A/W 11 Design: Hotel
This particular trend will delivers the wow factor through the reinvention of glamour. References to classic design are provided through smart and considered styling. The aim, of course, is not to make your room look like a hostel but to deliver a romantic old world feel, glamorous and sexy. From our range on www.furnishings-direct.co.uk , i have slected some key items which reflect this trend and can either help or inspire your design efforts today.
The Minogue Mendez Slate or Fortini Amethyst bed covers offer the rich style and comfort that are so integral to this trend. Don’t be put off by the celebrity design tag, these covers are deeply stylish, and affordable too. Most importantly, they would not look out of place in a luxury hotel in Paris or London. The darker colour scheme makes them ideal for a more wintery, cosy atmosphere.
Curtains from Stella Navy are also a good starting place. In Navy or plum particularly, they do add the old world design that we so desire for this trend. A rich, darker pallette is the way forward!
When it comes to decoration, Hulanicki canvasses are a great starting place, though be sure that they match with your colour scheme. Framed city prints, like this of Florence, add class and style without seeming pretentious, they add to the glitzy feel of the room and allow you to imagine you are there or in New York instead of England! How very, very trendy.
Designing a Kid’s Bedroom
The idea of doing a room for your child can be a daunting one – do the normal rules of design apply? What can you do to make sure your child loves and uses the room? To what standard of maturity do you decorate it?
The first rule should be this: your child will grow fast, and thus could grow out of the room just as fast. The trick is to make your one design last for at least 3 or 4 years. This means that customisability and adapatability are key in the room.
Walls and fittings like the bed will be the most permament features, so ensure they will last your child from age A to age B without them growing bored. We’d recommend a simple painted wall design, with maybe one feature wall. Don’t be afraid to experiment with colours (boys don’t only like blue and girls don’t only like pink), though if your child shows a prediliction for a particular colour, this could be worked into the design. As feature walls go, the trick here is to pick an idea that isn’t too mature, but not too ‘young’ either – this will help prevent your child ‘growing out of it’. Maybe a wallpaper from the spirit figaro range for example.
The bed should be suitable for growing kids: whilst a fitted bunk/raised bed might be great when they are very young, what if they outgrow it and you have to replace it with another? A suitable bed should be big enough to hold them, with growing room and fit the aesthetic of the room. Not too childish, not too mature.
When it comes to furniture, storage and accessories you have more room to play around, as it were. Bean Bags are great, fun furniture for kids and will suit the room for many years. When it comes to storage, we all know how messy children can be. Innovative storage systems are the way forwards – maybe roll out boxes from under the bed, or boxes that flatpack when not in use. Canvasses and prints are a great way of updating the room from favourite cartoon characters to band members as they grow older. More generic prints to bring a slightly more mature feeling can also be bought. The beauty of this system is that these can be constantly swapped to bring a new edge to your child’s room!
Minimalism: The Interior Design Trend Of The Moment.
Reflecting the age of austerity, the latest trend in interior design taps into the national zeitgeist. Fabulous, ostentaious glamour is out, and minimal, understated, clean elegance is in. At www.furnshings-direct.co.uk we are dedicated to helping you decorate your home to a great standard, and this includes helping you navigate our products in relation to trends. Thus: minimalism.
As a result of the financial crisis, it is only normal to question what we need in our lives. This expunging of the old and desire for something simple and new leads to several key looks:
Sleek, Straight Lines: When done wrong this look makes your house seem like a horrible clinic from the future, very cold and stark. However, when done right the room looks sleek, sharp and sexily modern. In a kitchen or bathroom this is easily achieved through very straight edged fittings. In a lounge or bedroom, which doesn’t necessarily have fittings, however, how can we bring this trend into our homes? The lounge is simply done through furniture like coffee tables and shelving. Sofas too can be considered in a minimal manner for this look. In the bedroom too, declutter fittings and replace with minimal, straight ones.
Natural Colour Scheme: This look is very easy to achieve in any room. A pallette of whites, beiges and tasteful browns can ensure your room looks modern and stylish and these colours all compliment one another very well. That is not to say that bolder colours like stark white, bold red, or deep black cannot be used, but these should be offset stylishly. The key here is not to avoid boldness, but to make bolder designs look quieter and more understated. Whatever your colour scheme, it should be adhered to when buying furniture, fittings and accessories too. These natural coloured bathroom towels, for example, fit in perfectly with the minimal aesthetic.
Storage and Clutter: Minimal does tend to mean tidy (and that doesn’t include organised mess!), so ample storage is needed in any room. The trick, however, is to make the storage not clutter the room itself. We have already discussed furniture above but with regards to beds and tables etc., the minimal way can tend to focus around modern looking designs, meaning storage is not always possible. Thus, clever boxes like these, that fold flat for easy storage, are perfect. The trick is innovative use of space, in our example the boxes fold away when not in use and so don’t uneccessarily clutter the room.
So thats 3 simple tips for bringing minimalism into your home. A simple maxim that helps is ‘less is more’!
Kylie Minogue
From dance diva Kylie Minogue comes a range of stunning, fashionable range of bedding. Throws, Bolster Cushions, Pillows, Sheets: all are available in this designer range on www.furnishings-direct.co.uk.
Minogue is perhaps, and rightly so, most famous for her career as a singer (with such hits as ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ and ‘Spinning Around’). However, she has also worked as a songwriter, an actress and, now of course, a designer. Products from the Kylie range are lavishly ostentatious and reject the very minimalist trends that have been the favoured inspiration for designers recentl. Great for adding glamour and decadence to any bedroom, the Kylie range from www.furnshings-direct.co.uk .
