Matthews Rea Interiors

Matthews Rea Interiors Matthews Rea is an award winning interior design studio based in Surrey, and Hampshire. The Company

I'm an interior designer working in Portsmouth, on the South Coast of England. With experience in designing interiors of luxury houses and apartments, I also undertake commercial design projects, including show homes for developers, beauty therapists and gentleman's grooming, restaurants and small hotels. 3D visuals and animations can be produced in-house.

For 200 years, British homes were designed against the cold. The materials on my desk this morning are quietly redesigni...
23/06/2026

For 200 years, British homes were designed against the cold. The materials on my desk this morning are quietly redesigning them — for the heat.
Lime plaster. Travertine. Oak. Loose linen. Pale paint.
These look like decisions made for their beauty. However, they're thermal specifications dressed as tasteful options.
Lime plaster absorbs and releases heat across the day. Travertine acts as a small heat sink in south-facing rooms. Pale linen holds less heat than heavy velvet. The shift to lighter, slower, more mineral interiors that's defined the last few years isn't only a trend correction — it's a quiet response to summers our houses weren't built for. AS much as I love the dark and moody - where is its place moving forward?
Since the 40°C summer of 2022, the brief has been changing, but the houses haven't changed. The climate around them has.
The clients still asking about insulation are asking the wrong question. The more urgent conversation is shading. How are you coping with the heat?

Four things you won't catch us specifying in a living room — and why each one quietly works against the room.The common ...
05/06/2026

Four things you won't catch us specifying in a living room — and why each one quietly works against the room.
The common thread? Every one of them comes down to planning how a space will actually be lived in before deciding how it should look. Get the configuration, the light and the flow right, and the beautiful part takes care of itself.
Which have you seen one too many times? Tell us below

Planning a living room that gets it right? Let's talk — link in bio.

Three things we would never specify in a bedroom — and why.After kitchens and bathrooms, you asked for bedrooms. So here...
29/05/2026

Three things we would never specify in a bedroom — and why.
After kitchens and bathrooms, you asked for bedrooms. So here we are.
The bedroom is the one room that should feel genuinely considered — not assembled from a catalogue, not lit like an operating theatre, not interrupted by a black screen staring back at you from the wall.

These are a few things we steer every client away from.

Swipe to see them all — and confess your bedrooms sins below!!


22/05/2026

We spent the day at Clerkenwell Design Week — CDW’s 15th edition and honestly one of its best yet. Three days, 450+ brands, and an EC1 buzzing with energy from showroom to street installation. From the striking Design Interventions dotted across the neighbourhood to the Luxury Edit at Haberdashers’ Hall, there was so much to take in. It’s one of those events that reminds you exactly why we do what we do — the materiality, the craft, the conversations. Inspiration is fully replenished. Ready for the weekend!!

20/05/2026

Always a treat doing something a little out of the ordinary what a wonderful start to the day Clerkenwell Design Week! Lovely ladies, beautiful flowers and a wonderful showroom so many. We got to take our efforts home. Thank you !

Chelsea opens in two weeks. For designers, it's not a gardening show — it's a two-year leading indicator for interiors.T...
16/05/2026

Chelsea opens in two weeks. For designers, it's not a gardening show — it's a two-year leading indicator for interiors.
Three things I'm already drawing into schemes from the 2026 line-up:
Traditional crafts & wetland materials — rush matting, woven fibres, plasters with real aggregate. Texture is doing the heavy lifting for 2027.

East Asian quietness, properly interpreted — mossy greens, restrained palettes, sculptural focal points. A move away from maximalism.

Sanctuary as the brief — rooms specified for how they make you feel, not how they photograph.

Watching Chelsea with a designer's eye is half the job. The other half is being brave enough to specify it twelve months before everyone else catches up.
What are you watching for this year?

Three things we would not suggest you specify in a bathroom — and what we'd do instead.After years designing high-end ba...
14/05/2026

Three things we would not suggest you specify in a bathroom — and what we'd do instead.
After years designing high-end bathrooms, with 42 in a year once, some choices still make us wince, because they're so rarely executed well.
— Basic white glossy subway mosaics. Once a confident classic. Now the default for every developer. If you love white tile (and we do), there are some lovely alternative options out there.
— A mirrored vanity front. On show, always. constantly showing the finger prints, and there's no shortage of more interesting alternatives.
— A freestanding bath squeezed into a small room. The bath isn't the problem. The proportions are.

These aren't rules. They're the kind of things that get quietly edited out in the early stages of a project — before a client ever has to live with a decision they'll regret.

What's your bathroom dealbreaker? Drop it in the comments.

Planning your bathroom? Let's talk. 👇

13/05/2026

Ok ok, Im sure many of you probably know about this spot but it’s new to me and that’s what matters! I do love a place that’s squirrelled away in the lower ground floor! Do go and visit, if you can walk past the lovely things in the Dunhill store upstairs.

coffee

Three things we would never specify in a kitchen! after over 20 years of designing them, we have learned that the most b...
07/05/2026

Three things we would never specify in a kitchen!
after over 20 years of designing them, we have learned that the most beautiful kitchen on Pinterest is not always the kitchen your love living in .

So here are three, we politely talk our clients out of :
- High gloss handleless cabinets
- Open shelving above the hob
- Recessed downlights as the only light source

Swipe through for our full reasoning. Save it for your next renovation! And then most importantly, tell us what you’d add to the list?

If you are planning a kitchen of your own and you’d like some help, DM us. We’d love a brief.

Lauren, Louise and the team .

Address

Vine House, 41 Portsmouth Road
Cobham
KT111JQ

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 6pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 6pm
Wednesday 8:30am - 6pm
Thursday 8:30am - 6pm
Friday 8:30am - 6pm

Telephone

+441932212646

Website

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