Welcome to the house of fun

The best homes aren’t necessarily the most expensive. In fact, having too much cash to splash around can cause serious internal issues.

Money can kill creativity and we all know it doesn’t buy good taste, but worst of all, it can result in an interior that is sterile and takes itself far too seriously.

A successful home is one that makes you smile, which is why introducing whimsy, nostalgia and humour is crucial.

One of the best ways to bring happy memories to mind is with photographs of places and people you love. Pictures of locations – be it a beach you’d love to lie on or a hill you’d like to climb – are recommended by psychologists, who suggest looking at the image and imagining yourself there to give respite in times of stress.

It’s also good to have items around that you’ve inherited or been given by someone special. My old bureau looks a little out of place in my hallway, but my much-loved grandfather left it to me and it reminds me of him. What makes me smile most is the fact he would be horrified to see it bursting with an eclectic jumble of ancient bank statements, half-used rolls of sticky tape and old cards.

My most recent favourite is the Steptoe and Son album cover found by a friend in a charity shop. It’s stuck to the back of the cleaning cupboard door and makes me laugh before I’m forced to tackle some domestic drudgery.

The above are all quite personal and for those in the know, so it’s nice to have items that brings a smile to visitors’ faces too.

One of my latest acquisitions is a fake and feathered snowy owl from Brindleys of Harrogate, who sits on top of my piano next to a hand-painted pebble mouse. He’s a winner with visiting adults and children. But if you prefer to keep frivolity low key, you can always confine it to the smallest room in the house. One of the best loos I’ve ever seen was wallpapered in comics bringing a new meaning to toilet humour.

Words and phrases are a good way of adding a bit of fun and they’re very fashionable. Rob Ryan’s papercuts accompanied by phrases such as “you can still do a lot with a small brain” are wonderful (visit www.misterrob.co.uk) and the poster above declaring it is “Time to drink champagne and dance on the table” is one of the Contemporary Home’s best sellers.

Robin Silver of The Home store at Salts Mill, Saltaire, says products with a story, are what make him smile the most. One of his favourite’s is the Good Grips potato peeler, which has a place in the Design Museum.

“It was commissioned by a man who retired early and was forced to help his wife round the house. One of his jobs was peeling potatoes because his wife had arthritis. He wanted to have something comfortable she could use. “It just makes me smile that he went to all that trouble to get out of peeling the potatoes. So it’s not the object that’s funny, it’s the story behind it.”

One of The Home store’s best-loved products is the wooden monkey designed by Kay Bojesen and produced by Copenhagen-based Rosendahl. “He’s such a happy looking fellow and always smiling. The designer was a friend of Arne Jacobsen and lived at Jacobsen’s Buena Vista housing development in Copenhagen, but he thought the architecture was too severe, so he softened it with a balcony full of plants and flowers with a monkey in them. It’s been a very popular design and it’s amazing how many people have one,” says Robin, who also has a soft spot for tin robots.

“They remind me of the first humanoid robot ever built by a 19-year-old who created one from a crashed Wellington bomber 45 years ago. It was all very Wallace and Gromit and in fact Nick Parks tracked the man down only to find he still had the robot, fully working, in his garage. It is called George.”

ROU’RE HAVING A LAUGH

* Smiling is good for you:

It can trick the body into helping you change your mood.

* Smiling is infectious:

When someone is smiling they change the atmosphere of a room and the mood of others around them.

* Smiling makes you feel better:

It releases endorphins, natural pain killers, and serotonin flooding you with feel good factor.

* Smiling makes you look better:

It really does light up your face and your eyes, making you more attractive. It takes 43 facial muscles to frown and only 17 to smile.