An In-depth lesson in colour
Strap in, this is a technical one! For those of you interested in understanding colour beyond the basics of the colour wheel, this blog is a deep dive into the techinical breakdown of a colour and its related shades and hues. This can help you to build a really successful colour scheme even if you don’t have a natural eye for colour, and can indeed help you to train your eye for colour.
Budget Kitchen Hacks: High End Handles
Interior designers talk about investing in the ‘touch points’ - the bits of your home you touch multiple times a day - and ensuring they are made out of authentic materials ... I felt it was important to have solid brass handles for my kitchen cabinets, and to ensure it felt characterful and refined I wanted it to be unlacquered brass. This is the kind of brass that develops a patina over time ... There are 2 ways to get the high-end goods without splashing your cash - second hand or DIY. To make this one work for me, I did both!
What is a design concept?
Someone asked me what I meant by ‘Spatial Planning Concept’ and I thought, what an excellent question! It can be easy to fall into using design jargon when you eat, sleep and breathe interiors, so here’s a bit of a glossary and in insider’s view of the interior design journey. I hope it’s helpful!
Sensory positive home: Olfactory considerations (smells!)
This week we are looking at aroma. Aromas can overtly or subliminally affect mood and emotion, but is smell really an interior design consideration? Well yes, and it’s not just about smelly candles and scent profiles! In my experience the sensory issues relating to odours in the home are things like cooking smells, cleaning products and – ahem – pongy toilets! So if you’re renovating, now is your chance to design those issues out of your life! For kitchen odours, ensure you plan for good ventilation for your hob and that the extraction is external. I’ve just installed a downdraft extractor in…
Sensory positive home: Auditory considerations
This week we are looking at auditory considerations - the links between the sounds in your home and your wellbeing. Whilst I can’t stop your kids from stampeding around shouting, I can suggest ways to make it grate less! The textures in your home are actually responsible for the way it sounds! The more textile elements you can bring into your home, the more dampened the sound will be. A wall of glass (i.e. bifold doors) might bring you closer to nature with a view of the garden, but it makes for a noisier space. Crittall or Victorian style mullions…
Sensory positive home: Sensory toolkit
If you have sensory issues, your home has a big impact on your wellbeing. The way your home looks, feels, sounds and smells is really important, and it’s crucial for the rooms in your home to support the way you need to feel and behave in those spaces – a calm bedroom, a gentle but uplifting morning shower, a relaxing evening bath, an energising and focussed home office.
This is the first of 5 posts to guide you through creating a sensory positive home. Today we are taking an overview, identifying sensory needs and where they apply in your home, and
How to Mix Patterns
Today I’m talking in detail about how to successfully mix patterns in an interior. The first step is to make sure you have a cohesive colour scheme. I like mixing lots of colours in an interior, but where the palette tells one clear story. I might only use a tiny amount of some colours, but I love the depth it brings to an interior compared to having everything matching.
Help, I have Eclectic Taste!
How to know what works together and what doesn’t when you have eclectic taste.
Say No to Novelty this Christmas
How to avoid unnecessary excess and have a meaningful, sustainable Christmas.
Why you should pick your paint colour last
This is a fool-proof guide to the order of decisions when decorating a room. Simply put, fabrics and wallpapers come in limited colours but paint comes in any colour imaginable, so don’t limit yourself by picking it first. Here’s how to do it right.
One Scheme, Two Ways
How the same colour palette and core elements can be used for both adults’ and children’s rooms
What to do when your child asks for a themed bedroom
In this blog I’m sharing pro ideas to keep your child happy when they ask for a themed bedroom, whilst also creating a scheme with some longevity than can adapt to their changing tastes as they grow, and fit in better with the rest of your house! A lot of parents struggle with the idea of decorating their child’s bedroom in a way that clashes with the interiors throughout the rest of their house … Rather than buying acres of Disney Princess wallpaper, you can make your child’s room much more exciting and foster their creativity by ‘world building’.