“As a curator and design writer, I’m used to commenting on other people’s style and use of colour,” says Priya Khanchandani. “When it came to taking on the challenge of decorating my own home, I realised how difficult it can be.” Having contributed to titles including Frieze, The Observer and Wallpaper* and having held the position of head of curatorial at the Design Museum for more than two years, Priya is a trusted voice in her field and has become known for her work on South Asian culture in particular. (Her latest exhibition, ‘The Offbeat Sari’, opens at the Design Museum on 19 May.) Naturally, we were fascinated to pick her brains about a particularly heartfelt project: the curation of her home in Archway, north London.

The front door of Priya’s Victorian house makes a grand impression. It features beautiful original stained-glass detailing, which “forms a really interesting palette,” she says, admiring the jewel tones as they catch the light. So interesting, in fact, that “it inspired the way I painted the rest of the house,” from the combination of pale pink and lemon yellow, which plays out in the living room, to the bold contrast of bright blue and red in the stairwell. “It was important to me to devise a colour scheme that felt very personal,” Priya adds. “I think a home is really a place for individual expression.”

Priya’s aesthetic stems from one of her favourite design movements: postmodernism. She favours playful pieces such as a yellow 1970s-inspired chair in the living space, which her nephew uses as a climbing frame, to a graphic shelving unit in the dining area. When she was studying history of design at the Royal College of Art just over a decade ago, “Scandinavian design was all the rage,” she says. “Then when I began my career as a design journalist, minimalism was the highest level of sophistication.” But much to her delight, “that’s shifted recently – especially over the last five years – and I think that’s partly down to designers from different backgrounds drawing on their own cultural influences.”

Watch our latest film in which Priya gives us a tour of her home and picks out her seven favourite things about it, from a coffee table crafted by her grandfather to a print by Rachel Whiteread. Enjoy! And don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you never miss an episode.