Diary of a London Interior designer – showrooms, site visits and a photoshoot

Monday

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Back to specifying for the new apartment project at Prince of Wales Drive development we are working on. The design ideas have been bubbling for a few weeks, it’s time to bring them all together.

The client doesn’t take occupation until January 2022 so a long lead time on this one. Clients often come to us with a tight deadline – to be given 18 months is a dream. However we need to ensure products and finishes will still be available in a year, suppliers often change their ranges and collection. Initial thoughts on the schemes are looking great, love using strong greens – and lots of different textures too.

Our client for this project lives abroad so I’ll be packing up design boards later in the week. You can only do so much virtually, clients really need to see and more importantly feel the proposed finishes.

 

Tuesday

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Back working with a regular client today. Four projects in she has become a friend – and interesting (long story short) she knew my late father in law many years ago. Today we are at the rental apartment we designed around 3 years ago for her in Kings Cross. The existing tenant has moved on so it was time to dress it up for rental pictures and a fly through video.

You can see more pictures of this apartment in one of our project showcases here. We took a tired space that had the same tenants for years and updated it. The bathroom here is one of my own personal favourite designs.

Fancy moving in? Take a closer look. With amazing views over the Kings Cross basin and the Union Canal I’m sure new tenants will be moving in soon.

 

Wednesday

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Headed to Regent’s Park this morning to a client’s townhouse. We’ve been working on a gentle refresh of some of the principal rooms. This project is mainly decoration and new furniture, and refinishing existing furniture – without changing the kitchen or the bathrooms.

The latest addition is new Roman blinds to the stairwell. This house is spread over 6 floors, there are lots of stairs. We’ve added blinds to the lowest two floors. The beautiful fabric is from Blackpop – part of their Tudor collection, inspired by works in the National Portrait Gallery.

If you don’t know Blackpop head over to their website and get ready for a riot of colour.

  

Thursday

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A visit to the beautiful Havwoods showroom in Clerkenwell today with a client. Always a delight to visit here, they are our floor supplier of choice. Met a new client so we could work through options for her flooring. The floor is such an essential design item to get right. It’s often a big expense too so you need a quality supplier. We’ve got our eye on a dark herringbone for this project.

If you do struggle with imagining how a floor would look the Havwoods site has a visualiser to help. Upload a picture of your room, select the floor and bingo – you can see how it will look. A very clever tool, you can even save the images to help you ponder. Head over to the Havwoods website to look at this floor and see how it would look in your own room.

  

Friday

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For our new Kings Cross project we are working on the theme for the master bedroom. The client has some treasured artwork that will go in this room. With large open plan living space the bedroom will be a more personal space, somewhere to retreat.

We are working on a blue colour theme for the room to compliment the artwork. But a warm blue, all blues aren’t cold as people think. The bathroom will feature letterbox size tiles (I’m a little over Metro tiles) installed vertically.

I popped into Domus to look at their New Terracotta range. Handmade in Portugal the colours are stunning and so vivid. Those lush blues are definitely on the short list.

  

Well that’s the round up of this week at a working interior design practice. We made great progress on the Battersea project, and design boards now going overseas to the client. Always good to work for a regular client – and building our relationship with a new client as they start to make decision.

We’ve had a good productive week, how about you? Let us know in the comments below – we are always happy to help with an interior design

Have a great weekend,

Andrew & Andrew, London Contemporary Interior Design