Tying the room together

As The Dude said, the rug “really tied the room together.”  Fans of the Cohen brothers will of course recognise the significance of floor finishes in helping to create a coherent room design and appreciate it’s importance to the lead character in the 1998 classic The Big Lebowski.  The Dude, played by Jeff Bridges, had his rug stolen and was left, much to his annoyance, with a living room that felt incomplete.

A good rug can provide the finishing touch to a room design.  It’s an opportunity to inject some colour, either in harmony or contrast to the surroundings.  It provides a centre piece around which all the other elements co exist.  Often used alongside a harder timber floor it provides a soft warming contrast, which is great under bare feet, and will soften the acoustics of any space.

The trend towards graphic and experimental techniques is exemplified by the Radient Gradients range by Top Floor Rugs, which feature shading and colour graduation that gives the illusion of depth to flat surfaces.

Designed by award-winning rug designer Esti Barnes, who combines her design expertise with the skill of Top Floorʼ s master dyers and craftsmen, the designs perfectly demonstrate the smoothest of colour shading across the cut-pile wool surface.

If you need help tying your room together contact Multi Story Thinking and we'll show you how to make the most of rugs in your home.

Light fantastic

When you're looking for something to provide a dramatic and memorable impact within an interior , light features can deliver a cost effective and stylish solution.  There’s always something special about seeing multiples of objects and these pendant lights, set in clusters can great the dramatic wow factor sought after by designers and clients.  

These North Lights from e15 hang like the planets above your table casting light down onto the surface below and creating a subtle range of tones across the gently angled surfaces of the shades.

Prices start from £308 inc VAT for a single pendant; from Viaduct, www.viaduct.co.uk T: 020 7278 8456

Picture perfect

Digital printing has long been a way of introducing individual imagery to interiors and with production costs coming down it’s easy to introduce unique designs into your home.

Wallpaper, shower screens, kitchen backsplashes all become a canvas for your creativity helping to stamp your own personality and style.  Images from your phone or computer can be printed onto almost any surface.

Caroline Shortt from Barc Architects is a big fan of the process.  Her halo lit panel of trees transforms the humble toilet into a natural haven.  It feels a bit like the wardrobe in Narnia, where you might end up in an enchanted forest.  The vaulted room is clad in cedar and an led strip lights the paper and emphasises the curve of the vault drawing the eye to the back of the space.  

AnniePhilips’ innovative and uplifting images work well in kitchens and shower rooms.  Her designs are printed onto a film and laminated between panels of toughened glass.  

The composition can be adapted to fit the available space and the colours matched with the rest of your decoration giving you total control.  It’s a simple and effective way to create something different and individual.

Unlocking the potential of listed buildings

Old buildings need to adapt to accommodate our modern lives but when renovating listed buildings it’s important to preserve the historic character whilst maximising the potential of the spaces.  This involves discussions with both your client and the local authority conservation team to achieve design solutions that are practical whilst being sympathetic to the building. 

We’ve recently completed this refurbishment of a beautiful Georgian building in Salcombe Regis where our clients wanted to remove the kitchen from the main space, relocate it to the rear of the building, and open up access to join the spaces.

It’s often difficult to determine the history of adaption that most old buildings have gone through so getting to know the property is important.  Seemingly historic features can be younger than they look so understanding what is of real historic value (to be retained) and what can be altered is the key to unlocking potential.

The previous kitchen design ran round the perimeter of the room around a large farmhouse style kitchen table.  Not very practical in terms of layout and not ideal for entertaining where you might want to hide away the mess of a busy kitchen from your party guests.  

 

 

A series of more modern utility rooms provided space for the kitchen to be moved into.  Investigation of the layout and structure revealed a filled in opening, which previously provided access to a service corridor.  Reinstating this archway provided the link between the two spaces

Use of materials and colour help to make the most of the space.  Cornice, skirting and architraves are reinstated to match the originals and a new stone floor, running through from front to back, unifies the kitchen and dining area, which are decorated in a pale off white, which helps bounce light around the spaces.

 

A long table provides dining for 12 and there’s room for fireside seats with the alcoves providing space for a free standing dresser and a day bed.  It’s a multi-functional family room that looks like its been here for years.

Danish Box Sets.

With the return of Borgen to our screens and the approach of those long winter nights the prospect of curling up on the sofa to work through some quality drama is really appealing.  With the popularity of box sets we're posed with the problem of how to store them.

  

Montana is a system that gives you the freedom to create unique and personal designs for your home or office.  It's combination of 42 boxes in 4 depths available in 49 colours gives creative freedom and scope to create a truly unique design just for you.

Wall mounted, free standing or on wheels the combinations can help to fill corners, become features or help to shape space as a wall/divider.   Keep it straight and regular or go free style.  Ideal for everything.

If you're working your way through those great Scandinavian dramas this furniture will help you emulate the style and give you somewhere to store those DVDs.

Available from Oskar in Bristol.  TAK.

Stripes

From a Telegraph Property tweet Marianne Shillingford, paint brand Dulux's creative director and the design director of Dulux Design Service, demonstrates  in this video  how to paint a room with horizontal stripes, using paints from Dulux’s autumn 2013 palette, Urban Folk.  

Student accommodation. Just add personality and a sense of place.

University campuses should be designed to attract their target market, that's students in case you wondered, but in many cases we see design solutions that are dull, corporate office style interiors, lacking any personality or sense of place.  No fun or narrative.  They miss the point that their target market are all young people with sophisticated tastes and a well developed sense of design and brand.

Universities administrators have recognised that environment is important as a differentiator and are trying to improve with new buildings and facilities.  The key challenges is to create spaces within their buildings that respond to the activities (social and learning) that students do and to connect both visually and emotionally.

Social spaces should reflect the environments that students like to inhabit when they venture out into non university world.  Outside of university they are going to bars, coffee shops etc that have well designed interiors aimed at them as consumers.  University spaces should similarly reflect this with interiors that are similar to the environments that students inhabit.

Award winning Trof bar in Manchester's Northern Quarter, designed by Forster Inc,  is a favourite haunt of students and young creatives alike, a provides a example for student developments.

Student accommodation is an obvious area for universities to invest in as it ticks the key drivers of the student decision making process of 'safety' and 'security' particularly for overseas students.  It's also a strong and dependable revenue source for universities.  Naomi Cleaver's design for IQ Shoreditch developed by Quintain celebrates the creative vibrancy of it's location and creates an individual and exciting space to live and study.

The design puts the student experience at the centre of the project and has become a selling feature that encourages sales to prospective students.

With student expectations being raised on the back on increasing fees good interior design can be a powerful tools for Universities to differentiate themselves and complete for business.

86% of students asked stated that the quality of the common rooms was the
deciding factor in booking IQ Shoreditch against all other alternatives.

Naomi Cleaver's designs add personality and a sense of fun.

Why do we like Scandinavian dramas?

Apart from the edge of your seat drama, political intrigue, engaging narrative and lyrical language the crop of Scandinavian dramas have one striking thing in common, that is, the use of modern design. Every set has been carefully crafted to reflect a modern lifestyle with well designed modern products and interiors.   Whilst the UK is locked in fuddy duddy chintz and tweed wrapped nostalgia (Downton Abbey-Series 4 is back!!!!) the Scandinavians are highlighting a modern world where we can surround ourselves with well designed products and spaces.

So where do we get the look.  You're maybe instinctively thinking IKEA, which has been a staple for start up home makers and budget conscious design cognoscenti.  We like what they offer and know lots of the short cuts through their maze like shop floor but for things that will last a lifetime we'd recommend a visit to one of the following.

Skandium
The grand daddy of them all the first Skandium store opened in 1999 at 72 Wigmore Street, London W1.  Founded by Christopher Seidenfaden, Chrystina Schmidt and Magnus Englund the shop stocks a wide range of exclusive products from Artek, Arabia, Asplund, Design House Stockholm, Hackman, Havi, iittala, Jonathan Adler, Le Klint, linea1, Marimekko, Rosendahl AJ clocks and Woodnotes.

Oskar Furniture.

Situated on Whiteladies Road,  Bristol, Oskar has the best of Scandinavian furniture, lighting and accessories including products from Hay, the Montana storage system and lighting from Zero.  It's run by passionate and knowledgable Marie Harz who skilfully mixes Scandinavian design with the pick of the best from the rest of Europe.

Hus & Hem.

Nestled in the design quarter of Ledbury Hus & Hem, that's house and home in Swedish by the way, is run by Jill Studer and Louise Little and stocks accessories, soft furnishing as well as furniture and lighting for the home.

Nord
Located in Bridge Street, Cambridge Nord brings design classics from Marimekko, Iittalia and Artek alongside a cafe serving locally produced cakes and traditional Scandinavian rye rolls and platters.

Product of the Month. Stock Chair

We like this Stock Chair, designed by Magnus Long for Lerival.  Originally designed for the St Martins Materials Library this robust chair combines strength, durability and functionality.

Manufactured using a powder coated steel frame, with a solid wood seat and back, it is available in natural ash, charcoal beech (lacquered), or acacia for outdoor use.  A milled seat and back profile reveals wood grain strata giving it an honest utilitarian feel and, even if it's being kicked around a student design studio, it should last for ages.

Wrong for Hay & Hay

Georgian buildings, with their wonderfully generous proportions provide a perfect partner for the clean lines of furniture, lighting and textiles as part of a collection by Sebastian Wrong for Danish design brand Hay.  

Another highlight of the London Design Festival Wrong for Hay occupies an abandoned Georgian building, the former club St Stephen's Club, in St James alongside a pop up restaurant by the Peckham Refreshment Rooms.



Large geometric patterned rugs adorn exposed concrete floors.  The furniture has an elegant simplicity with neat connections and junctions of materials and strong use of colour and pattern.



A lighting installation makes dramatic and effective use of a basement and in the Queensborough banqueting room the Georgian grandeur is cut through by the sound of Sam Cooke and the delicate clatter of cafe hubbub.  It's edgy and mildly subversive.

A full collection occupies an adjacent building where the simple but playful designs are set off by an amazing building with period features intact.  Cork Cones and Magnetic Towers by designers Daniel & Emma keep your pins and paper clips in order.  Thomas Jenkins' Lens Boxes in cork, maple and ash provide neat storage and with a glass lens lid provide magnified views of your treasures.

        

The faceted and brightly coloured Ori salt and pepper pots, designed by Anderssen & Voll  are strangely modern, WH's Bread Bin reminds me of giant buttons, whilst the joint detail of Lucien Gumy's solid oak shelving evokes a tradition and ingenuity of a centuries old craft tradition.  Craft meets design with a collection that fuses personality with practicality.  

         

It's all for charity.....mate!

We've been working with the team at the Devon Air Ambulance Trust to help improve revenue from their charity shops. With lots of competition in the charity sector its important to attract customers attention with a well presented and interesting shop front.

We worked with their team to implement an update on their shop design with new signage.



The new design incorporates their helicopter icon into an eye catching stripe across the facade along with clear and bold lettering.



They've upped the game with their window displays to advertise their weekly lottery and display merchandise in a more controlled way to create greater impact.

Its showtime. Top tips for showflats

Selling property in these straightened economic times is hard so you need to attract potential customers and stand out from the crowd. Here's our top tips for developers.

1. Describe the lifestyle. Think about your target market and select a design that suits them. You need to strike a balance between broad appeal and being inspirational and aspirational.

2. Jog the memory. Introduce a key element that people will remember. Could be a beautiful vase or decorative cushions or a bespoke piece of furniture. These will highlight your scheme and stick in the mind of your potential buyer.

Here's a couple of mood boards that we've completed for properties in Bethnal Green and Bromley.
Bethnal Green attracts a younger more creative crowd so we've used Unto this Last plywood furniture alongside Orly Kiely cushions.

The Bromley development is aimed at an older more affluent demographic.

Let there be light

We love these lights from Tech Lighting which we came across thanks to the CONTEMPORIST  design blog.  Smoked and blue glass looks great with the squiggle element fitting inside.

Ready made curtain

French designer Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec and Danish textile manufacturer Kvadrat come up with a DIY kit for making curtains. The hanging cord winds up like a guitar string.
"Little skill and few tools are needed, margin for error has
been considered and perfection isn’t an absolute requirement,in fact, the charm of the imperfect in opposition to the overly sanitised interior is something we
believe in." they explain.
We like the simplicity of the project, it's clever, minimalist, and it can be ajusted to fit any width of window.

Let there be light

How to get light into your gloomy Edwardian or Victorian house?

The conventional approach is to knock through from front to back to create open plan living but this often leaves you with spaces you can't effectively use and doesn't tackle the stair well and hallway which are generally the darkest areas.

Our approach is to open up the ceilings and punch a skylight through the roof to send daylight cascading down through the house.  A few high level horizontal internal windows can then send this borrowed light to adjacent rooms.

The effect is stunning, almost ethereal, as clouds scud by and light bounces down to illuminate your day

Here's one we did recently.  Its an odd view point due to the shape of the space.  That's the balustrade (spindles to be fitted) shooting diagonally across

Design Tip_Go Local

Work with local craftspeople to create individual sustainable furniture that can give a project a tangible connection to nature and the local area. For The Real Food Store in Exeter we commissioned Dan Entwistle to create these oak clad counters.



This energetic space for the community funded project includes passing references to the countryside with fruit bushel chandeliers, crate storage, Devon red walls and locally sourced oak panelling.