These six gorgeous homes, from vampires to Victoriana, represent the best in gothic interior design inspiration.
Featuring dramatic architecture, odd décor and swathes of black and blood-red furnishings, each house is a unique labour of love crafted to suit the tastes of its eccentric owner.
If you love a touch of the macabre or have a creepy home yourself, click or scroll to explore these gloriously gothic houses...
Artist, designer and photographer Lady Vamp has accrued an impressive Instagram following for her account @ladyvampmanor, where she showcases her impeccable eye for all things gothic.
Elegant yet eerie, Lady Vamp, seen here with her wonderful partner, creates spaces characterised by a combination of Victorian furnishings, antique ornaments and some Halloween-inspired finishing touches.
This glamorous bedroom would be any witch’s dream place to end the day. The ornately carved dark wood headboard is backed by heavy black drapes and framed by two candelabras perched on matching gold-painted nightstands.
Soft furnishings are printed in elegant orange and black Victorian-inspired patterns, but a cute bat accent pillow keeps the room playful and cosy.
A Tudor-style chair and a fabulous witch’s broom finish off the space.
All of Lady Vamp’s interiors are rich with gothic detail. Just take a peek at this fabulous black curiosity cabinet, which looks straight out of an 18th-century apothecary’s shop, and is packed with antique books, prints, and, of course, the odd skull.
Perched atop the cabinet, two ravens look out over the living room and its collection of carefully collected ornaments, which include an old phonograph and a vintage camera.
In Lady Vamp’s manor, even the holidays get a haunting makeover. We love this Halloween-themed Christmas tree, overflowing with black feather boas, white roses, cobwebs and leopard-print baubles.
Just behind the tree, the fabulous antique grandfather clock sports a steampunk top hat and goggles, and a rickety shelf hosts a collection of creepy dolls you wouldn’t expect Santa to deliver!
No gothic home is complete without a well-stocked library. We spy a beautiful copy of Dracula we'd love to curl up with. Lady Vamp’s library is just another opportunity to show off her exquisite taste in gothic furnishings, with a huge dark leather sofa complementing those built-in bookshelves.
Doubling up as storage, the glass-topped coffee table looks like it's filled with more spooky items...
With a Beetlejuice-inspired black and white striped table, matching black chairs and a coffin-shaped bookshelf (no doubt stuffed with spooky recipes!), Lady Vamp’s dining room does not disappoint.
Enjoy a fabulous feast by the light of the ornate candelabra in the centre of the table, which, along with a skull, rests on a coffin-shaped serving platter…and a doily! The aesthetic is simply to die for.
Katherine Von Drachenberg, known professionally as Kat Von D, rose to fame in 2005 with the release of the TV series Miami Ink, followed by her own spinoff, LA Ink, which covered her career as a tattoo artist in Hollywood.
Quick to capitalise on her acquired celebrity, Kat went on to launch her own vegan cosmetics company, as well as a tertiary career as a recording artist, ultimately accruing a $20 million (£15m) fortune.
Kat Von D has long been renowned for her dramatic flair and glamorous goth look. It should come as no great surprise, therefore, that her LA mansion is a gothic masterpiece.
Though Kat has parted ways with the property, having placed it on the market in January of 2022 for $15 million (£11.2m) according to property site Realtor, the home required a very special buyer who could embrace her spooky signature style. More on the sale later...
With her earnings, Kat purchased this historic Victorian mansion in November of 2016 for $6.5 million (£5.1m). The property, which boasts a Queen Anne-style turret, dates back to 1896, and was used as the filming location for the 2003 film, Cheaper by the Dozen.
However, the mansion is no longer recognisable as the wholesome family home featured in the movie, instead boasting a gothic Victoriana-inspired interior that would be any vamp’s dream.
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The sprawling 12,565-square-foot (1,167sqm) home features dark wood panelling, blood-red carpets, and austere Victorian furniture throughout.
The home’s original details, including carved wooden panelling, stained glass windows and dramatic crown moulding, have been meticulously preserved, and are enhanced by Kat’s own additions in the form of plush furnishings, drapes and the occasional splash of gold paint.
The master bedroom is particularly sumptuous, featuring an ornate fireplace, red and gold wallpaper, dramatic red velvet drapes, and a gold-painted ceiling.
Next door, the adjoining master bathroom is a celebration of black marble and gold detailing, a gloriously gothic place to unwind. In addition to the primary suite, the home boasts 10 more bedrooms and seven baths, each with its own unique style and decadent theme.
Though the house’s facade was cream when Kat purchased it, the artist quickly painted it a deep crimson, and even dyed the pool blood-red to match! However, despite all its gothic glamour, the home struggled to find a buyer, finally securing one after a massive price cut down to $7.8 million (£6.1m).
American gossip website TMZ reported that the buyer was Tyler Cassity, owner of the iconic Hollywood Forever Cemetery on Santa Monica Boulevard. Cassity runs yoga classes among the graves, so he won't be freaked out by the gothic house and macabre décor!
Musician, singer, and gothic interior expert, Aurelio Voltaire has been dubbed the ‘Martha Stewart for macabre homemakers’ by the American paper the New York Times.
Though a full-time professional performer, Voltaire carves out plenty of time for his ‘Gothic Homemaking’ YouTube series, in which he walks viewers through the many ways to make their spaces gloriously ghoulish, whatever the season.
Inside ‘The Lair of Voltaire’, the musician’s East Village studio apartment, it’s Halloween all year round, but always with ‘tasteful’ design elements that can be put to daily use. Bats, skulls and flickering candles are prominent motifs, as are Victorian-inspired prints, largely in shades of black and purple.
"I want people to walk into my home and think a real vampire lives here, as opposed to a fan of vampire movies lives here," Voltaire told the New York Times. He frequently shares updates to his home, like this one of his newly renovated kitchen, on Instagram.
Packed with knick-knacks and ornaments, Voltaire’s living room resembles a Victorian parlour as decorated by a vampire. If you look closely, you can pick out the skulls carved into the ornately embellished black throne, hand-carved in Indonesia, from which Voltaire frequently holds court in his YouTube episodes.
Skulls also feature prominently on ornaments throughout the room, including the large silver candelabra and the oversized lanterns which give the room a ghoulish glow.
While it is hard for the eye to find any place to rest in this intensely ornamented space, the room’s focal point is the large gallery wall behind the Victorian settee.
Gothic decals, floating silver shelves bearing candles and still more skulls, a large Victorian-style portrait of a woman, and an entire flock of taxidermied ravens adorn the wall, giving the impression that the room is full of watchful eyes.
With all of Voltaire’s designs, the devil is in the details, so to speak.
While his overarching style is certainly spooky in the extreme, small accents, like this tasteful coffin cupboard, keep his designs creative, original and yet distinctly gothic.
"People think it costs a lot of money to be goth," Voltaire told the New York Times. "As long as you’re wearing all black, you’re already three-quarters of the way there."
Such is his passion for gothic décor, Aurelio has even written a book featuring over 200 pages of dark DIY projects (plus some creepy food and drink recipes) in his book Gothic Life - The Essential Guide to Macabre Style!
A self-professed lover of all things pagan and gothic, Sam has turned her home into a haunted haven full of homages to her favourite spooky films.
She shares her interior designs on her Instagram and has acquired a large following of fans who share her love of all things Nightmare Before Christmas.
A black velvet tufted bed frame and a Ouija board bedspread? Yes please!
Sam's spooky bedroom also features an assortment of adorably macabre throw pillows, a crescent moon-shaped curio case and some wonderfully witchy art.
Every detail is perfectly coordinated, right down to the custom silver skull drawer pulls on the dresser.
Gothic meets glam in this stylish dressing table, which brings a splash of colour into the otherwise monochromatic space with a pop of fuchsia pink.
An assortment of coffin-shaped trinket boxes, crystals and dripping candles adorn the table, and a clawed ring stand makes the perfect place to discard your occult jewellery at the end of the day.
We especially love the pink tentacled skull plant pot.
Sam keeps things modern in the dining room with this stylish glass-topped table, but the cobweb lace runner and black candelabra will leave guests with little doubt that they are in a goth home.
More candelabras adorn the side table along with an obligatory skull or two, and an ornate black crystal chandelier hangs over the table.
Sam's kitchen is the perfect place to cook up a witch's brew. Complete with Jack Skellington dish towels, cobweb floor mats, ghost-shaped coffee canisters and storage jars with bat motifs, this kitchen has it all.
We particularly enjoy the kettle cosy in the shape of the mayor's head from Nightmare Before Christmas.
Like most of our gothic interior experts, Sam has kitted out her living spaces with plenty of gothic ornaments.
From crystals to skull-shaped diffusers and mysterious occult symbols, this side table is a pagan's paradise.
While Beverly Hills may not strike you as a hotspot for gothic design, this spectacular 15,000-square-foot (1,393sqm) estate in the Mulholland Corridor begs to differ.
Originally constructed by entrepreneur David Gebbia and his now ex-wife, Carlton, of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills fame, the house’s architecture blends Italian romanticism with gothic grandeur.
However, when Robert and Krystal Rivani purchased the property in 2019 for just under $14 million (£10.4m), the fantasy-fixated couple set out to put their own dramatic spin on the home’s interior design.
Self-professed lovers of all things Harry Potter and Game of Thrones (GOT), The Rivanis filled their seven-bedroom home with pieces inspired by their favourite fantasy worlds.
Though neither is a designer by trade, the couple nevertheless executed their joint vision with breathtaking attention to detail, reportedly having spent much of the Covid-19 pandemic experimenting with interior design and online shopping for furniture, fittings and fixtures.
Among the home’s many highlights are the GOT-inspired chandeliers, ornately carved stone sconces and medieval fireplace, and of course, the custom $50,000 (£37k) replica of the GOT iron throne.
The 500-pound metal masterpiece cost the couple an additional $15,000 (£11.2k) to ship from Siberia to their home in the US, where it sits imposingly in the great room, framed by two Juliet balconies.
Directly above this fantastical centrepiece, the couple, attired in medieval clothing, stare austerely down from a custom oil painting.
The dining room or ‘great hall’ took the couple the longest to decorate, as they painstakingly sourced each piece to complete the space.
One wall is covered in 200-year-old Chinese-inspired painted panelling, while another is lined with mullioned windows draped in rich crimson and gold curtains.
At the centre of the room, a 15-foot (1.4sqm) banqueting table looks fit for any medieval feast, as do the ornately carved, oversized dining chairs and the dramatic golden chandeliers.
Another particular highlight of the home is the couple’s take on a 19th-century English tavern. The room features a stunningly Victorian golden tin ceiling, as well as a scaly, leathery wallpaper which functions as yet another homage to Game of Thrones.
However, Harry Potter fans will be excited to explore behind the counter, where the cabinets are stocked with potion bottles, including Polyjuice and Gillyweed – not your typical fare!
The primary suite, accessible via a security vault door made of 12 inches of steel, is particularly eye-catching. With its exposed beam cathedral ceiling, gold chandeliers, enormous antique fireplace and custom drapes, the room is grandiose in the extreme.
However, the true centrepiece is the bed headboard, which consists of a 250-year-old Austrian church altar that the couple purchased for $45,000 (£33.6k).
Despite this grandeur, the Rivanis decided to part with the unique home in January 2023. Initially listed at just under $22 million (£16.4m) it took a couple of price drops, finally selling for $16.8 million (£12.5m).
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