It’s as close to actually doing it as possible without opening a can of paint.
Kunal prepares to meet his clients at Virtual Home
– Credit: Touched Interiors
Couples see two different designs, each reflecting the design brief they will give us as an individual. It’s not about fueling conflict, it’s about bringing them into a harmonious place, where they can see what each version will look like, understand their partners’ thinking and unite them in a joint decision on how to go about it.
Once the designers present and explain their concepts, they let the couple decide on their preferred option and then move on, reversing the usual process for Kunal.
Kunal uses different materials in impressive ways to create unique and always beautiful interiors
– Credit: Touched Interiors
“My design projects can take months, even years,” he says. First, I will work with my clients for how long it takes to agree on a final design, with custom-made furniture and lighting, wall coverings, floors, smart heat, lighting, and media solutions, and then I manage the project to implement. I can often hand the keys over to the house and the owners won’t come back until after it’s completed and I can pretty reveal.
‘with Home almostOnce they agree on the design concept, everything is taken out of my hands and they sort everything themselves, before inviting me again for their big reveal.
For a man accustomed to absolute control over design and project completion, surely this posed some challenges for Kunal?
Kunal Trehan, who participated in BBC One’s Virtual Home in 2021
– Credit: Touched Interiors
I was worried that this might happen, but in reality, the joy is in providing inspiration, seeing their reactions to presentations in the VR room and then being happy with their completed space. I am there to provide inspiration and guidance on sourcing the different aspects of the design of their choice. My role is to bring two people’s diverse ideas together, to help them create a room in which they are truly happy. It doesn’t matter if they choose different furniture than the one I suggested, or pull out their favorite pieces from both designs and weave them together, the point is that they are always very happy with what they have achieved and I am so proud to have played a part in that. And it all happens very quickly, too — from concept to their final room, it can only take eight weeks.
As a viewer, obviously one of the advantages of engaging with an interior designer is that he can unlock ideas and design tricks you probably wouldn’t have thought of on your own, from the use of color to lighting to layout and the little things that make a big difference, like using moldings to create the effect of panels on walls In a Georgian home owned by two gentlemen in Huntingdon, who couldn’t have had more varied décor preferences.
“My job is to listen and translate their hopes and desires into a design that fulfills those desires,” Kunal says. “For the participant, it is as much about finding out what they don’t like as it is about figuring out what they do.”
Niranjan and Subodh have been at odds over how to furnish and decorate the living room in their new home
– Credit: BBC / Lion Television
In Huntingdon, one client wanted to combine his huge, colorful paintings with elegant classic design, a nod to the era of their home. His husband wanted to bring his heritage color and style to the space, South Indian – lots of fabrics, lots of color and no real desire to acknowledge the bones of their 350-year-old home. There was also an elevator in the corner of the room, which had to stay.
“The design they finally agreed on was a fusion of my ideas,” says Kunal. They chose to take the design of the benches from the South Indian-inspired design and the effect of panels from the classic design, which they used to display the truly massive and impressive artworks. They were both very happy with the end result, which is what would have happened, I think, had they just fought between them and ended up with a winner and a loser.
On a later programme, Kunal took on the design of an entrance hall, one of his favorite spaces to work with, to unite the conflicting ideas of mother and daughter Sue and Natalie; The former is somewhat stuck in the past, acknowledging the need to adopt a more modern design, and the latter is ready to change everything and is keen to use bold color.
Su and Natalie, who took Kunal’s design and imitated it faithfully
– Credit: BBC / Lion Television
Kunal laughs, “I like guiding people in a direction they didn’t know existed.” In that episode they chose Sue’s design, moving her from her comfort zone to a new place she loved. They meticulously followed my design, from the light fixtures to the custom seating to the wall lights and window blinds. She was able to present both ideas in a virtual reality room which really made it work for them. They can accurately see how each concept would look in reality, in life size, not in paint spots on the wall and canvas models. In fact, Natalie was able to see that her idea of wise green paint would not have worked at all, and it would be an expensive mistake.
As with his work for private clients, Kunal handles his own design work Home almost Seriously.
“Every design takes me a while,” he says. I don’t compromise my usual approach. I give the BBC, and thus the clients, everything they need to build the VR room and then bring it to life, all reflecting the budget they have indicated they have to work with.
It was a lot of work, but I loved the whole experience. The series was well received and reviews were positive. Now you should watch this space to see what happens next.
You can find every episode of Home almost on BBC iPlayer.