How To Give Your Home A Sense Of Thursday Murder Club Charm

With The Thursday Murder Club officially hitting the big and small screens, we’ve all been charmed by the quaint British vibe of Coopers Chase. While retirement homes tend to conjure up images of stuffy outdated interiors, Richard Osman’s world has proven that later life living can be luxurious too. Whether you’re in retirement or not, there’s much interiors inspiration to be pulled from The Thursday Murder Club’s cosy crime aesthetic. Want to know how to get the look in your own home? The interior design experts share their top tips.

Get The Look: The Thursday Murder Club Interiors

Sir Ben Kingsley, Helen Mirren & Pierce Brosnan in The Thursday Murder Club. (Giles Keyte/Netflix)

Cosy Crime Core

With autumn officially underway (Don’t believe me? Just look outside), it’s the perfect time to curl up by the fire with a cosy crime novel in hand. To infuse your home with that comforting granny chic feeling, Weaver Green founder Tasha Green suggests creating a warm and inviting space through plenty of layers, texture, colour and pattern. ‘Texture is your secret weapon,’ she says: ‘Combine soft, cosy throws with an array of cushions in different shapes and sizes that envelop you as you settle into your sofa.’ When layering, don’t shy away from mixing patterns. As Green explains, ‘An eclectic look that feels lovingly curated over time will ensure a space that not only looks layered but feels lived-in and loved. A room that wraps around you like a favourite coat: comforting, full of character, and uniquely yours.’ When crafting these layers, you need to ensure you’ve got the right colour palette in mind. To get that cosy Coopers Chase feel, Magdalena Gierasinska from Barker and Stonehouse recommends warm, muted base tones like creame, taupe and soft grey, punctuated with rich accent colours, emerald, navy and burgundy, to add depth and sophistication.

To perfect the aesthetic, accessories buyer at Furniture Village, Shelley Cochrane, advises thoughtfully curating accessories and lighting: ‘Books and quirky collectibles lend personality and a hint of mystery, while soft, layered lighting from table lamps, floor lamps, and subtle chandeliers ensures warmth without harshness. The overall effect is a cosy, eclectic environment that feels simultaneously sophisticated, lived-in, and perfectly suited to a secret club of amateur sleuths, every element telling its own story.’

Vispring

Another potentially overlooked element in achieving the sophisticated, luxury look are the windows dressings – or so says 247 Blinds products and trend manager Helen O’Connor. ‘One of the most noticeable features of each room of Coopers Chase is window dressings, thanks to the beautiful tall ceilings,’ she explains. ‘Layered window dressings are one of the easiest and most effective ways to embrace the granny chic style we see on the set as they allow you to bring in multiple patterns and colours.’

Exploring the various characters’ room designs, she notices how Ron opts for a more casual yellow roller blind with a pop of colour, whereas other apartments opt for Roman blinds paired with busy patterned curtains: ‘Prints from pattern-houses like William Morris are a sure way to recreate this style in your home, but other floral, blousy designs work just as well.’ As you’d expect of any good murder mystery there are many reading nooks created by the large, bay windows in Coopers Chase. ‘This is a great feature to add into your home if you’re lucky enough to have a large window area, allowing for view admiring and cosying up with a book during the autumnal months,’ she says.

Viciously Vintage

Granny chic doesn’t simply have to mean cutesy or twee, but rather an aesthetic which signals a life well lived. One of the key elements which made so many readers fall for Osman’s novels is his rich and well-rounded characters, giving a voice to the elderly whose fascinating stories are so often overlooked. While you may not have any mementos from your life as a former spy, any one who has successfully reached the ripe old age of the Coopers Chase residents will certainly have their own collection of storied objects. Whatever your age, to add a sense of history and narrative to your home, you need to look to vintage (whether pre-loved or items that have happened to mature to ‘vintage’ over time). 

As Rebecca Hughes of Rebecca Hughes Interiors explains, ‘Mixing furniture from a range of periods is a brilliant way to create a layered look, making a home feel like it has organically evolved over time. This juxtaposition offers the best of both worlds – the cosiness of traditional style and the crispness of contemporary design all in one harmonious space.’

As Green adds, it is the much-loved heirlooms, collected artworks and family treasures which really bring a room to life. ‘Don’t be afraid to mix the old with the new,’ she says, ‘a bold cushion can sit happily alongside a favourite vintage chair passed down through generations. It’s these unexpected juxtapositions that give a room its soul. Think of your home as a storybook, with each piece adding a new chapter, all set against a backdrop of joyful prints and tactile weaves.’

The Characters’ Apartments

When approaching the design for each of the characters’ rooms, production designer James Merrifield told us that he imagined Elizabeth in a ‘gold package’ room with ‘higher ceilings and grander architecture’ than the rest: think glamorous, elegant and regal. Her room is done up with ornate plasterwork, coving and elegant colours to create that perfectly sophisticated feel.

Michael Rolland from The Paint Shed explains that the high ceilings and generous proportions of Elizabeth’s apartment create the perfect canvas for her chosen blue and yellow shades: ‘Both colors complement each other perfectly, with blue bringing a sense of serenity and depth, while yellow injects that warm feeling and sense of happiness.’ To get the look for yourself, he recommends colour-drenching your space in a saturated shade (he recommends Farrow & Ball’s Inchyra Blue) and pairing it with an off-white such as Shaded White on the ceilings so as not to overwhelm the space. If, for example, you’re not quite ready for Elizabeth’s all-yellow kitchen, you can introduce the shade in more subtle ways through painted cabinets and coloured kitchen accessories.

Imagining Joyce and Ibrahim’s apartments to be in the ‘silver package’, Merrifield designed slightly smaller, cosier spaces. To get the look of Ibrahim’s room you need to think gentleman’s club – ‘Dark panelled wood, beautiful parquet floor, lots of books, lots of leather, studded green leather furniture,’ explains Merrifield. On the other end of the spectrum, Ron’s room is sports bar inspired in design: vintage sports posters, a home bar, and plenty of leather furniture. 

Of all the rooms in The Thursday Murder Club, however, Joyce’s is the most quitessentially granny: chintz and floral, cosy and quaint. ‘Joyce’s love for baking is certainly echoed in her home,’ notes Rolland, ‘where her interiors feel warm, inviting and definitely very English country.’ A perfect mix of Mary Berry and Laura Ashley, to get the look for yourself keep your eyes out for flowery wallpapers, scalloped lampshades (we spy a Pooky lamp in the background) and a mix of creamy tones, pastel pink accessories and soft green flooring.