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Ashley Hicks turned a former storage room in his Oxfordshire home into a theatrical bathroom, painting it with figures inspired by Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling and a faux-terra-cotta version of a Bertel Thorvaldsen frieze. The result is less a period reconstruction than a personal, immersive interior: classical imagery shares the walls with painted flowers, a terrazzo-like floor and sculptural resin-foam boulders around the bath. For painters and decorators, its lesson is that a room can bring art history into everyday life through painted surfaces, illusion and a strong point of view.
Hicks’s bathroom is memorable because it treats the room as a complete painted environment rather than a neutral backdrop for fixtures. Its hexagonal shape, imposing historical figures, faux materials and playful details all contribute to one idea: a private room can feel like stepping inside a story. The scheme is rooted in famous works of art, but its handmade and deliberately theatrical treatment keeps it personal.
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How did Ashley Hicks decorate his Oxfordshire home?
In the bathroom, Hicks transformed a former storage room into a richly painted interior. He placed figures based on Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling on the walls, including the Delphic Sibyl and the Prophet Ezekiel. Above them, he painted an interpretation of Bertel Thorvaldsen’s frieze depicting Alexander the Great’s triumphal entry into Babylon, giving it the appearance of terra-cotta. Painted flowers soften the classical subject matter, while the floor is painted to resemble terrazzo.
The decoration is not limited to the walls and floor. Hicks surrounded the bathtub with his signature resin-foam boulders, bringing sculptural forms into a room dominated by painted ones. The contrast matters: the figures and frieze create a strong visual narrative, while the boulders make the bath feel nestled within a constructed landscape. In Architectural Digest’s account of the room, Hicks describes the pleasure of reading in the bath under the gaze of the painted figures: “I love to read in the bath, being glared at by these stern apparitions.”
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That comment gets at the room’s unusual balance. The imagery is grand and serious in origin, yet it appears in a domestic setting associated with rest and routine. The stern figures are not merely references to canonical art; they become part of the room’s personality. Flowers and faux finishes keep that personality from becoming solemn or museum-like.
What is in the Renaissance bathroom?
The bathroom brings together four distinct kinds of decoration: borrowed art-historical imagery, painted imitations of other materials, botanical accents and sculptural fabrication. They work as a coordinated scheme rather than as isolated features.
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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minute- Figures from Michelangelo: Hicks painted the Delphic Sibyl and the Prophet Ezekiel, among other figures inspired by the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
- A painted classical frieze: Above the figures is a version of Thorvaldsen’s scene of Alexander the Great entering Babylon, painted to suggest terra-cotta.
- Flowers and faux terrazzo: Painted flowers bring a garden note into the classical composition; the floor has a painted terrazzo effect.
- Resin-foam boulders: These sculptural forms surround the bathtub and add a tactile, constructed-landscape element.
Each feature changes how the others read. The frieze extends the room’s historical references upward; the flowers offer a contrasting, more intimate motif; and the painted floor gives the room another layer of illusion. The bath and boulders anchor the ensemble in contemporary domestic use. The point is not that every surface has to carry a different effect, but that Hicks uses several treatments to make a compact room feel composed and inhabited.
Why does the room feel theatrical rather than like a period recreation?
Hicks takes historical material as a starting point, not a strict decorating rulebook. Michelangelo and Thorvaldsen supply recognizable visual sources, but the bathroom does not simply reproduce a Renaissance interior. It relocates those references to a modern private room and surrounds them with flowers, a painted floor and hand-built forms.
The faux-terra-cotta treatment is a good example of that distinction. The frieze is a painted interpretation that evokes the appearance of a material, rather than a claim that the room contains an original architectural fragment. Likewise, the terrazzo effect is painted, and the bath is framed by resin-foam boulders. The visual language suggests history, stone and sculpture, while the actual room depends on painting and fabrication to make those associations.
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This approach also makes the space more personal than a straightforward homage. The imagery is filtered through Hicks’s taste for strong visual statements and eccentric references. The bathroom is not an attempt to make a modern home disappear into the past; it lets the past become part of a singular, playful domestic setting.
What can painters learn from Hicks’s use of mural and faux finish?
The most useful lesson is to decide what the painted room is meant to do before choosing individual motifs. Hicks’s bathroom has a clear premise: make a former storage room into an immersive setting for bathing and reading. The figures, frieze, flowers and faux finishes all contribute to that premise. A mural becomes more convincing as part of a room when its subject, scale and surrounding surfaces have a reason to belong together.
For a smaller or less ambitious project, that does not mean copying the bathroom’s density. Instead, borrow its method of building a visual hierarchy:
- Choose one dominant statement. It might be a mural, a trompe-l’oeil architectural detail or a painted floor. Decide what should draw attention first.
- Use secondary motifs to change the mood. Hicks’s flowers soften the classical imagery. In another room, a simpler border or a restrained botanical detail could play a similar balancing role.
- Make the surface effects support the subject. A faux finish works best when it reinforces the room’s idea, as the terra-cotta-like frieze does here, rather than appearing as a disconnected novelty.
- Consider what the room is for. Hicks’s painted figures become part of the experience of bathing and reading. Think about the view from the doorway, from the place where someone sits, or from the position where the room’s main activity happens.
These are design decisions, not a prescription for a particular paint brand or technique. The available data documents the visual results but does not specify the paint formulations, preparatory systems, protective coatings or working methods used in the bathroom. Those details should not be guessed from photographs. For a real bathroom mural or painted floor, confirm that the chosen products and finish are appropriate for the room’s conditions with the manufacturer or a qualified decorative painter.
How can I get an Ashley Hicks-inspired interior without copying the bathroom?
Borrow the principles rather than reproducing the exact imagery. Hicks’s work combines bold historical references with hand fabrication, strong pattern and personal details. You can apply that combination at a smaller scale by pairing one assertive painted feature with simpler surrounding surfaces and an object or motif that reflects the room’s own story.
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Scale is especially useful. In an interview with Livingetc, Hicks advises varying pattern scale and mixing modern pieces with older designs. Applied to a painted room, that means a large, dominant image need not be matched with equally loud pattern everywhere else. A smaller flower, a less busy textile or an unpatterned surface can give the eye a pause. The contrast lets the main painted gesture remain legible.
Hicks’s own history suggests that confidence matters more than conventional rules. Livingetc reports that at age 15 he decorated his Oxfordshire farmhouse bedroom with black walls, a black ceiling and black carpet, set against white furniture. That early scheme was an emphatic choice, not a cautious accent wall. The lesson is not that every room should be black or maximalist; it is that a clear idea, carried through with intention, can make a space distinctive.
To keep a personal interpretation from becoming a replica, start with a reference that has meaning to you: a landscape, a book, a local building, a collection or a subject you would enjoy seeing every day. Then decide how much of the room should participate. A single mural panel can make a statement without turning every wall into a picture. Alternatively, a room-wide scheme can feel coherent if the imagery, floor and furnishings share a visual logic.
How does Ashley Hicks’s style relate to David Hicks?
Ashley Hicks works in the legacy of his father, the celebrated British decorator David Hicks, but his interiors are not simply extensions of his father’s approach. The shared ground is a taste for bold pattern and strong color. Ashley’s work adds a pronounced interest in asymmetrical trompe-l’oeil, hand-built sculpture, historical narratives and eccentric personal references, including portraits of his chickens.
That mix makes the Oxfordshire bathroom a useful example of inheritance and reinvention. Its historical images and decorative confidence connect it to a broader tradition of assertive interiors, while its painted illusions and resin-foam boulders show a more handmade, narrative-minded sensibility. The room’s character comes from the combination, not from any one historical citation.
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Hicks’s official biography describes a practice that extends beyond interiors. After training at the Architectural Association, he created furniture, textiles, carpets, wallpaper, mirrors and Totem sculptures. Since 2012, he has made furniture and decorative objects by hand in his Oxfordshire studio, including carved and gilded furniture, painted-resin mirror frames, and sculpture in resin, clay and gilt bronze. His official biography and selection of interiors show how the painted room fits within a broader practice of designing and making objects for spaces.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What other rooms show Hicks’s approach to history and decoration?
The Oxfordshire bathroom is one vivid expression of a wider interest in historical settings and imaginative interpretation. Coverage of Hicks’s book Rooms with a History: Interiors and Their Inspirations describes an Oxfordshire Octagon Library framed by carved “giant-trousered librarians,” as well as a country living room with a carpet inspired by old terrazzo floors in Venice. These examples share the bathroom’s willingness to turn historical or architectural references into unusual, highly specific domestic experiences.
They also show why the bathroom should not be reduced to a formula such as “use a Renaissance mural.” Hicks’s work can involve carved furniture, textiles, sculpture, painted surfaces or a room organized around a striking image. The common thread is an interior that carries a story and allows different forms of making to contribute to it.
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For readers who want a fuller view of his interiors and their sources, Rooms with a History: Interiors and Their Inspirations is the clearest book recommendation in the available coverage. House & Garden’s coverage of the book discusses rooms and influences, while the Rizzoli Fall 2019 catalog lists the title. The catalog is a publication record, not a reliable indication of current stock or edition availability.
What makes the Oxfordshire bathroom a useful case study in painted interiors?
It demonstrates that decorative painting can do more than add color. A painted surface can establish a subject, suggest another material, alter the perceived character of a room and link one part of the scheme to another. Here, murals introduce recognizable narratives, the frieze evokes terra-cotta, and the floor refers to terrazzo. Meanwhile, sculptural boulders give the bath an environment of its own.
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The room is also a reminder that a historical reference need not be treated reverently to be meaningful. Hicks keeps the source imagery visible, but he makes it serve a contemporary domestic space. The result is neither a neutral bathroom decorated with antique-looking pictures nor a literal reconstruction of a historical interior. It is a painted, fabricated environment with a clear authorial voice.
For painters, the practical takeaway is to plan for the full experience of the room: the first view, the close-up details and the way the space is used. A mural may be the largest gesture, but its relationship to the floor, objects, light and activity determines whether it feels integrated. Hicks’s bathroom makes that relationship its subject.
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What book should I read to see more of Ashley Hicks’s interiors?
Rooms with a History: Interiors and Their Inspirations is the most direct starting point identified in coverage of his work. House & Garden’s feature gives a sense of the rooms and historical references discussed in the book.
Did Ashley Hicks paint the bathroom himself?
The available descriptions identify Hicks as the designer and describe the painted elements, but they do not establish who executed every part of the mural or floor. It is safest to credit the room’s design and imagery to Hicks without assuming details about the production team.
Can a mural or painted floor be used in any bathroom?
Not every paint system or finish is appropriate for every bathroom, and the available account of Hicks’s room does not name its products or protective treatments. Check the manufacturer’s instructions for the specific room conditions and seek advice from a decorative painter before committing to a surface treatment.
Where can I see Ashley Hicks’s other interiors?
His official site has a selection of interiors, and House & Garden has published coverage of his rooms and book. Those sources offer broader examples than the single Oxfordshire bathroom.
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