Love shack: 10 tips for seduction

Console table in hallway
Make your hallway entice with this chic console table (£345)
© Lombok

Strangely, leopard–print sheets and shag–pile carpets don't persuade everyone to part with their undergarments. Most of us are more responsive to subtlety. So, if you're hoping that dinner date might lead to breakfast, make your home irresistible and you will be too.

1. Lure them in...

A hallway gives a glimpse to your character so make sure it gives off the right message. Strategically place good books on the stairs (it says 'clever'), invitations on a console table (they say 'popular'), and framed photos of you looking gorgeous that your date can't fail to clock. But what happens when they get a little further into your lair?

  • Scented Candle Jar Scented Candle

    2. Use invisible powers

    Think fresh flowers or fragrant plants, room sprays and scented candles, such as the Candle scented candle jar (£12.99) from Amazon. Smell memory is housed in your brain’s limbic system, which controls emotional and sexual responses, and research shows that memories evoked by smell are especially emotional. Set the right mood these fragrances: jasmine, tuberose, rose, and cinnamon.

  • Henley Cosy Chair

    3. Make it cosy

    'Studies show that Swedish women (rated the hottest by European men) make eye contact 95 per cent of the time, and stand six or seven inches closer during conversation than most other European women,' explains body–language expert Peter Clayton. So, confine your date to an intimate space. A two–seater sofa, such as the Henley cosy chair (£699) from The Cotswold Company is perfect.

  • 50"s-Style Angled Sideboard

    4. Show you're the fairest of them all

    Add some luxury and dynamism into your living room or bedroom with mirrors. This 1950s–style Angled Sideboard (£945) from Graham & Green is spot on the boudoir look and will help you show off your best angle to the max.

  • Clarissa Hulse Dates Cushion

    5. Create a sensuous space

    Alert all his/her senses with romantic music and tactile, contrasting textures. This gold silk dates cushion (£47) from Abode Living looks great alongside rough pebbles and bare floorboards, with soft, thick rugs (the proverbial shag pile). Try the gorgeous Double Sheepskin Rug (£59) from Marks & Spencer.

  • Alessi Cactus Fruit Bowl

    6. Fill your fruit bowl strategically

    Chuck out the browning bananas and instead pile bowls full of pomegranates on the table or sideboard – the fruits are a symbol for fertility. We love the Alessi Cactus Fruit Bowl (£48) from John Lewis. Or as an alternative to pomegranates, try figs – there's nothing more plump, soft and teeth-sinkingly juicy than a ripe fig.

  • Loop base table lamp

    7. Dim the lights

    Overhead lighting is far too harsh for intimate exchanges and not flattering to the complexion, so it has to be candelight. This Jet Loop base table lamp (£19.95) from Dwell is sensuously curvaceous and will cast a moody glow over your home. It's price belies it's power! Install dimmer switches for extra impact.
  • Indian White Metal Coffee Table

    8. Pick the perfect dining location

    'Try low-seat exotic pouffes and a simple table arranged in a location other than the dining room. Go for the Embossed White Coffee Table (£225) from Graham & Green to create intimacy between the two of you. Place your table near a window or by the fire,' says designer William Yeoward.

  • Bamboo Collection Metallic Decorative Platter, Red

    9. Engineer foreplay at dinner

    Dietician Nigel Denby's top foods for seduction include 'delicious asparagus tips; big, fat strawberries or soft raspberries; artichokes in delicious extra–virgin olive oil; or messy, juicy olives that you can feed each other.' Choose dishes you can share, in the form of antipasti, mezze or tapas and serve them on this ruby red bamboo platter (£15) from John Lewis.
  • Grey washed carved screen

    10. Prepare the boudoir

    Keep the door to the bedroom slightly (and suggestively) ajar. Something silky draped provocatively over the back of a chair or bed sets the tone. Make the bed inviting, says homes author Lizzie O'Prey: 'Try faux fur and cushions; lots of layers.' Disrobe behind this slightly transparent Ludovica laser cut screen (£190) from Lombok , to further heighten expectations...

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Harry

Harry

Posted | 11th March

Brilliant! - and from personal experience, lighting is the key.

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