Brief
Existing kitchen was in good condition but just beginning to look a little dated and client disliked the tiled floor that ran through half of the ground floor from the entrance . They wanted to be more on trend with colours, style and to lighten the rooms. Also wanted to increase seating options for both comfortable and practical use. The house is early 20th century so has character.
Inspiration and Design
The client already had ideas in mind as to colour and style so it was really a case of finding items and pulling the scheme together to create the end product. Retaining the cupboard carcasses, we renovated the kitchen to a modern dark blue shaker style with brass handles which pulled through the panelling effect in the main entrance.
The large floor tile chosen was matt white tile with subtle marbling running through it, laid brick bond. This ran throughout the entrance and inner halls, two cloakrooms, utility room and the main open plan kitchen / dining area which really bounced light around the rooms. Shaker style seemed obvious for this new style kitchen and utility room doors and we slightly increased the bank of floor to ceiling cupboards to add in extra storage space. All topped with a white quartz worktop for elegance.
Looking at furniture we mixed elements of High Street seating with other more bespoke elements of furniture which were made to measure. We ensured that elements corresponded throughout with brass fixings and black legs. The blue dining chairs and mink bar stools were all from Danetti and covered in clever velvet. I felt the room had lots of vertical and horizontal lines and decided we needed some curves in the space. The 10 dining chairs seemed perfect to soften the table lines and velvet also added a sumptuous layer to make this area feel a little more formal when needed. The parquet effect wooden table with more industrial style legs really fitted the dining space well. The 4 velvet bar stools were more neutral and added a herringbone effect that transferred the parquet effect into the kitchen zone. We needed an accent to just add a splash of colour to the room and opted for a fabulous fun yellow sofa with a single blue armchair for comfortable seating near the bi-folds on to the garden to finish the spaces.
Walls were to be kept neutral but extra large pictures added to create more of an enclosed dining space incorporating all colour elements, shades of blues, golds, greys. Fabric from Villa Nova reflected the colour style chosen with a contemporary image of trees to bring the garden indoors and used on made to measure roman blinds outside the recess.
Lighting from Heathfields was a great find and I was delighted with the impact and strange reflections these gave over the dining table table and really completed the theme in the kitchen.
As the house flowed through from the main entrance we wanted to continue the theme here but also differentiating it from the kitchen/utility spaces. Two chairs were re-upholstered and various window seat cushions in the hall with a textured fabric, enhanced with black piping which is quite dramatic. Finished with a beautiful Casamance fabric on the roman blind in pewter with golds, blacks and white which looks just like rain running down the window. The walls were already papered in Cole & Sons bird wallpapers so the Clarke & Clarke Feather fabric on the cushions was a perfect installation.
Mixing high street with more bespoke and made to measure elements has created this wonderful contemporary entrance hall, open plan kitchen/diner, and casual seating area that is bright and airy.
