Classic, refined and timeless interior design

May 3, 2023

When it comes to interior design a classic, refined, and timeless style is often the preferred choice. This style is characterised by elegant furniture, luxurious fabrics, and understated colours that stand the test of time. For those who love designer and vintage furniture, incorporating these pieces into a classic interior design can create a truly stunning space.

Classic, refined and timeless interior design

One of the key elements of a classic interior design is quality. Fine materials such as silk, velvet, and leather are often used to create a luxurious feel. When it comes to furniture, look for pieces that are both beautiful and functional. A mix of designer and vintage furniture can create a unique and sophisticated look, while also adding a sense of history and character to the space.

Another important aspect of a classic interior design is color. A neutral palette of whites, creams, and beiges is often used, creating a serene and sophisticated atmosphere. However, pops of color can be introduced through accessories such as pillows, rugs, and artwork.

When designing a classic interior, attention to detail is essential. Every element should be carefully considered, from the lighting to the accessories. Mirrors, chandeliers, and other statement pieces can be used to create a sense of drama and glamour.

Overall, a classic interior design with a mix of designer and vintage furniture is the perfect choice for those who appreciate timeless elegance and sophistication. With careful attention to detail and a focus on quality, a classic interior can be both beautiful and functional, creating a truly stunning space that will stand the test of time.

Top Tips for renovating your property

June 18, 2020

Taking on a renovation is a big and time consuming task that will take over your life, I know first hand how much hard work goes into one and what it takes from you both emotionally and financially. Below I have outlined my Top tips for renovating for those who are just about to embark on this journey and hope that they help you

Top Tips for renovating #1

Your roof is your number 1 priority

The roof is one of your biggest priorities when renovating, if you don’t have a structurally solid and waterproof roof then there is little point doing anything else until this is fixed. You can have the nicest interiors in the world but if that roof leaks its going to cost you and ruin all your hard work.

Top Tips for renovating #2

Have a budget and add at least 10%

Renovations always throw curveballs and there is always something that crops up that you hadn’t budgeted for. Adding a 10% contingency to your budget should be enough to cover these and I almost guarantee you will use it.

Top Tips for renovating #3

Don’t cover up all the original features

You bought a period house/house that needs renovating for a reason. This is usually because of the chance it may have some hidden period features. If so, don’t hide them again, highlight them and make them a feature of the room.

Top Tips for renovating #4

It will take you twice as long as a new build property

You spend so much time and money taking the building apart and stripping it right back to build it back up again, be prepared for the long haul

Top Tips for renovating #5

There will be a rollercoaster of emotions

Renovating isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s an absolute rollercoaster of emotions, those days when you uncover hidden period features that haven’t seen the light of day for years are some of the best days but the days when half the roof is off in the middle of the storm and the bedrooms have puddles of water in them and there is rain running down the stairs is definitely a low point. Be prepared.

Top Tips for renovating #6

Always have the end goal in site

Its good to have an idea of what you want to achieve in the property and have some vision boards/moodboards to help you keep your eye on the prize. Being able to visually show builders and plumbers what you want also helps take some of the guess work out of everything and helps minimise the chance of things getting lost in translation

Top Tips for renovating #7

Do your homework

You need to be prepared and know exactly what sort of boiler/heating system/where the kitchen is etc very early on in a renovation as the pipes may need to be moved or re routed. Having a plan and having an idea of what you want early on helps avoid any delays on site and means you don’t have the trades hanging around waiting for you to make a decision

Top Tips for renovating #8

You will spend most of your money on things you can’t see.

So much of your money will be spent on the elements of the house you don’t see but are the most critical places to spend money i.e The foundations, structure, insulation, drainage, waterproofing. Budgeting in these areas is a false economy and they are the fundamentals to a smooth running and water-tight house that will run well with no problems for years.

Top Tips for renovating #9

Make sure you get trades people onboard who are as excited about your vision for the property.

You will spend a lot of time with your builder/plumbers/electricians and a good working relationship is beneficial to all. Make sure you do your homework and pick people who are right for the job. Some builders enjoy the more challenging aspects of renovating properties where others like the ease of a new build. Choose one that you believe best fits your project and wants to implement what you want and your vision for the property.

Also remember that this is a work environment for them, and everyone wants to work somewhere nice so provide a suitable place for a break, a liberal supply of tea/cakes/biscuits and settle your invoices on time.

Top Tips for renovating #10

Where to save your money.

If you are finding that your budget is taking a bit of a hit, then there are many places you can save money. An inexpensive kitchen from somewhere such as Howdens or Ikea can be made to look more expensive by not scrimping on the worktop and using quality and hard- wearing materials such as quartz. This will instantly elevate the look of the kitchen.

Toilets and sanitary ware are another place you can save money, a toilet is a toilet at the end of the day, and you can upgrade the lid and use more expensive taps to help elevate the design and make it look more special.

As a general rule, anything you touch or moves should be invested in as you will be able to feel the quality of these items.

So these are my top tips for renovating that will help steer you in the right direction but if you have any more queries about your renovation project or self build project and would like some advice then get in touch below to see how I can help.

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If you would like to see more photos of the project above then click this link and see why we were voted Reader’s Choice in the Homebuilding & Renovating Competition and highly commended for best renovation 2019

Basement Kitchen design and Dining Room, Wales

April 1, 2020

Back in January 2019 we were commissioned by a client to help with the interior design and project manage a new kitchen design and move plus remodel her Grade 2 listed property in Wales.

The original kitchen was situated on the ground floor of the property but the client wanted to change the use of this space to make it a dining room with a pull out sofa bed for a place for Friends and Family to stay over when visiting. The client wanted to repurpose her basement that was currently just being used as a dumping ground and move the kitchen into this space. The basement by its very nature had some limitations, namely:

the ceiling height was only 1.8 metres high to the bottom of the beams
the floor was made of large original flagstones that were very un even
Not one wall was straight
It was only a small room and needed to fit in a Belfast sink, washing machine, new hob, double oven and fridge freezer!
It was grade 2 listed
It had a solid shelf/wall that took up space in the room
It had random copper water pipes running along the walls and ceilings which would need to be re run and hidden in the walls

As you can see from the images I took from my first site meeting the space is very small and dark and it needed a good imagination and foresight to see how this room could go on to look.

We went through a couple of different design options and managed to find a layout that made the most of the space and enabled the client to have more storage than previously and extra workspace. All win win.

We decided to go with the Lochanna Clarkwell range, which is a traditional 5 piece shaker style kitchen, in the Atlantic blue colour on the base and light grey on the wall cabinet. By having the two tone we were hoping to ground the kitchen with the darker base units and make the space feel airier and more spacious by painting the walls and ceilings the same colour as the wall units.

The cabinets were finished off with a white quartz that had a polished finish which helps to bounce the light around the room.

The lighting scheme was also crucial to help create a workable and safe space in this dark room that only had natural daylight through the small window by the sink. We had to go with recessed spotlights as the low ceiling meant that a pendant was out of the question. To create a bit more interest In the room and to provide some task lighting we added in some adjustable wall spotlights that sit over the new shelving and the quartz clad wall shelf.

The one issue we had on site was the lack of space, the Welsh weather didn’t help either as it rained for most of the fit so the fitter couldn’t work outside and being 1.8 metres in height meant his head was also touching the ceiling. The plinths also had to be scribed due to the uneven nature of the original flagstones and we added in a plinth heater to take the chill off the cold floor. The addition of the Persian style rug helps warm up the space and provides an extra injection of colour.

Upstairs in the space where the kitchen used to be the client wanted to create more storage and have a room where she could entertain family and friends and also provide a space for them to stay over.

Luckily this room was blessed with original features such as floorboards which were in great condition, casement sash windows, beams and an unusually shaped space where the fireplace used to be. We didn’t want to detract too much from these features but enhance them so we opted with a neutral colour of shadow white on the walls and ceiling from Farrow and Ball and designed some floor to ceiling bespoke units to provide much needed storage in the space. All the woodwork was painted a couple of shades darker in Drop Cloth from Farrow and Ball to provide a slight contrast and add in a extra bit of interest to the room.

The client was keen on an industrial style look for this space so we had to find furniture and fittings that fitted with that aesthetic as well as in this more traditional environment. We sourced the lights, table and chairs all from independent suppliers off Etsy.

We were quite restricted on the sofa we could go with due to the 3 tight corners we had to navigate before getting it into the space and we needed it to be comfortable, look good but also not take up too much space in the room. We chose this style from MADE as it fitted the brief perfectly and provided a pop of colour in the room without being too overwhelming.

The roman blind was made in a neutral and textured linen from Ada & Ina called Greta(!) and it suits the space and feel of the room perfectly.

The space now feels clean, airy and uncluttered and is a great space for entertaining.

Do you have your own project that you need help with then get in contact below to see how I can help

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We Won the Readers Choice Category! Daily Telegraph House of the year competition

November 25, 2019

I am so unbelievably excited to finally be able to tell you all that we have won the Readers Choice Category in the Daily Telegraph Homebuilding & Renovation House of the Year competition and were highly commended in the Best Renovation Category. It has really made the hard work over the 5 or so years by everyone involved worth it. Now i’m not going to tell you that this renovation went smoothly as it didn’t and there were many challenges, tears and unexpected hiccups along the way but this is the nature of renovating a property of this sort of age that is built into the side of a hill! Nothing was easy. From diverting unwanted water away from the house, to the wood rot in the stairs and the issue of the properties only water being supplied by a gravity fed well whilst also resolving the damp in the walls we faced an uphill struggle from day one.

Below are a few images of the property before we started any of the work.

Interior designer North Wales

When we initially bought the house we naively thought we could do it room by room and live in the property, but once we started taking off the original lime plaster we realised this was pure idiocy on our part. There was a lot of work to do before we could get the builders in and this was hours of work taking off the wallpaper and tiles and then the lime plaster off the walls and ceilings so the walls could be given a chance to breath and help the damp, but it was in doing this we found all the hidden gems that were beneath years of wallpaper; the brick arch, the fireplaces, the well and all the beams. It was discovering these that kept us going.

Once we appointed the builders (which took longer than we anticipated as we wanted someone who was used to renovating properties and a few builders didn’t want the job as it was too complicated!)things moved a bit faster, there were holes in walls ready for new large windows and mini diggers in what is now our kitchen.

One of the most important parts of the builds is the relationship you have with your builder. We were lucky with our builders in that they were happy to spend time discussing details that others may have overlooked and wanted to help us create the home that we envisaged.

As you can see from the images below we completely ripped the property apart and took it back to its shell in order to build it back up. By doing this we were able to install good quality insulation and underfloor heating so even though its an old house (1840’s) it was rebuilt to modern standards and the combination of thick stone walls and lots of insulation means the property now exceeds most new build standards.

It was important to us to have such good insulation in this property as we wanted to install a ground source heat pump, an eco heat source that takes the ambient temperature from the ground and converts it to heat, as such the property couldn’t have any drafts as the whole premise of this heat pump is to have a lower constant temperature throughout the property rather than the higher outputs from oil or central heating. As you can see in the picture below the ground source heat pump requires quite a bit of space internally as well as externally (we had to dig 3 x 100 metre trenches 1/2 a metre down in our fields to run the pipes that would take the heat from the ground and transfer it to the house!)

Similarly we realised pretty soon into the build that the gravity fed well that was supplying the property was not fit to support a modern house and with no mains water we needed to have a bore hole drilled in order to supply all our water needs. This was a drama due to the lay of the land around our property and the difficulty we had getting the machinery where it needed to get to. Once there though it was quite something to watch. They drill down 60 metres into the ground far lower than the water table is to make sure there is a good head of water and we wouldn’t be left struggling with water pressure in the house. From this bore hole the water runs again 60 metres from source into our plant room at the side of the property where it goes through a full filtration system before we use it

We were lucky to be able to make use of the roof that was currently in situ and just add onto it as we did worry initially if the old roof would be suitable, but with a few well placed RSJs this was possible. Unluckily for our builders though we got onto the roof in the Winter and a season in which we had storm after storm and constant rain. We tried to keep the rain from getting into the house as best as we could but water goes where it wants to and one day I turned up and there was a pool of water in the back bedroom and a river of water running down the stairs!

This was probably one of the lowest points in the build

As you can see the roof is rather large and complicated due to the amount of valleys in it and took quite a long time to get it right but this is one of the most important parts of a build as whats the point in creating a great interior if your roof isn’t up to scratch and leaks.

The windows were a key decision in the house build as the amount of light in the original house was limited and we wanted to flood the house with light. We installed roof lights to help get light into the middle hallway and back bedrooms, ensuite bathrooms and dressing room and in the old part of the house we wanted to stay true to the age of the house and install windows that were in keeping with the period of the property. We did consider wooden sash but the upkeep of them put me off and we decided on UPVC sash instead in RAL 7015. I was also a little obsessed with having a pivot door somewhere in the property and figured the best place would be in the snug in the old house on the side of the property so we would have access straight onto the garden and patio. The main 3 metre height window that links the old cottage to the barn in the area that was the car port is one of my favourite parts of the house. The architect originally specced bifold doors but my partner and I wanted something a bit more show stopping and with less profile so you focus entirely on the view outside. We consulted a company called Maxlight who we saw at the Home Building and Renovation show and liked their attitude that anything was possible. I particularly like the way the window wraps around the corner.

I was keen to have a polished concrete floor and this meant we had to factor this in quite early into the renovation as we needed to lay it at the same time as the screed over the under floor heating and make sure all the pipes were in the correct place for plumbing as once it was in there was no changing. In order to stop the concrete floor cracking we had to use reinforcing mesh rather than use the flexible fibres that you normally use in concrete to help it expand and contract. We didn’t want the fibres because once we started polishing and taking off the top layer of the concrete they would be seen and this wasn’t the look I was going for.

We wanted to make use of the original floorboards that were beneath the beautiful original paisley carpet but this required a lot of effort sanding as some of the wooden floors were also covered in bitumen to help protect them. All the doors and bannisters also needed some TLC as they had years and years of paint on them and some of the finer details were lost, this, i won’t lie, was a little soul destroying as it took weeks to do and it was in the Summer time so the combination of dust and heat was not fun.

It was only once we started putting the plaster board up that we could see the house coming together and this is when I really started thinking about the finishes and colours I wanted in the house.

The 60sq metres of polished concrete had taken months to set and we didn’t want to uncover it until the last minute over fears of it being damaged in the build. We hired a floor polisher to clean the floor and then had different levels of scouring pads attached to the bottom to polish the floor in stages to achieve the desired look we were after. We started with the most coarse and worked our way up to the finest and polished until we got the desired look. We finished it off with a couple of layers of stone and floor colour enhancer and then a final seal to prevent staining. I love the marbled look of the floor and it may not be as perfect as if we had paid for someone to do it but I’m really pleased with how it looks and this is one of the reasons I don’t have any rugs in this room as I don’t want to hide the colourings of the concrete.

The 2nd fix stage seemed to take forever. By the time I could see the plaster going on I was so eager for it to dry and get everything painted. For someone as impatient as me it was torturous waiting for everything to be completed. It was a case of so near yet so far.

One of the features of the house we were keen to keep was the well. When we bought the house it was hidden beneath a solid cover in the previous owners car port. Its unusual in style to most wells that you see as it is carved by hand out of solid rock rather than built in brick. We wanted to add a light into the well to be able to highlight this detail so this meant the electrician had to get in to fix the light to the side. Health and Safety please look away now! The depth of the well is 8 metres and Its incredibly dramatic when its completely empty, the pictures here don’t do it justice at all.

So this is how it looks now, very different from the original house as you can see, but we wanted the older part of the house to be sympathetic to the age of the property and feel cosier whilst the newer extension into the car port and cow shed were designed to have more of a modern feel to it. The space was designed for us to live in and not with the resale value in mind and it works perfectly for the way we live. We love having people over and always hosting parties for family and having friends stay so wanted the space to be reflective of that.

This project was definitely a massive learning curve and spending every day on site working alongside the builders and trades was a lot of fun somedays due to the brilliant character of them all but also very hard going for someone as impatient as me who wants everything done yesterday.

A renovation project on this scale is not something to undertake lightly and it becomes incredibly all consuming, you can’t think or talk about anything else and 14/15 hour days, 7 days a week is not unusual but to live in a home that you know every square inch of is absolutely worth it (this is with massive hindsight in the comfort of said home) and a little bit addictive. Would i do it again? Maybe….just watch this space,

The Olde Bell Hurley

July 30, 2019

The Olde Bell in Hurley is up there with one of the best hotels I have ever stayed in. Its an old coaching inn and the design is a contemporary take on the traditional coaching inn using British materials and furniture.

The interiors are designed by Ilse Crawford MBE from StudioIlse and provides a constant source of inspiration to me in my own projects.

The interior scheme has a very calm feel to it through the use of a restrained colour palette and the focus on lots of natural and tactile materials that appeal to all the senses. Its a great mix of traditional and classic pieces such as the Ercol armchairs and the modern high armchair and minimalist bed frame.