Katie's ideas
Kitchen - small and made the most of. Clear and clean fittings. Different coloured cabinets to add interest. White marble surface.
Join the dots The ceiling on this landing is anything but bland, with various sloped areas forming interesting angles. It gives the home character, but when it came to painting it, it was tricky to decide which areas were ceiling and which walls. The answer? Neaten up the space with a line starting just below the lowest angle and running straight around the room. The designer has painted the walls in a bold salmon pink, which sharply contrasts with the crisp white above, making a feature of the scheme.
Showcase your wires The lampshade isn’t the only feature of a clip-on light that can be used to brilliant decorative effect. These days, we’re seeing a lot of exposed wiring on Houzz, especially colourful flex. Exposed bulbs are perfect for plugging in and attaching to a hook wherever you fancy, and they give a room that raw, industrial edge. Choose a brightly coloured flex, such as orange, red or yellow, to really up the design factor, or stick with inky black for a dramatic, monochrome silhouette.
Create a telephone table Remember the telephone table? Before cordless phones and mobiles, it was common to have a dedicated space, often in the hallway, for sitting and making calls. While there’s little need for this these days, as phone calls can happen anywhere in the house, there’s something to be said for bringing back the telephone table. Why? Not for installing a landline, but for having a dedicated place to store and charge your phone in the hallway, and one central place to keep all chargers and cables neatly stored. This has the added benefit of helping to cut down on idle screen time and constant phone checking, which can happen when you carry your phone around the house with you.
Practical ideas to bring a 1930’s feel to a feature-lacking house.
Nature-inspired palettes Another talk at the Maison & Objet fair focused on the continuation of the established trend for incorporating nature into our interiors, this year homing in on colour. At the event, trend forecaster Elizabeth Leriche defined the spectrum of colours of the year as “warming and muted”, where warm tones (saffron, terracotta, garnet) are contrasted with forest colours (sage, pine and turquoise) and punctuated by neutrals (chalk and slate grey). Reflecting the idea perfectly, this soothing bedroom, designed by Balance Interior Design, features in Houzz’s top 20 most-popular bedroom images this year.
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