How to create a haven over the holidays!

Interior Tips

Every home needs a haven to hide from the bustle of everyday life. Award winning Interior designer Jamie Hempsall explains how.

When your house is absolutely full of people it can sometimes be essential for your sanity to have a “bolt hole” where you can get a few minutes privacy. This allows you to let off steam and calm down from all the frenetic festive celebrations. It is amazing how much work goes into a “relaxing family Christmas” – particularly for those domestic goddesses out there!

With this in mind, we try to encourage householders who have the room to always develop a television free space in their home. Having an area like this can feel a bit of a luxury, but it is amazing how life can be enriched by reducing background noise and sitting in a snug room just enjoying the quiet and taking time to read a book or newspaper properly.

This was very much the remit of this family drawing room that we developed for a client who had a large and boisterous household.

The area was created as somewhere all the family could retreat to. The emphasis was on “old world charm” – fashioning a design incorporating treasured family pieces to ensure the room looked as though it had evolved naturally.

We started by selecting pieces of furniture that were firm family favourites to ensure the room had an immediate feeling of familiarity. The two key sofas featured an incredible vintage William Morris print which set a wonderful tone for the room. One if its main colours is a rich peacock blue which we decided to reference for the main wall and ceiling colour. Peacock blue is an under-rated shade, but extremely useful in rooms such as this because it creates an instant feeling of calm: without being too harsh or cool which is a frequent problem with blue hues.

We then identified three armchairs that had been retired from use re-upholstered them to provide contemporary comfort; covering them in modern antique effect velvet for a long lasting luxurious finish that would be consistent with the overall feel of the room.

Floor length silk curtains were designed to frame the windows, but also to provide warmth and reflect fire and lamp light in the evening to create an especially inviting area. The leading edge trim in orange, turquoise and gold also referenced key colours in the William Morris print of the sofas.

In a room without a television it is important to create a natural focal point. One of the joys of working in a period property is that many rooms retain fireplaces which as well as being a source of heat were the television of their day!

In this room we created symmetry and focus by grouping furniture around the fireplace. This can be done by balancing pieces of a similar size, rather than slavishly mirroring an exact copy as you often see in modern homes. Creating visual harmony in this way avoids a room feeling too staged and works equally well in a contemporary design.

To help cut down on visual clutter, which can be as disturbing as background noise, we worked with a master carpenter to create a bespoke shelf and cupboard unit on the wall opposite the fireplace: painting it in the same peacock blue as the other walls. This helped to further balance the room and provided a neat home to hide books and journals as well as a display area for special family pieces.

As in many period properties this room had high ceilings which could make it feel less intimate. To overcome this we painted the ceilings in the same colour as the walls and installed a dramatic Venetian glass chandelier which casts a marvellously warm light of an evening.

The overall effect is calm and serene, but also warm and inviting. The perfect place to kick off your shoes, grab a glass of wine and spend time completing the crossword in front of a roaring fire.

Jamie Hempsall is the winner of the Best Interior Design – North East Award in the UK Property Awards in Association with Bloomberg Television. See more of his work at www.jamiehempsall.com or call him on 0800 0321 180

This article originally appeared in the Yorkshire Post on 22nd December 2010

My thoughts on how British craftsmen create great interior design solutions to suit all budgets

One of the joys of working in interior design these days is just how much good choice is available to suit households with budgets of all shapes and sizes.

The British passion for design has probably never been higher and the options to satisfy this have never been greater. Design shows on TV abound and demonstrate new levels of sophistication.

Our interest in design means people are becoming more confident in expressing their interior desires and realising that their homes should work around them and not the other way around.

I find that this is leading people to want to develop their requirements very specifically. However, clients are still surprised when we advise them that personally designed pieces are no longer the realm of the super rich and that local crafts people can offer a wealth of cost-effective, tailor made choice.

These days the option to develop bespoke solutions extends beyond large areas such as kitchens or bathrooms. We often provide clients with individual pieces of cabinetry and other furniture where designs are developed not just to satisfy physical needs, but also to meet their aesthetic desires.

I have the pleasure of regularly engaging local crafts people to create these items and know it can be a delight to see a concept develop into something tactile and tangible which satisfies an individual’s personal requirements; giving them an extra frisson of pleasure each time they walk past or touch the piece in question.

One of my favourite people to work with is Martin Holliday, Design Director for Chiselwood. Martin is a trained cabinet maker and has won a number of national awards for his kitchen designs which are truly innovative and naturally beautiful. His passion for wood is particularly infective and his designs for all manner of items including bookcases, wardrobes, study furniture, beds, dining tables and chairs are always right on the nail!

Martin started life as an engineer working with metal, but soon discovered that he could be far more creative in wood, which he says is “a living material I love”.

What might have once been a hobby has developed into a major family run business, which nurtures new talent at its Saxilby workshops, where Martin is able to tightly control all aspects of his business. The recent changes in the economy mean that he has also seen a marked increase in people showing an interest in taking up apprenticeships, guaranteeing these skills will not be lost for future generations.

Martin sums up his design inspiration as “to make something that looks beautiful, without sacrificing the practicality”. This is an important aspect to consider when designing something for your home – so ask around and do not settle on the first person you find. Personal recommendation or practical example is always the best solution and a good craftsman is likely to enhance your design to meet requirements you might not even have considered.

Modern materials mean that designs can be developed to incorporate much more flexibility, featuring a whole host of finishes. Although Martin Holliday has a passion for wood he says he is not fixed on any materials and chooses the right ones to suit the client also incorporating painted finishes, natural stones, acrylics and composites as the brief requires. “At the end of the day” Martin says,” it is about developing a design that works with both a client’s personality and property type”.

So if you are having difficulty finding that perfect piece for your room, or you want to create something to commemorate a special event, seek out the expertise local to you. Your investment could pay wisely for generations to come.

Jamie Hempsall, BIDA, is one of the region’s leading Interiors specialists. Contact him via studio@jamiehempsall.com or follow him on Twitter!


Contact details:
Martin Holliday at Chiselwood Ltd
Fossdyke House, Gainsborough Road, Saxilby, Lincoln, LN1 2JH
http://www.chiselwood.co.uk/
01522 704446

Jamie Hempsall Interiors transfer formal to fabulous

Yorkshire Post - Mid Week Life & Style Section - 23rd September 2009

Interiors

It can be a wrench when you are considering re-decorating a room, particularly if you have spent considerable money on it in the past and it is wearing well.

I always advise clients to “leave well alone” if they have a room that they are regularly using and that is in good repair. However, I often find people are not making the best use of the space available in their homes by keeping entertaining space, such as a formal sitting room, when it would be better employed as an everyday area.

The idea of formal space is ingrained into many of us, but in this day and age is it really practical or pleasurable to dedicate rooms to your occasional guests at the expense of your everyday life?

With some of the amazingly resilient fabrics now on offer, you can ensure that a switch from formal, can still be fashionable and cope with even the hardest use by toddlers and young children – not to mention the odd careless adult!

I was recently invited to a home which had an attractive formal sitting room that the owners only really used at Christmas and the odd family gathering. It was still in excellent condition so the decision to change it was an important one and needed to have extra impact at the end.

The house had been extended in the 1970's which added extra length to the room, but meant the fireplace now appeared off-centre.My remit was to create a comfy sitting room for everyday use, with bomb proof fabric to accommodate heavy use by grown up children and grand-children. It had to be a room that everyone really wanted to go in everyday to relax; snug and cosy for winter was a must!

Firstly, I designed a warm colour palette - banishing the previous creams and yellows to make the room less intimidating (and more stain resistant!).

The room needed additional natural light, which was introduced by using Roman Blinds, rather than curtains and adding a large mirror at the furthest end of the room and behind the shelving in the library unit; reflecting light from windows directly opposite them back into the room.

New coving was used to disguise a difference in room height between the old and new house, as well as providing a channel for hi-fi wiring.

To avoid major re-development work the real fire was replaced with a remote control “living flame” unit: ending trips outside for logs and providing more interactive entertainment as the flames lit up at the touch of a button. The fire was housed in a bespoke library & storage unit, designed with a mixture of fake and real storage that allowed us to visually re-align the fire and re-position it back into the centre of the room.

More theatre was added by incorporating a flat screen TV hidden behind the fire and revealed by a remote control rise & fall system. Perfect for hiding the TV away when not in use.

Comfy and spacious sofas and chairs are critical to the success of any family sitting room. These were designed to specifically accommodate our clients’ leg and lounging requirements and were covered in soft, crushed velvet that is unbelievably hard-wearing!

Finishing touches included a tactile cushioned carpet, wall lights with silk shades to tone with the sofas and a console underneath the mirror.

The end result was a 30% increase in everyday living space and the transformation of a rarely used formal showpiece into a room that is now the heart of the home. Not to mention a very happy family.
Jamie Hempsall is a member of BIDA and one of the region’s leading interior designers. Visit him at http://www.jamiehempsall.com/ or check him out on Twitter!