Home Decor

GROWING FAMILY STORY BY DESIGNER CONTRACTS

When the show home team at Designer Contracts were asked to tell the story of a growing modern family on a new development near Ipswich, they responded with an inspired tale with a happy ending.

The new Bellway Ridley’s Orchard development at Whitton, on the edge of open countryside near Ipswich, is aimed at first time buyers and families. And for this project, the brief for the two show homes – one three and one four bedroomed – was to convey the story of a young couple with a small child who transition from one home to another as a second child comes along.

Said Abbie Lockett of Designer Contracts who led the project: “It was really important for us to reflect this story but create two contrasting schemes, tied together by a few personal touches.”

The family’s progression from one home to the other is particularly well illustrated in the child’s bedroom. In the three-bedroomed Tailor house, loveable penguins and ‘everything snowy’ suggest the much-loved sanctuary of a young child: as she grows into her teenage years and the family move to the larger house, her love of snow can still be seen – with a suggestion it has moved on to snowboarding. Elsewhere in the Tailor scheme, sociable family living is at the heart of its design, maximising space with an open plan kitchen/diner overlooking the garden and a multifunctional bedroom with double bed and working-from-home space.

Worked through in soft duck egg blues and greys, contrasted with soft wood and black spaces, the overall effect is a home that epitomises modern family living in a stylish but practical way.

As our fictional family makes the move to the larger four-bedroomed Silversmith home, the step up to more space and a more aspirational lifestyle can be seen through the striking décor of plum, mustard and golds and a hint of black.

Growing in confidence as well as size, they choose to dress their home with bold colours and the use of patterns in the fabric and wallpaper. Again, the house features an open plan kitchen/diner – but this time it’s a statement! The custom-made plum banquet seating, accompanied by striking yellow velvet chairs, creates an eyecatching feature to the rear of the property.

Said Bellway Essex sales manager Laura Trigg: “The scheme that Abbie and the design team put together has been a showstopper. Seeing the designs come to life was very exciting, and from the feedback our clients and colleagues have provided, we know we made the right decision with choosing the beautiful schemes. Thank you to the whole team at Designer Contracts, and a special thank you to Abbie for listening to what we wanted for these beautiful homes and making our visions come to life.”

Fit For A God Collection: SHINTO by BRABBU

All the products, with a gloss black lacquered structure and white tabletop in ash wood veneer, were inspired by the power and nature of Shinto shrines, which are places of worship, and the dwellings of the ‘kami’, the Shinto ‘gods’. Here, sacred objects can be stored in the innermost chamber of the shrine and not seen by anybody. This collection has a total of seven products, from consoles to bedside tables, providing plenty of furniture options where customers can keep their objects safe and well-guarded, worthy of a god reality. SHINTO Consoles, with a black structure and white tabletop, makes these products ideal to fit into any modern classic set, having the power to add a touch of elegance and sophistication to the environment, bringing “Kami” supernatural force to the space. Sideboards are not just for storage, serving as extra pieces of furniture to complement existing décor, and this one is the perfect sideboard for a dining or living room, filling spaces with elegance and sobriety. Sometimes, when working from home, it is not that easy to be productive, so this SHINTO II Desk is the absolute choice to combat that feeling, bringing fierce and class to any divine home office. SHINTO Bedside Table is a superb option for a modern and classic bedroom design, providing it with an even more refined look to the space and being the right product to safe keep all important objects. Modern and sophisticated, this rectangular table is the most stunning centerpiece to any living room, combining style and functionality, bringing class and magnificence into any contemporary or classic design set. The SHINTO Round Dining Table was designed to safely keep those moments everyone enjoys over dinner: good conversations and good food. If that is the case, this is the most incredible design solution to any dining room design. “Fit For A God” is the motto of BRABBU‘s newest collection: SHINTO. September is known for its new beginnings, so the brand its designers work persistently to create the most powerful and functional furniture, offering customers the chance to renew their houses in the upcoming season and fill them with personality and fierceness. Believing that all atmospheres must be powerful and classy, the brand decided to launch its newest collection – SHINTO -, combined with the highest quality materials and innovative techniques.

CONCRETE PLINTH HOUSE DGN STUDIO

Tasked with crafting versatile spaces suitable for relaxation, entertaining, and hosting intimate dining and arts evenings, DGN Studio have transformed a dark Victorian semi-detached terrace into a serene, brutalist-inspired home in East London.

The clients, a young couple, initially appointed DGN Studio to reconfigure their dark northfacing kitchen into a light communal area for events and gatherings and to reorganise the upstairs bathroom. However, the brief quickly evolved to include a light renovation of the upper floor as the couple cottoned on to DGN Studio’s exceptional eye for natural materials and clever spatial planning nous.

Doing away with the typical Victorian arrangement of small disconnected rooms, DGN Studio opted for a functional floor plan that flows both physically and visually. Parallel stepped openings link each space and offer long open views from the entry and front living room through to the rear garden. love of concrete is celebrated. Long, low concrete benches grow from the concrete floors to line the perimeter of the kitchen and dining space as multipurpose seating, staging, and display options. The concrete kitchen worktop floats on smokey Farrow & Ball ‘Railings’ cabinetry, met by microcement rendering to the upper walls. A hidden cellar door leads down to a utility space to keep functional clutter out of sight.

The heaviness of the concrete is balanced by the use of soft oak joinery and a large skylight above the kitchen island. Simple oak sash windows draw in yet more light in a nod to the traditional glazing of Victorian-era terraces, and extend the width of the kitchen onto the leafy side return passage.

Challenged with an oppressive ceiling height in the existing kitchen, DGN Studio lowered the floor level by half a metre and opted for an expressed timber ceiling structure to give the new extension the best possible light and height. The lowered floor level is expressed structurally as a concrete tray from which three concrete columns rise to support a T-shaped steel frame which in turn carries the upper level of the house.

Home Decor BLOCC INTERIORS – PROVIDING EXCEPTIONAL INDIVIDUALISED DESIGN SOLUTIONS

Blocc Interiors are a specialist interior design company offering a bespoke service to property developers, private home owners, architects, independent interior designers and estate agents creating stand-out interiors styling for statement results.

Established in 2009, their expertise spans over 30 years and they are winners of multiple awards. Their experienced team of designers ranges from showhome specialists through to highly skilled interiors professionals.

Their ethos involves working in partnership with clients to provide exceptional individualised design solutions. They offer suggestions and ideas with the benefit of their expert knowledge and contacts to deliver statement results.

Blocc Interiors offers a bespoke service to private home owners, property developers, wellknown national homebuilders, architects and estate agents such as Hamptons. They are West Midlands based, however they provide a national service across the UK.

Their business partnership services are extensive and range from architectural consultancy,

full show homes, view homes, communal and concierge areas, furniture investment packs through to CGI’s, 360 walkthroughs, 360 animations, hoarding and other marketing services.

For private clients, Blocc offers bespoke interior styling services, which include soft-furnishings and single room makeovers through to a full-service design package, managing the project from initial concept to installation. They work closely with the client on every detail, providing the relevant drawings to achieve their vision. For homeowners looking to buy or sell a property, Blocc can provide home staging (they are members of HSA), as well as supplying art, accessories and décor, decluttering and house doctor services.

Blocc has recently launched a sister company, Boutique Draper, which provides specialist window treatments and soft furnishings including made to measure curtains, shutters and blinds. All their window treatment services are provided in-house from design through to make and install using their team of highly skilled craftspeople.

The company prides itself on its sustainable approach and in giving back. Through B1G1 Business for Good, Blocc Interiors and by association their clients are given the opportunity to provide a positive impact through planting trees and providing shelter. Where possible Blocc introduces more eco-friendly natural materials like wood, bamboo and stone into its projects and seeks out home styling pieces that can be remodelled or repurposed.

To find out more about the service Blocc Interiors provides, visit www.blocc.co.uk.

Highlighting an, “unconventional shade for an unconventional time” Pantone has selected PANTONE 18-1750 Viva Magenta as its 2023 Color of the Year. The bold crimson red promotes “optimism and joy” and was selected by the paint brand to encourage positive design for the future, not only in the physical world, but the virtual one as well.

PANTONE LOOKS TO THE FUTURE WITH ITS 2023 COLOR OF THE YEAR

“The last few years were transformative in many ways in terms of people’s sense of self, and the way well-being, priorities and identity are being thought about,” said Laurie Pressman, Vice President of the Pantone Color Institute. “As a result, space has been created where we are free to explore and be accepted for exactly who we feel we are, whether it be in a cybernetic universe, a conventional space, or a magical

blend of both. We are creating a dynamic world that encourages experimentation, one that leverages the virtual within the physical realm and emboldens our strength and spirit to explore groundbreaking possibilities.”

Channeling the essence of PANTONE 18-1750 Viva Magenta, Pantone worked with its longtime creative partner Huge, to engage in a design experiment that explores the relationship — the tensions — between new technology and human creativity. Working with the AI generative tool Midjourney, the team created the visual manifestation of PANTONE 18-1750 Viva Magenta by incorporating the messages and ideas embodied by the color to curate an immersive world that examines the connections between nature and technology. The key visual — a bold and brave statement that amplifies the fearless yet natural elements of PANTONE 18-1750 Viva Magenta, designed with the help of artificial intelligence — serves as an invitation into an optimistic and endless new ecosystem to be explored, called “the Magentaverse.”

Building on this experiment, Pantone and Huge collaborated with ARTECHOUSE, the leader in innovative, technology-driven experiential art, which through its creative studio designed a custom immersive experience that allows the public to explore “the Magentaverse” first-hand. This Pantone x ARTECHOUSE exhibition, which is built on a four-year partnership between the two companies, is an artistic exploration of the Magentaverse, featuring immersive rooms with textures and interactions that plunge attendees into an array of visual, auditory, and tactile experiences—all in the spirit of Viva Magenta. This is the first time that Pantone and ARTECHOUSE are bringing the Pantone Color of the Year to life as an exhibition at ARTECHOUSE Miami, open to the public from December 3, 2022, as part of Art Basel Miami Beach.

“To embody the spirit of PANTONE 18-1750 Viva Magenta, we embarked on a new approach of collective creative collaboration,” said Pressman. “Leveraging the power of technology and Pantone’s expertise in color to curate a new interpretation of the Pantone Color of the Year, we created the Magentaverse, an unexpected and exciting color universe we look forward to sharing with the world to experience as well.”

“Magentaverse” image courtesy of Huge.