Brief
To renovate a 1960’s style top floor Apartment overlooking the sea near Boscombe. The client required clean lines, a modern design using grey and turquoise that added light, texture and a modern look.
Inspiration and Design
No major structural changes were planned, albeit the property required re-wiring and the existing wall lighting was completely inadequate for purpose. With solid concrete walls and ceilings we were limited, so for a streamlined design we opted to install a false ceiling to discretely hide wires, with modern recessed LED’s and new cabling channelled into the walls for smart new switches & sockets. The rooms are not overlooked so we could keep window treatments to a minimum with simple roller blinds just to diffuse direct sunlight, modern wave curtains with black-out lining in the master bedroom for a touch of elegance and simple black-out roman blinds in the guest room for clean lines but avoiding any stack back. The walls throughout were painted a simple light shade of grey and woodwork kept white with feature walls in both bedrooms, whilst the hallway was decorated with a heavy duty commercial wallpaper that was hardwearing and with a reflective pattern that replicated water running down a window. Darker areas were dressed with oversized round ‘porthole’ mirrors that helped to bounce light around. A beautifully deep soft carpet was used in the bedrooms, hall and the open plan living space for comfort. This also had a slightly reflective quality and appears to shimmer like the water in certain lights. The shades between carpet and paint were kept close to create space and flow and blended well with the existing bathroom suites. All internal doors were replaced with natural oak with modern curved fixings and we used half glazed options for general rooms to move light back into the hallway. Although using a wide selection of different materials, these all flowed together in the furniture. To avoid minimalism and to make it homely we softened the hard and smooth lines by adding subtle geometric patterns in soft furnishings and accessories. Velvet works well to add a little glamour and sumptuousness, without it being too feminine.
Storage was essential so we used M2M floor to ceiling wardrobes in reflective glass in both bedrooms and the hallway to create sufficient space for personal items etc but without them dominating each room. The flat hosted a unique old fashioned unit that the client wanted to replicate between the kitchen and dining room. A bespoke 2-sided unit was created using a mix of modern materials, including 2-way drawers, plenty of open/closed shelving in the dining zone with mirrors and lights to emphasise sculptures and nik-naks and a new kitchen breakfast bar with large opening hatch with glazed doors. This allowed access to the sea view from the kitchen with more light transfer between rooms but also the ability to close when cooking to avoid smells being transferred.
Each area flows well into the other and can now be personalised accordingly. My favourite room is the master bedroom with plenty of reflective storage units, the comfortable swivel chair and the amazing split quartz feature wall that is stunning, especially on days when it lightly glints in the sunshine.
NB : A COUPLE OF INITIAL FITTING PHOTOS ARE ATTACHED BUT FULL IMAGES WILL FOLLOW ONCE FULL DESIGN AND INSTALLATION HAS BEEN COMPLETED.
