Buckler Court, London N7

A new home for a new client – this open plan living & dining room had a kitchen and carpets that would remain but our brief was to develop ideas for colour schemes, furniture layout options, window treatments and lighting as well as looking at solutions to improve storage around the kitchen area.

Kitchen

Our clients said they would love to have a wine cooler fridge but were not sure how they would incorporate one into the room, as the current kitchen layout did not have any flexibility due to appliances and very limited cupboard space all being essential to keep.

First off, we wanted to come up with additional storage solutions for the kitchen area. The clients said they were not going to have stools at the breakfast bar, so we took the opportunity to design cupboards and shelving that could fit under the breakfast bar overhang.. and while investigating this we discovered there was an even deeper void in the corner, allowing us to push a 600mm deep wine cooler in here by removing a section of the breakfast bar back panel. This resulted in a very discreet way to incorporate this additional appliance into the room without needing to occupy any extra floorspace!

We designed shelving either side of the extractor fan along the same style as the breakfast bar area and had a back painted splashback made to protect the walls from splashes etc. We also replaced the white plastic sockets for stainless steel ones in the same finish as the existing steel splashback at the hob. So the result is a more practical kitchen space with storage within easy reach of the hob to make cooking more enjoyable and efficient.

The Design Process

Open plan living and dining area

When it came to the dining area, an extending table was the best solution to keep the space versatile. The clients loved to entertain so being able to seat a larger group was key, but when the table is in its smaller size it frees up more floor space in the room. The pendant light has a hook on the ceiling so that it can be positioned over the table when extended or when pushed up against the wall.

The large window needed a curtain to help shield the sunlight during the day and I also felt that it would be worth installing a pendant light over the dining table to give another focal point in the room. The colour scheme was inspired by the fact that there is so much yellow visible outside – this is balanced by the grey wall tones which have a slight hint of purple, which contrasts with the yellow outside. Yellow itself is introduced in the curtain stripe, along with black and white. When closed, this curtain softens the view outside but still allows daylight in. The underside of the pendant light is yellow gold, which adds to this colour theme too.

We looked at the living and dining areas simultaneously as they are part of one open plan space.  So here we wanted to continue the colour scheme and bring in the purple-grey tones to balance out the yellow colour coming through from the balcony.  We also looked at introducing softer textures in the sofa upholstery which helped to create a relaxed, inviting space.

The Design Process

Master Bedroom

We considered the master bedroom in relation to the rest of flat. We wanted the entire property to be cohesive in terms of design and colour but also to be visually diverse and interesting. We introduced a geometric wallpaper which blended with the warm grey colour on the walls but added a subtle metallic pattern to the room. This small scale pattern was a good way to break up the larger block of wall colour without being too busy or distracting.  The full length double pinch pleat heading curtains add warmth and frame the window opening whilst introducing softer lines to the space.

The Design Process

Hallway