Project Description

When Carl and Darren came to me they were looking for an overall design direction with individual schemes for a multi-room project. They had lived in their house for a little while and were ready to embark on a renovation project to update their home.

They love nature, the outdoors and travelling, so I used these stimuli to devise their colour and materials palette and to inform elements of the multi-room designs. With their input in the process we have achieved a fantastic new look for multiple rooms in their home.

Utility Room

This room was a hodge podge of old cabinets overflowing with items that didn't have a proper home. With some thoughtful storage, new appliances, smart new cupboards from diy-kitchens and an oak worktop - this room is now beautiful and useable. You can read more about this room's renovation in it's own portfolio entry here.

Guest Bedroom

This room is primarily used for the couple's clothes storage, and occassionally when guests come to stay. New fitted wardrobes were installed by Hammonds in Casella Oak - which set the tone for the rest of the room. I chose the Navajo fabric by Santos to give pattern, texture and subtle colour to the scheme. The Roman blind was made in this material and a new headboard. I picked up on the blue tone for the rechargeable bedside lamps, which sit atop brand new oak floating cabinets. The walls are painted in Little Greene Rolling Fog - Mid to create a calm, inviting atmosphere.

Gym

In order to better use the small bedroom upstairs we refitted the utility room to take care of drying laundry. This freed up the small bedroom to be transformed into a home gym. There was also a benefit to removing these bulky machines from each of the two home offices before their own make overs.

I had an idea that a full wall mural would create energy in this room and make it feel bigger. The outside was really brought in with this woodland scene that my clients chose. I paired it with light blue paint on the ceiling to mimic the sky and brown woodwork. A leafy green covers the other walls transporting you to a natural wilderness as you run or cycle.

Home Office

The home offices in this house were dated with 00s era office furniture and the bulky exercise machines I housed elsewhere. With more space freed up for closed and open storage, I proposed a energetic wallpaper choice of bright green paired with dark wood furniture to ground the scheme.

Darren fully embraced the design and now has a show-stopping home office to work from.

Master Bedroom

The changes in here were designed to add colour and texture to the room. I recommended a green Philip Jeffries woven vinyl wallpaper to the bedhead wall and two ceramic green wall lights were installed. The besides are completed with oak floating shelf drawers and paired with an oak-banded ceiling light. The green theme continues with Roman blinds in the gorgeous Zircon fabric in Forest and new bed linen. The search for green chests of drawers continues...

Hall, Stairs and Landing

Top of Carl and Darren's initial wish list was to install efficient, space-saving understairs storage, which Janis at FTR Home Improvements completed to everyone's approval. This freed up space in the hallway for an oak and black metal console table. Updating the lighting in this space was also very important and a smart new oak banded horizontal light near the doorway and a charming penguin table lamp have created a warm, welcoming atmosphere.

I wanted a wallpaper for this space to elevate the feeling of the entryway, and also to create interest on the stairs and upstairs landing. I found the Natural Geo wallpaper - which is designed to look like the top of shells, and has slightly different surface finishes so that it shines in an understated way when the light bounces off it. This has worked out beautifully with their black framed prints providing a nice contrast on the landing. This space also benefits from the new downstairs Expona LVT flooring in American Oak and new upstairs carpet Glendale Twist in Parchment.

Kitchen and Dining Room

Alongside the full room design schemes I advised on some other decor elements to improve the kitchen and dining room. In the kitchen I recommended the removal of faux brick wallpaper and installed the additional Philip Jeffries green woven wallpaper to create a feature of the breakfast nook. The whole kitchen was also repainted in Little Green Slaked Lime. Additionally the fuschia glass backsplash was replaced with smart green glass. In the dining room I replaced the curtains with a pair of Clarke & Clarke Dritto fabric in Denim which nicely ties together the blue cushions in the conservatory with the grey tones in the dining room.

It has been a pleasure working with Carl and Darren throughout 2024 on their home renovation. You can read more about their utility renovation here.