OLD FAVOURITES: clean shapes for elegant furniture

When planning furniture layouts I find helpful to create a framework of simple, solid pieces. Clean shapes and good quality are the foundation of a design which will then allow "dressing up" or "down" with accessories. Here are some old favourites, furniture and upholstery design I revisit all the time given their versatile proportions:

Dark, nearly black, stained oak furniture with modernist inspired chunky detailing and proportions

Upholstery, unless you are designing an accent piece, benefits once again from clean shapes (whether including traditional scroll arms or 20th century square detailing)

The more detailed the piece the more crucial it becomes that quality is impeccable. If budget is an issue, simple choices always pay off.

Once a framework of smart pieces of furniture has been created... colour and accessories can be added.

It's a simple recipe but one that will allow future changes without too much disruption.

LIMITED FURNISHING BUDGET: no limit to good taste

If you are on a limited budget, whether furnishing a first time buyer's flat or a rental investment, the golden rule has to be "keep it simple". The lower the quality the more important it is to keep detail to a minimum. Where tables and worktops are concerned thicker depths often make items look more expensive. In an earlier post you saw a small kitchen designed for a rental flat. The following are some of the furnishing suggestions made for the same property. These should give an idea of how a limit on budget does not have to result in a limit on good taste. Stick to your "simplicity" rule across the board. When it comes to fabrics make plainess and budget inversely proportional: the smaller the first the plainer the second! See the board below: plain fabrics can be of a lesser quality and the difference will hardly be noticeable while patterned fabrics need to be better quality.

Compare this to a more complicated design. Take for instance one plublished months ago which included laquered side tables and a mother of pearl chest. Given the quality of those items the design was a success. On a smaller budget the lime green would probably have to be dropped and the overall number of colours decreased. The risk is that the room would otherwise look slightly amateurish.
(furniture and fabrics above, among others, from Dwell and Andrew Martin)

ELECTRONIC PRESENTATIONS: basic cad design

A number of basic CAD programs are now available on the market. Most of them offer a reasonable alternative to those who do not need the intricacies (or the steep and lengthy learning curve) provided by AutoCad. Some of these packages come with reasonable 3D rendering built in. Usually the 3D visuals can be saved as images and therefore emailed to clients together with additional details. In other words... electronic presentations are now a reality within everybody's reach. Floor layouts, furniture, pretty much anything can be created on a laptop in a format that can then be either emailed of printed. The equivalent to traditional sketches and mood boards were, in this case, created using TurboCad and Paintshop Pro X. Below is an example which shows a standard rental flat kitchen solution together with a photograph of the suggested finishes. Through that sketch and photograph the client was able to agree the design and issue his instructions. The kitchen, nearly completed, was photographed today. As you will see the simple 3D sketch was a very realistic, if simplified, visual indication of what was then actually fitted. This is now for us the standard way of making presentations, whether through printed or electronic versions of the same files.

LOSING THE INTERIOR DESIGN FORMULA: office furniture at home

We are refurbishing offices for the first time in years. As a result we have recently looked at various manufacturers and distributors of office furniture. The wealth of styles and qualities available on the market today allow for a number of "cross-over" permutations. Clearly office furniture can be used in studies or home-offices, but many boardroom tables will serve as wonderful dining tables and a number of sheleving solutions could be ideal for media rooms and home cinemas. Have a look around. You might like to start with Matteo Grassi's leather topped meeting table or Tecno's uncompromising clean shapes and proportions.