The Design Fairy Blog

Spring Interior Delights

thedesignfairy — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 13:19:16 +0000

This week I was browsing for inspiration and I walked past Designer’s Guild on Kings Road in London. I wanted to share their spring window because I just thought that it was so gorgeous. Although it’s cold outside the blue colours and tones are so inspiring – they make me look forward to the spring season and all of the bright and beautiful fresh changes that come with it.

I love the teal and turquoise furniture which stands out so brightly and elegantly against the white coffee and side tables. Spring perfection – calm, cool and inviting!

Michelle x

Project Colour: Choosing a scheme

thedesignfairy — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 12:00:06 +0000

I’m currently working on a scheme for a client and we’re working towards a colour scheme for the majority of the house. I love putting colour schemes together; I find working with colour and tones exciting and think it can make or break a space.

Colour Scheme by Farrow & Ball via Style at Home

This is the process I’ve always used when putting a scheme together for my clients.

1. Choose your main colour - most people tend to be drawn to a certain colour. If that’s the case, I always believe that to begin with you should run with your gut instinct. For the project I’m working on we’ve begun with Farrow & Ball’s famous Cornforth White

Inspiration

This was an image I found on Pinterest which was my inspiration for the grey scheme. Once you have your base colour you can then decide how to progress with the colour scheme. It is important that the new colours that you introduce to the scheme are tonal, harmonious or complementary.

So what do I mean by this?

Tonal colour schemes use just one colour but varying tones of it throughout a room or use more than one colour but all with the same depth of tone

Tonal Colour Scheme

Harmonious colour schemes pick colours which are next to one another or near by on the colour wheel. These schemes give a calming and tranquil feel, a look that is easy to live with.

Harmonious Colour Scheme

Complementary or contrasting colour schemes use colours which lie opposite one another on the wheel. Such colours tend to inject life into a room – they’re much more bold and daring – but whilst they may make a big impact they are not necessarily the calmest of schemes to live with!

Complementary Colour Scheme

North London Interior Design & Refurbishment Project

thedesignfairy — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:08:15 +0000

So this week I’m delighted to have completed on a little project that I’ve been working on for about 5/6 weeks. I was approached in January by an estate agent on behalf of a client – they were looking to refurbish a two bedroom flat in a great location in Angel, North London. The client lives abroad but wanted me to take a look to see how I could bring the space back to life a bit and update it … his description was to create a more contemporary but city-living like interior within the space.

This is what I was working with …

My canvas

As soon as I confirmed the job I got to work putting together colour schemes and moodboards for the furniture for the Living Room and Bedrooms. The client was keen to create a clean and contemporary feel to the space and he wanted it to feel quite light too. This is what I suggested …

Finishes

Living Room Moodboard

Bedroom One

Bedroom Two

Once the design was accepted my contractor took over. I work with a great firm, Vine Construction, who work on alot of my major refurbishments. Reliable, efficient and knowledgeable I’d highly recommend them. By this point, I’d persuaded the client to refurbish both of the bathrooms. They needed some love and TLC so I suggested grey tiles in a brick effect which would look amazing against crisp white sanitary-ware:

For the bathrooms …

The works took just over 3 weeks which was excellent. The floors were changed throughout, engineered wood in the living room and carpets throughout the rest of the space. We went for Cornforth White (my FAVOURITE colour) from Farrow & Ball. I love this colour because whilst elegant I think it is very flexible – it’s perfect for traditional and classic styles of interior design but it also works exceedingly well within a contemporary interior too.

So once the renovations were complete by Vine Construction the furniture was brought in and placed, the curtains hung and the beds dressed for the estate agent. I really liked the finish look of this project. Although it’s quite bare in some respects – there’s not much in the flat just yet as it is now being rented out – I love the colours used and the contemporary nature of the furniture to fit the brief.

I was also delighted that the client wanted to keep the dining table and chairs – the chairs are a dark wood with a deep green-blue leather upholstery and cool gold button detailing. They’re really interesting and different! I also kept the gold mirror – I like a bit of quirkiness in any space and think it also helps to bring more light into the living room (which is my favourite room by the way!)

Living Room

Dining Area

First Bedroom

En-suite Bathroom

Second Bedroom

Shower Room

What do you think of the project?

Michelle x

8 Blogs that Rock & Why …

thedesignfairy — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 19:27:50 +0000

As I mentioned in my last post I’m currently enrolled on a Decor8 E-course and my homework this week is to name 8 blogs that rock and why …

1. Cupcakes and Cashmere

I love her photographs and fresh material!

2. SF Girl by Bay

Quirky posts, great photography and always fresh ideas!

3. Vosgesparis

Beautiful interior shots, clean lines on her blog and it all just looks gorgeous!

4. House of She

I love her blog posts about trends and how she presents her work. It always looks beautiful!

5. The Decorista

She always has beautiful interiors and I love her Sunday posts “10 things that rocked my world this week”.

6. Adore Your Place

Cathy always writes great posts about DIY tips and her blog posts are fresh and interesting!

From the student blog roll I have also loved these two blogs!

7. Insta Designer

Her layout is incredible and I love her posts, especially her moodboards. Everything is so visual – it’s an absolute pleasure to read!

8. She Makes a Home

I love the down-to-earth writing on this blog, brilliant photos and the variety of interesting posts!

I’m looking forward to reading over everyone else’s thoughts and finding some amazing new blogs to read on this #blogboss course!

The Design Fairy x

Away for a little while …

thedesignfairy — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 14:33:38 +0000

To my lovely readers … I’m sorry that I’ve not posted in some time but I thought I should just write and let you know that at the minute I’ve been a little snowed under with my interior design projects. I’m also taking a very exciting e-course by Holly Becker and will be re-doing my blog too. I’m going to be slowly changing my blog over the coming month but in the meantime I hope to be back up and running next week with some new and exciting posts for you to read! Michelle x

Pretty in Pink via Pinterest

The Design Fairy x

Draw-dropping Interior Design: Grey & Lavender

thedesignfairy — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 12:00:11 +0000

My draw almost fell to the floor when I saw the interior design of this beautiful residence put together by Lichten Craig. It’s totally up my street – a neutral palette with a touch of grey and lavender accompanied by some striking yet simple furniture. It’s fair to say I’m very much in love with this home …

I’m in love …

The Design Fairy x

Pink & Green Interiors – Spring Colour Inspiration!

thedesignfairy — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 10:02:18 +0000

On Monday I wrote a short post about the adding a little plant-inspired design to welcome Spring into your home. Today I wanted to share this gorgeous tulip-inspired colour concept from Design Seeds as I think it’s perfect for a spring colour palette:

Tulip Colour Concept

I love these colours. Pink and green within any interior provides such a sense of freshness … below are a few images which I hope will provide inspiration for a spring interior if you are thinking of mixing things up a little …

via My Luscious Life

via Design Darling

via Belle Vivir

The Design Fairy x

Design Tips for Spring – Botanical Prints

thedesignfairy — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 23:20:34 +0000

With the sun out in full force today I really felt like spring may be on it’s way. It’s still pretty chilly but it was light, bright and the sun even stuck around until 5pm! With this in mind – what can you do to update your home for spring in line with the 2013 design trends?

It’s become clear that botanical patterns are here to stay; so if you’re looking to incorporate some freshness into your home why don’t you add some plant-inspired prints into your home …

Botanical Wallpaper from Miss Print via The Design Sheppard

Bright Leafy Spring Cushions via Dunelm Mill

Pink Botanicals via H&M

The Design Fairy x

Home Tour: Monochrome Home

thedesignfairy — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 16:16:06 +0000

I fell in love with Myra Hoefer’s home this week when I was writing my interior focus post on Fluff & Feathers. What really attracts me to this home is the monochrome palette and mix of french and modern furniture. I think it is such a beautiful home, but calm and relaxing at the same time.

Living Room

French Fireplace

Dining Room

Kitchen

Open Space

Bedroom

Marble Bathroom

Photos via Inspiracionline

The Design Fairy x

Interior Focus: Fluff & Feathers

thedesignfairy — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 10:16:15 +0000

I’m a girl, so of course I have innate love of all things soft and pretty. I’ve noticed, though, that recently I’ve really begun to like a touch of fluff or feather in my interiors … Looking through my Pinterest account (I know I keep mentioning it, but I’m totally addicted to it at the minute) there are quite a few fluffy and pretty looking interiors.

Fluffy Beanbag via Pinterest

Fluffy Pillows via Inspiracionline

Fluffy Chairs via Pinterest

Fluffy Bedroom Chandelier via Pinterest

Feather Lampshade via E-Junkie

One of my favourite restaurants in London – Mao Tai

I hope you’ve enjoyed lusting over the fluffiness and feathers as much as I have!

Have a great weekend!

The Design Fairy x