With over 8 years’ experience working on a broad variety of residential properties across West London, Surrey, Sussex and Buckinghamshire, Leoma Harper is extremely passionate in transforming homes into elegant and stylish functional spaces, that offer a timeless longevity to enjoy for years to come. Whether it’s a full makeover from start to finish or a few tweaks to get everything just right. Leoma strongly believes that a beautiful timeless space is accessible to everyone. Leoma has won the Best of Houzz service award for 5 consecutive years and prides herself in capturing her clients dreams, breathing new life into their homes. 

Describing her style as a classic mix of timeless elegance, Leoma set up Style the Clutter in 2017 after completing a course in Interior Design at Racc, a subject she has always been passionate about.  Prior to her interior focus Leoma studied at The London College of Fashion for her degree in Fashion Marketing and then worked in PR for 8 years, after which, she set up Harpers Bloom, designing floral displays for many gorgeous events. These have included venues such as Harrods, The Sanderson, The Shard and Hampton Court Palace. So not only can she make your a beautiful she can also fill it with flowers!

1. Could you tell us how your journey into interior design started?

It all started when we moved home 10 years ago, we spend 3 months doing up the new home, friends saw what I was doing and asked if I could come and help them with their homes! Before I knew it, I had clients on repeat, so decided to study for a Diploma in Interior Design, to develop my skill set. As a child I was always doing up my bedroom, moving things around, painting etc, so I suppose it did start at a  young age and was always there.

2. Do you think there has been a defining moment in your career?

It started with individual rooms and more recently has progressed to working on entire homes, when complete, these definitely give me a great sense of achievement. I have also won HOUZZ pro for 5 consecutive years now. However the best sense of achievement is happy clients and wonderful reviews.

3. What do you think is the key to a successful interior design? And in your business in general?

I think the key is understanding your client, really focussing on their requirements and translating this into something beautiful. I always do an in depth consultation finding out exactly what clients like/dislike and I find it really helpful looking around the full house to get a feel of their character. Also understand the space, light, layout and best colours to work in it.

I always start with the practicalities and clients requirements, formulating a brief, followed by going through colour charts to see what my client gravitates too. I find this helps me understand their character and the mood they are trying to achieve.

5. How would you define your signature style? Do you have “a mantra” that encapsulates your taste in design?

I would say classic/timeless, though I do also like to mix styles a bit, for example adding a bit of mid century into a more classic setting or some antique pieces into a more modern space. My eye is always drawn towards New England, French and Scandi styles, which influence my style.

6. What are your 3 favorite pieces from the Philia Collection?

7.  Could you tell us about one of the favorite projects that you worked on?

I love working on period properties, one of my favourites was a Victorian villa. It needed complete gutting and a lot of the period features were missing. I loved bringing these features back into this home bringing it back to its former glory while sympathetically adding a kitchen extension to the kitchen/dining areas.

8. If you could pick one interior design tip that is important to you, what would it be? 

Choosing the right colour for the walls can be tricky, you want to choose a complimentary shade for the natural lighting aspect of the space.  I always advise getting sample pots and painting large patches on the lightest and the darkest walls in the room rather than just on sheets of paper, this will give you a real feel for the true colour and show how the natural light affects the shade.

9. What was the best advice you have received in your path?

Always start with the practicals and function of the room before the aesthetics.

10. What would be your advice to beginner interior designers?

Think beyond trends and more about the clients taste/lifestyle for a design that lasts. 

11. What was one of the hardest learned lessons in your journey?

Be prepared for items to be delayed or out of stock and have back ups just in case. This was extremely tricky during the pandemic, so many items were unavailable, it took a lot longer to complete projects.

12. Finally, what are your upcoming projects? Anything you’d like to share or add to the interview?

I have quite a few near completion, one is a beautiful Georgian house in the countryside I can’t wait to complete, we created and orangery style extension for the the dining room and kitchen with a very large pantry, all starting to look beautiful together. A lot of new exciting projects in the pipeline too. I have just been designing 5 rooms for a local Victorian villa.

Thank you so much Leoma for this interview!

All architecture images by Chris Snook