Lighting

For most people successful decorating in the style involves borrowing occasional details. Gothick decorative accessories are readily available. Lighting in particular lends itself to the style: whimsical metal lanterns and wall lights are available from Vaughans or Charles Edwards.

These are available in a variety of finishes including brass, verdegris or flat paint. The thinness of most modern metalwork translates itself successfully into "cardboard Gothick" patterns. Even Puginesque brass church candlesticks when taken out of their ecclesiastical context have a certain panache and are readily available from the antique trade.

Wallpaper

David Skinner has reproduced a charming early 19th-century Gothick wallpaper from Malahide Castle; it is in the form of a grisaille arcade and can be small enough to fill a dado or made tall enough to cover an entire wall. Meanwhile, Gothick textiles are available from Watts & Co, Colefax and Percheron.

Paints

Historical sympathy rather than accuracy is called for in order to maintain a certain sprightliness in Gothick interiors. Grisaille and pastel colours, perhaps highlighted with a touch of gilt, should be chosen. Ceiling or wall plaster details can be picked out in two shades of grey/white, e.g. Farrow & Ball "Lime White" No 1 and "Off White" No 3. Wall colours may be chosen from the palest shades of the Farrow & Ball colour chart and should be cut by at least one-quarter with "Ivory" (BS 10.b.15) in order to maintain the subtlety.

Floor Coverings

Coir or sisal floor coverings are not only youthful and economic but have a certain medieval appropriateness given their kinship to rush matting. If a patterned wool carpet is a prerequisite, choose one with a small fleur-de-lis repeating pattern or a needlework rug with an ecclesiastical touch, sometimes available from Vaughans.

Furnishings

Even Gothick antiques - bookcases or dining chairs - are still obtainable. Redundant churches have produced a wealth of architectural salvage. Generally they are made of pitch pine and are rather coarse to use in their original state. Pews used as kitchen benches, altar rails as banisters, even pulpits as bars - paint them in cream or shades of stone and immediately the dour Victorian feel is replaced.

Cornicing

Cornices with Gothick detailing are available from some specialist plaster suppliers. Fitted bookcases can have quatrefoil panels, crenellated cornices or glazing with the thinnest Gothick fenestration.

Gardens

Touches of Gothick can transform the contemporary garden. Gothick metal seats, planters, window boxes and the odd salvaged corbel which will transform a suburban terrace into a "hallowed" cloister.