Storylines Interior Design

We asked Caroline from Story lines to redesign our drab and dark living room. She managed to take into consideration the north facing room, children and 2 large shedding dogs. Over a couple of meetings we finally finalised our design with recommendations of tradesmen and suppliers. Nothing was too much trouble for Caroline, she was professional and a pleasure to work with. Our new living room design has surpassed what we could have imagined. It’s our favourite room in the house. A haven every time we go in there. We could not be happier with every detail, from artwork, to curtains and blinds, she has managed to give us the cosy but modern and easy to clean finish we needed. Everyone who comes to the house loves the room. We can’t wait to start our next project with Caroline in the future.

I have worked with Caroline on several interior design projects in my house, dining room, boot room, utility room, landing library, two bedrooms and an office. It is fair to say, every other room in my house suffers by comparison. I absolutely love the work Caroline has done, in every instance she has designed for my taste and preferences (rather than her own look) and she has provided extremely practical, comfortable and usable family spaces. Caroline is a joy to work with, so kind and professional and very empathetic about how hard it is when you are having work done in the house. The full implementation service really is worth every, single penny.

Caroline took time to really understand the brief and came up with a design that met the needs we had thought of and the ones we hadn’t. We used the full implementation service, and Caroline assembled a team of trusted tradesmen and co-ordinated the work schedule meaning that once the project started it was completed to a high standard very efficiently. Communication was excellent through all stages of the project and we are delighted with the end result.

Caroline has completed several design consultations for me over the last 2 years as I was struggling with ideas to complete my house. The way Caroline has approached each consultation has been excellent and extremely thorough. She has listened very carefully to my needs and ideas and kept these well to the forefront in her proposals. Caroline pays great attention to detail and has a natural design flair - I would highly recommend !

Absolute professional and a delight to work with. Storylines delivered a complete refurbishment of a two bedroom flat in a listed building. We are very pleased with the results and the whole process was very smooth.

Using Storylines was the first time I'd used an interior designer. Caroline responded promptly to my enquiry and talked me through the design service and process, putting me at ease. Caroline had now designed a number of rooms in our house, and we are extremely happy with the results. Our son adores his new bedroom, which totally reflects the person he is. In fact, it's my favourite room in the house! Our bathroom is beautiful, and all the people who've seen it think it's amazing. Caroline created a grown up living room, which is a tranquil, relaxing space to spend our evenings away from the clutter of toys and work. I've loved working with Caroline and I really felt she listened to what we wanted. I wouldn't have any hesitation in recommending her and will most certainly be using her design services again.

Caroline recently redesigned my daughters bedroom, creating a space which would function through her teenage years. From our initial briefing Caroline got to know our likes and dislikes and produced a plan within the time scale promised. The design created a room suitable for a teenager to sleep, work and relax in. Every aspect was considered from the wall colour to furniture and accessories. Some suggestions were initially out of my comfort zone but when placed in the room as a whole everything came together. The result is a relaxing environment which we are delighted with. I hope to use Caroline again soon for other projects.

This is the third project we've worked with Caroline on but the first since Covid and therefore our first experience of the remote design workflow. I suspect like many homeowners we fall into the category of knowing what style we like but not how to design a room in the right way to get there. Our work with Caroline typically falls into three stages. First, we discuss what we want the room / area to do and the Caroline comes up with a broad design plan. In this alone it's obvious to us the benefit of working with a professional. We invariably end up with a beautiful room design and avoid a lot of common mistakes. Next, we talk in a bit more detail about budgets, colours and furnishings. For me, this is Caroline's area of expertise. She makes a real effort early on to learn about our tastes and then has the ability to design and style in that way. There are regularly ideas or suggestions that we would never have come up with ourselves but that are perfect for the space we're working on. Colour choices can be especially subjective but Caroline just knows what would work for us and what we're comfortable with. Around about this stage Caroline sends us through samples (blinds/curtains, carpets, sofa coverings, tiling, etc.) and the main design document starts to take shape. For us, this is a multi-page PDF (20-30 pages) listing each design decision along with it's rationale and including pictures of various options. Essentially this tells us why we're doing it the way we are, why Carolines choices work for the room and what to consider should we want to change an item for another one. The third phase is when we work towards a design plan and a specification document. As an engineer who appreciates a bill of materials this is an absolute joy! Each and every thing we might need to buy is provided in a document along with price and link to website. From the large item furnishings down to the smallest ornament or picture it's all there. We also get flooring choices and paint listings as well as tradesmen recommendations on request. Finally, a word on the remote process. Private Pinterest boards are used for Caroline to show us concepts and discuss ideas. Both Donna and I found this quite useful and it also gave us plenty time to discuss ourselves and mark things we particularly liked. Face to face meetings became Zoom calls but pretty much everyone's an expert on Zoom now. We had 2 calls around an hour each in this project but in the past have had 3 or 4 meetings during project design. It's helpful that Caroline has already designed half the house! In summary, we wouldn't hesitate to recommend. Working with Caroline has turned what can be a stressful upgrade into something really quite exciting and fun. Her ability to work to a budget and not obsess over particular brands is a big plus and we certainly feel that we get value for money in her design service. No doubt at all that we'll be using Storylines again as we move round the house.

Caroline's input was amazingly helpful with room layouts, mood boards and visual aesthetics for our new extension bedroom and reconfigured downstairs (office, utility room, dining room, kitchen area). During a complex and sometimes stressful build project, Caroline creatively, calmly and cheerfully helped us to think through how we'd like to enjoy and live in the spaces once they were finished. Whilst listening carefully to us, she was great at asking questions and getting us to think about using the spaces in a different way. As a result of this, we ended up swapping our dining area and seating spaces around, considered colours that we hadn't thought of previously and ended up thinking about the flow of the downstairs spatially and visually in a way that we hadn't done before. As a result our house looks much more 'together' without being artificially 'styled' - it still reflects our tastes, but there are bits that are more modern, quirkier and more individual than it would have been without Caroline's fantastic input. We really enjoyed her meetings with her and she was great at looking not only at the big picture, but also the detail even down to the level of being on-hand to make sure our electrician put in sockets and lighting in places that we needed but had not previously thought about! Caroline has a lovely style and manner and it was a pleasure to have her input on the project and we now now positively enjoy being in our house!

Caroline recently helped me to add the finishing touches to my lounge and dining room including helping me choose the paint colour for some bespoke alcove shelving. I am thrilled with the results. She looked at what I already had and made suggestions which seemed to pull the whole scheme together. I would highly recommend her and intend to ask for her help on future projects.

Caroline is absolutely incredible. Her taste is amazing, she really "gets" her clients and she comes up with the most wonderful schemes. Caroline also offers full implementation services which take all of the stress and hassle out of actually getting the room done and sorted! I cannot recommend her more - I love my house so much now that she has worked her magic. It feels like I live in an amazing interiors magazine. I love it.

Caroline has a flair for design and a meticulous attention to detail. I am delighted with the complete refurbishment of my bathroom which was complex and involved structural work. My house is over a 100 years old and Caroline planned a new bathroom which is empathetic to the traditional style of the house yet contemporary. Caroline produced a number of alternative designs and I was very impressed with her knowledge of products suitable for a period property. She listened to my comments on the designs and modified them tirelessly as we decided upon a final scheme. I enjoyed working with Caroline and can thoroughly recommend the very professional and reliable service which she provides. I am intending to update my living room and Caroline will be my first port of call for advice!