Interior designer Leicestershire

Bringing Hotel Chic Home

It’s always a pleasure to take a break from routine and stay in a luxury hotel. How many times have you returned refreshed, but wondering how to incorporate some of the hotels design ideas into your home? Even if you’ve not been away recently, looking at luxury hotel websites will give you plenty of ideas to copy.

While your living room, bedroom or ensuite might not have hotel dimensions, with some planning and the advice of an East Midlands interior design company, you can adapt what you’ve seen to create your own luxury hotel experience.

For the refurbishment of a bathroom or ensuite, look for polished wall and (non slip) floor tiles in cool colours, stone or marble vanity units – ‘his’ and ‘hers’ basins if you have the space – the largest mirror you can find and recessed down lighting. Opt for a walk-in shower with a contemporary round, flat head and rain shower flow. Add glass shelves for storage, piled with fluffy towels and you’ve got a luxurious start every day.

In the bedroom, think grey, silver or light gold wallpaper, a high bed head in a toning colour and a luxury bed with mattress topper, heaped with cushions. This look is sleek and sophisticated, so use an ottoman for storage to reduce clutter. Furnish with metallic or Perspex side and dressing tables, adding a pretty French style chair. If the room’s large enough, why not have a day bed?

If you’re redesigning your living area, you could remove a wall to create a larger space, and continuing your chosen flooring from the hallway into other rooms also helps. Position your seating away from the walls and with a sofa and armchair, or armchairs at ninety degrees round a coffee table with an occasional table between them, you’ve got a cosy ‘conversation’ group. If you have space, create more than one: perhaps opposite windows or doors looking into the garden?

Go for the deepest chairs and best quality upholstery your budget allows. Pile cushions and throws in toning colours to create a cosy feel, especially for winter months. If you have an open fire or burner, add log baskets to the hearth.

In keeping with the luxury hotel theme, add your own bar area to your living space. A cabinet, with double doors for hanging glasses, fitted with shelves and a small fridge would really surprise and impress guests, or fit a bar top in an alcove or corner and add a couple of stools for a budget friendly option.

Think about lighting and accessories carefully. Table lamps create soft pools of light but make sure they’re powerful enough to read by. Look for one large, eye catching artwork or group several smaller pieces in matching frames together and collect new or good quality secondhand large format books to display on a coffee table.

Whatever you decide, choose carefully and your problem won’t be finding enough guests, but asking them politely to leave once they’ve admired your style.

Bring Your Home Alive With Colour

If you like browsing interiors magazines, blogs and websites, but aren’t sure how to bring the ideas you like into your own home, you’ll find that an interior designer Leicestershire will have all the skills and experience necessary to adapt what’s currently trending and making it exactly right for your home.

A current key trend is colour blocking. This can be interpreted in several ways and how you do it and the colours you choose will depend on the size of your room, possibly the amount of natural light, and any pieces of furniture you want included.

You could choose to have all four walls painted in the same shade. A deep blue, plum red or green, for example, would work well paired with leather or velvet upholstery and cushions in a similar shade if you want to create a cosy feel for a study or living room. The effect might be to make a small room appear smaller, but this can be countered with the use of mirrors and well positioned lamps.

For a brighter look, and if your room has good natural light, try using toning colours such as sunshine yellow and blue (which would combine well in a sunny kitchen), shades of the same colour, or use grey, which you’ll have noticed appearing everywhere recently, as a on trend contrast neutral. If you have an open plan area, think about using different colours to define sitting, dining and kitchen areas, for example.

Once you’ve chosen your base colour or colours (go as bold as you like – think fuschia, lime green, electric blue) – you’re ready to start layering. Collect pictures from those magazines, bookmark your favourite interiors blogs, get some fabric samples and create your own actual or digital mood board. If you’re using an interior designer, they’ll be able to create a professional one for you following a site visit.

If you’re confident with colour and find bright colours energizing, try teaming a really bright wall with an equally bright sofa in a different ‘pop out’ colour. Keep a clear space between the sofa and the wall, a neutral floor, perhaps with a rug in the same shade as your walls, and choose your accessories carefully to really make your colours the focus of attention. Try white, silver, glass or retro wood for a living area, while for a luxurious study, some well chosen antique pieces would suit the look perfectly.

When you first see your bright colour on the wall, it may seem a step too far, especially if you’re used to neutrals, but think of it as a backdrop. Look for one large piece of stunning wall art which will be framed perfectly by the wall colour, or fix a collection of monochrome photo frames in a tight arrangement in one area to give an alternative focus.

Whatever you decide on, be bold. Repaint whenever you want a colour change so your look stays fresh and let colour blocking brings your home alive.

Some Recipes for a Great Looking Kitchen

The kitchen is increasingly becoming the most important room in our homes, used not just for cooking but for working and socialising too.

One of the most on-trend looks for kitchens is to use white for cabinets teamed with a mix of white, metallics and natural textures. As white reflects light, if your kitchen faces north or east, you’ll benefit immediately from the effect. If you’re able to extend your kitchen, a glazed roof would also help.

If you like a very tidy look, keep to white gloss cabinets and counters, with minimal appliances on show, perhaps, using a line of Perspex containers as an non-invasive storage option. If you need additional storage, find room for an island unit with white or silver down lighters hung low above it.

This contemporary style looks good matched with a grey floor. (Remember, when choosing your flooring, that natural stone, for example, may be unforgiving if you have young children or very precious china!) You could also have grey marble or natural wood worktops if you feel that too much white would overwhelm the space. A firm of interior designers in East Midlands, or your own area, would have lots of ideas on how to create the look you want in the space available.

Maybe you prefer to have everyday china on show? Then have white floor to ceiling cabinets in a ‘dresser’ arrangement along one or more walls. Adding glass doors, means you’ll be able to find what you need easily.

This option also works well if you want to go for a ‘farmhouse’ feel but, instead of having fitted units, you could use freestanding cabinets in painted wood and use wood for the worktops and flooring too, though these will have to be treated to protect them from potential humidity. Using open baskets as shelf and counter storage fits well with this style of kitchen.

You may have a table and chairs in your kitchen and these would look good all in pale, natural wood or a wooden table paired with metallic or Perspex chairs. If your kitchen opens onto the garden, try and place the table and chairs so you can enjoy the view when eating (even though it might be a distraction if you work from home.) If your kitchen is large enough, why not also create a second seating area using a small sofa and coffee table? You’ll be able to entertain friends as you cook or take a few moments to relax between the stages of cooking a meal.

You’ll find plenty of inspiration in interiors magazines but your kitchen must work for you and your family so take time to choose and make it the heart of your home.

Designing From the Floor Upwards

When thinking about redesigning a room, it’s easy to get excited about colours and fabrics for walls and upholstery, new furniture and accessories, yet the floor covering sometimes gets overlooked, especially if your room is small and not much of the floor shows. But that doesn’t have to be the case and, by choosing carefully, your floor can make a design statement of its own.

While in recent years, interior schemes have tended to neutrals rather than colours, the current trend for all things retro has seen increased interest in bright colours and patterns.

If you’re planning a new scheme for a small room, and you’ve chosen a patterned wall covering, a plain colour for your floors will make sure that the space doesn’t look too cluttered and make the room appear larger. But while you may go for a plain colour, you’ll have a wide choice of finishes: carpet, real wood, stone or porcelain tiles, for example. Choosing real wood or stone will also give you textural interest because of their natural variations.

If your walls are plain, a well chosen patterned floor covering – whether carpet, real wood, tiles or laminate – would be an excellent base for your design ideas.Before you choose your pattern though, think about where your furniture will go: if the pattern is a large one, much of it may be hidden in a small room. Should this be the case, why not use a plain floor covered with brightly patterned rugs in key areas? If you’re interested in upcycling, you’ll find quirky bright rugs made from all kinds of materials including recycled plastic carrier bags! A great way to make an individual style statement.

In a hallway, try continuing your floor covering into adjacent rooms and up the stairs. You don’t necessarily have to cover the entire stair. A look which would work especially well in a period home would have carpet, laminate, or a natural fibre such as jute, in the centre of each step, with the rest of the step painted. To make even more of a statement, simply paint the whole staircase, either in one colour, a different colour for alternate stairs or each step in a different colour.

If you’re redesigning your bedroom, using an interior design company in Leicester will help turn your ideas into reality. When it comes to the flooring, carpet would be a good choice if you’d like to step onto a warm surface on cold mornings. Blue is trending and a bright blue or softer mauve tone in a velvet finish offers luxury and an early morning mood lifter. If your room is large enough, a large geometric pattern would be an on trend statement option, while a wooden floor painted in a pale colour wash and covered in toning rugs would give you the continually popular ‘New England’ style.

Whichever rooms you’re redesigning, don’t forget that your floor isn’t just for walking on; let it make a design statement of its own too.

Why Use a Professional for a Home Renovation Project?

Renovating your home can be time consuming and disruptive but if the project is planned and costed carefully and overseen and carried out by professionals, the finished result will not only give you an attractive living space but potentially increase your home’s value. With the cost of moving increasing all the time, property renovation is a cost effective way of turning your property into the home you’ve always wanted.

A design company experienced in home renovation Leicestershire is the perfect starting point and, working with experienced subcontractors as required, they will make sure you get a professional final result.

Renovation can take many forms including the installation of new bathrooms, bedrooms and kitchens or the upgrading and modernisation of existing facilities to suit the changing needs of a growing family. For example, if you have teenagers, you can never have enough bathroom space! Alternatively you may be thinking about age proofing your home for later years with a walk-in shower or wet room.

If you’re involved in property development as an investment, you may need to carry out major renovation work on an older house or apartment in order to meet modern standards for heating, wiring and plumbing, for example. You’ll need to budget for the services of an architect if you’re going to make structural changes.

When looking for ideas for lower key renovations, collect pictures of interiors which appeal to you and an experienced home renovation company will be able to interpret your ideas and, where necessary, suggest alternatives to match your budget.

While at one time a period property would automatically be decorated in a period style, nowadays anything goes. Adding a modern, glazed extension – either single or double storey – at the rear can flood a dark Victorian or Edwardian villa with natural light while keeping the style intact at the front: especially important if your home is in a terrace.

You may decide that while you love your home, the layout of rooms isn’t ideal for your family’s lifestyle. An interior designer will be able to make practical suggestions, such as swapping the functions of some rooms, streamlining your life and your home.

Incorporating items like a butlers sink or dresser into a redesigned kitchen, along with contemporary units in neutral colours and a natural stone, or wooden floor gives a fresh update, incorporating the convenience of modern living with the unique character of an older property. Neutrals, paired with metallics would also particularly suit a 30’s style home adding light, colour and a feeling of luxury.

But whatever style of home you have, you’ll find that shopping for furniture and the all important ‘finishing touch’ accessories for the project will be both easy and enjoyable, with a huge range of sources, whether you go for antique pieces or modern reproductions.

A renovation project isn’t to be undertaken lightly: you may even have to move out temporarily but working with professionals is a cost effective way to the home of your dreams.

Advantages of Using an Interior Designer

If you’re planning to upgrade one or more rooms in your home, you’ll probably have a good idea of what you’d like the final effect to be. However, you may feel you just don’t have the space or the budget for everything you’d like included. That’s where an interior designer Leicestershire can help.

The designer will look at the space you have available, what you want to use the room or rooms for and then help you achieve the maximum possible within your budget.

It’s useful to have some idea of any ‘theme’ or colours you want to use before meeting your interior designer – maybe you’ll have collected a few paint, wallpaper or fabric samples – but your designer is uniquely placed to be both up to date on the latest trends and able to interpret elements of them in the most cost effective way for your home.

While you may buy the occasional ‘interiors’ magazine, a professional interior designer will constantly be researching current ideas in interiors through magazines, the internet and trade exhibitions and will also have a portfolio of work with previous clients for you to browse. They will help you tailor your vision to what is feasible and most appropriate for the style of your home. If you’re prepared to have an open mind and trust your designer, you may find that you achieve a stunning new look for your home in a totally different way to how you’d imagined. Your designer will also be able to bring a range of pattern books and samples which you can look at in a variety of lighting conditions and alongside any furniture or furnishings you’re keeping, before making a decision.

If any structural work needs to be done, your designer will probably be able to recommend highly qualified professionals they’ve worked with before and will manage their input so that all the elements of the scheme are completed in the correct order and with minimal disruption to your home and normal routine.

As well as advising on the key elements such as colours, finishes, furniture and lighting, an experienced interior designer will also be able to help you choose those all important accessories such as lamps, wall art and storage solutions which will give your new space an individual look, whether you’re looking for the glamorous or simply the practical.

With autumn now here, fresh new colour schemes using pastels with accent bright colours, metallics and monochrome shades are featuring heavily in interiors and, if you decide you’d like to incorporate some of these trends into your new rooms, your designer will offer plenty of suggestions on picking the ideas which will the most suitable, whether for a modern or a period property.

Redesigning part of your home is exciting but it’s worth taking time to do your research and planning first, so that the investment you make will satisfy you for years to come.

Bringing the Highlands Home

The Commonwealth Games, held recently in Glasgow, seem to have sparked interest in all things Scottish. While learning to speak Gaelic or dance a Scottish Reel might be too much of an ask, you can easily introduce Scottish patterns into your home for a cozy, traditional look.

Start with tartan, probably the most recognizable element of Scottish culture. If you know anything about your family history, you might be able to link to a specific tartan but if not, it comes in such a huge variety of colourways, that finding one to kick start your interior scheme shouldn’t be a problem. You’ll find warm, rich reds and purples, cool blues and greens, even neutral oatmeal shades.

In a large room, you could start from the floor upwards, adding layers to the scheme with upholstery and curtains, but a tartan carpet could overwhelm so, if that’s not for you, think tartan upholstered chairs and curtains against a carpet in a plain colour chosen from the background of the tartan.

If you live in a period property with large rooms, you could have framed tartan wall panels on a large plain wall or use tartan wallpaper above or below a dado rail, used with a contrast colour. These options will stop the pattern becoming too overwhelming. In a smaller space, one or two walls in your chosen plaid should be enough.

If you’re updating, rather than redesigning a room, you can still introduce the Highland look through upholstery on chairs, footstools or curtains. If you’ve got a plain colour scheme, take the base colour, pick a tartan which has that colour and use it for cushions or throws piled onto your seats. Go for as many as you can to create a luxurious space for relaxing in. Try and look at your fabric or wallpaper samples in both natural and artificial light. What gives a warm, cosy feeling in winter may be too dark for a bright summer’s day.

If your styling is eclectic, interior designers in East Midlands will have plenty of design ideas and might suggest you could choose a number of different tartans and mix them up. Vintage, up cycling and crafts are all trending now, so look out for an old footstool to recover, make a drought excluder or curtain tiebacks from tartan remnants, add tartan frames to pictures or mirrors, make a display of tartan china or kitsch souvenirs from Scotland; the only limit is your imagination.

But if you’re not a fan of tartan? Then just base your scheme on the lovely muted tones of the Scottish countryside: greens, soft browns, heather’s, greys. Pair plain and lightly checked fabrics, contrast with cream or oatmeal, and you’ll have a look that’s as refreshing as the Highland air.

Whether you decide to go for all out tartan or just a few Scottish touches, you can have a lot of fun creating a highland look that’s perfect for your home.

Making the Most of Window Treatments

Whether you’re redesigning or just redecorating a room, there are so many elements to consider: flooring, wall coverings, furniture, lighting and, of course, window treatment. Curtains and blinds can play a huge part in adding to the atmosphere and you’ll be spoilt for choice in the range of window treatments available.

If you have a living room which opens onto, or simply looks onto a garden, use curtains to ‘frame’ the view. Using some of the latest sheers under fabric curtains, will allow light in and lead your eyes through the window into the space beyond. In the brightest of lights, the sheer curtains mean you can leave the windows or doors open in summer for ventilation, while reducing heat and the effect of sunlight on your carpets and furniture.

In the winter, curtains – particularly if they are floor length and lined – provide warmth and a sense of cosiness. However, unless you have a period home and are designing to match a historic architectural style, gone are the days of heavy fabrics with deep valances and elaborate ties.

Today’s look for a modern home is simpler and less cluttered. If you have patterned carpet, walls or furniture, think plain blocks of colour at the windows to tone with shades used elsewhere in the room. Greys are on trend and work well with blues, greens and yellows. If you have a large room, try a coloured fabric blind behind curtains in a toning shade but be aware that this layering could make a smaller room seem even smaller.

If you like patterned curtains and the rest of the room is plain, go for a bold motif picking up on a key colour from your scheme, or try one of the many geometric designs available this autumn and winter. Ideally, let your curtains touch the floor and choose a deep box pleat as a modern heading treatment.

Depending on your budget, blinds might be a better solution than curtains. Roman blinds, for example, use less fabric than curtains as they generally only cover the window recess rather than extending down to the floor. Stripes on plain coloured heavy cotton, for example, would give a great look for a smart bedroom, study or home office.

Measuring for fabric to make curtains and blinds needs to be done accurately and is best left to a designer or curtain expert, as mistakes can be costly. Agree where any necessary joins will be made so that these can be as well hidden as possible. Consider what lining you’ll need: for a bedroom facing a busy road, you might want blackout lining to prevent glare from street lights or traffic. Check how your curtains or blinds should be cleaned and what you can use as a spot treatment for accidental stains.

Don’t regard curtains and blinds as an add-on to a design scheme. Once closed, they’re part of the ‘wall’ where the windows are and a key element to creating an inviting, welcoming space.

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