mary_mceldowney's ideas
Send it round the bendYour decked area doesn’t have to be the classic rectangular shape, as this cool design shows.By having a decked seating area surrounded by a curved bed, the designers have created the sense of a ‘garden within a garden’ – a retreat that’s ideal for intimate chats.Check out the best ways to kill weeds naturally
Pop in a party zoneBy using the same type of wood on the floor and the built-in bench, the designers have made this decked area feel streamlined and chic.To add to the party vibe, they’ve covered the terrace with a sun canopy and installed LED strip lights along the stairs and under the seats. There are lots of inexpensive decking lights on the market, so hunt around for the ideal ones to suit your garden.
Be dynamic…By using exposed brick and full-height bifold doors, this essentially simple extension to a terrace house also brings the outside space in.However the project – which is in basic terms a simple box – cleverly defies its simplicity with a really funky ceiling-scape that’s full of exciting changes of slope and angle and interesting triangular roof lights. It all equates to a dynamic space.
Clear the clutterFor a super-streamlined hallway, it can be worth the time and investment of building a coat and shoe cupboard into the wall with space for a hanging rail. The ideal depth for coat hangers is 60cm, but if you don’t have the space, try alternative ideas instead. You could fix a forward-facing rail to the back panel that can be pulled out to access coats more easily. Or use hooks to hang the coats, as they’ve done here. A good solution is to combine hangers and hooks – store the coats you use less often on the hangers and save the hooks for garments you need to grab quickly. Take a look for more brilliantly organised ways to sort your coat storage
Play with colourIf you’re clever with colour, you can change the way people perceive the size and shape of your hallway. In this home, one wall has been painted in a deep grey, while the opposite one has been kept white. The grey wall appears to recede, so it creates the illusion the room is wider than it is. Find more design and space hacks for your hallway
Create a room with a viewPrevent a narrow hallway from feeling squashed with this nifty idea. The wall to the living room has been replaced by a beautiful expanse of glass. It creates a feeling of space and light while still keeping the two areas separate. If the size and style of this example aren’t matching your budget, consider a series of smaller windows, or a long, narrow pane at eye level. When you’re planning something like this, however, look thoroughly into Building Regulations and make sure the glass and design are fire-safe.Check out more clever design ideas for a narrow hallway
Think about a colour splashBecause of the ‘now you see it, now you don’t’ element to pocket doors, they can be a really fun way to play with colour in an interior, changing the feel of a room from practical to playful in an instant.The bold turquoise door in this open-plan kitchen-diner shows how a sliding pocket door can add something special to the interior of a space. If you’re considering something similar, keep in mind that the colour needs to work well when viewed from either side, so it will need to complement the décor of the room beyond.
Go 100% design!If you’re building a new staircase, perhaps for a basement or loft conversion, you may have the opportunity to get creative. Here, the stairs and the storage beneath have been designed to work seamlessly together, with slim cubbyholes set back from the edges of the steps. With a colour scheme that matches your walls, it’ll become all about what’s being stored – so consider this sort of plan carefully if a disciplined interior is not your thing.
Try a zigzagStaircases come in many varieties, especially if you’re starting from scratch. This one has what’s known as an open string – in other words, the shape of each step is visible from the side, rather than being covered with a panel of wood or other material, as they have been in the next photo. This gives the opportunity to opt for interesting zigzag topped doors that follow the line of the steps. As seen in an earlier photo, you can choose to set the balustrade a little way into the steps to provide a shelving ledge as a bonus. Here, the storage happens inside the balustrade, but as it’s transparent you get a similar visual effect.
Try a book nookSome window seats look as if you’d stop there for a few moments, while others beckon you to spend a longer time. This one’s definitely at the stay-a-while end of the scale, with a comfortably deep seat pad and a smart and supportive buttoned back cushion. With books ready to grab from a wall nook and abundant natural light for reading, it’s a tempting picture.Included a window seat in your room? Share your tips in the Comments section.
Choose contrastA modern window seat can look as good in an older home as in a new-build or modern extension. In this child’s room, the seat and the storage that’s below and alongside it are contemporary in style, with handleless drawers and a smooth white finish. It keeps the overall effect sleek in a room where a growing collection of possessions is inevitable and extra stash space is never going to be wasted.If you’re lucky with the size of your window, the only bespoke part of an arrangement like this could be the seating spot itself. To save money, consider an asymmetrical design, so you can make those drawer units fit.
Develop a soft sideA window seat is an explicit invitation to pause and take in the view, introducing a more relaxing element to a hard-working space such as a kitchen. Add an upholstered seat pad and cushions and it’ll soften the room texturally as well. Note how this seat’s upholstery and cushions link with both the bottle green of the metro-tiled splashback and the foliage of the garden for a space-stretching blurring of inside and out.Are metro tiles here to stay?
Get the lowdownA pair of oriel windows – which protrude like bays but don’t reach the ground – create window seating in this kitchen-diner. It’s an idea well worth throwing into the mix if you’re planning a new downstairs extension.These windows extend nearly to the ground, so the seating inside the house is low. It’s a tactic you might want to copy if you’d like the perches to be easy for children to reach or suitable for older family members.
Go all roundThe home office area of this contemporary extension has a built-in seat that overlooks the garden. The designer hasn’t just taken the traditional storage-below route, but surrounded the window with cupboards to keep the work area clutter-free. Repeat the look with push-to-open cupboard doors and spotlights above that highlight the feature.Smart ways to store paperwork and declutter your home office
Dig deepIn order to create the space for this generously glazed two-storey extension, part of a semi-detached Victorian house, MW Architects dropped the floor level on the lower-ground floor and excavated much of the garden. The existing rear wall was flattened off and rebuilt in traditional London stock brick.
Would like the island to be on castors and if the island dinning area folded
smooth concrete flooring
A no no
There’s also a “charging zone” in the coat cupboard to keep all wires and devices neatly out of sight. “The team created some handy holders that keep our laptops and phones upright, so it’s a really good use of space,” Lou says.
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