Posts Tagged ‘interior design’
Interiors update from the Brindley design team….
by Justine Kirkham
Head of Interior Design at James Brindley, Harrogate.
“It’s been a long, grey winter. Now is the time to come out of hibernation and let the sparkle of light flood into your home.
The best way to start is by clearing your windows and opening them up to the sunlight. Heavy curtains and ornate pelmets are perfect through the dark days of winter to keep out the draughts. Once the longer days are here, replace them with sheer or voile drapes, valances or blinds to allow the maximum amount of light into the room.
Replace heavy curtains with sheer or voile drapes to allow the maximum amount of light (Pictured: Villa Nova Kabuki)
Used alone, a valance is perfect for adding texture to your décor, while still encouraging the light to flow through. Valances can also be teamed with most window treatments to add privacy with a stylish look. Blinds are the most versatile of window dressings. Used with lighter fabrics, a blind can stack high to offer a fresh and modern feel with optimum privacy and light control.
Used with lighter fabrics, a blind can stack high to offer a fresh and modern feel (Pictured: Sanderson Angel Ferns)
This summer, vibrant candy colours, big floral motifs and asymmetrical fabric patterns lead the way, offering endless options to dress your windows with something colourful and eye-catching. Try the Jamaica in Turquoise by Manuel Canovas or a fabric from the Harlequin Momentum range to create an invigorating mood for summer.
Bright candy colours and asymmetrical fabric patterns lead the way this summer. (Pictured: Harlequin Momentum)
Remember, every room in a home has its own character and your window dressings are only part of that story, so it’s important they harmonise with the overall look. Once you’ve changed your dressing – give your windows a good wash. It’s amazing how much dirt and dust can accumulate behind heavy curtains!
Natural light helps brighten our mood and can also revitalise your interior design. (Pictured: Sanderson Dancing Tulips)
Natural light doesn’t simply prepare us for summer and help brighten our mood, if combined with a reflective, modern scheme, it can also revitalise your interior design.”
Last week we invited customers to fill a limited number of places for a special event at our Harrogate store – a workshop with Colefax and Fowler – Interior Designers by royal appointment.
Fabric expert Tony Ferrigno introduces Colefax & Fowler
While coffee was poured and delicious Betty’s cakes rapidly disappeared from the stands, Colefax and Fowler fabric expert Tony Ferrigno presented the company’s latest fabric and wallpaper collections. He provided an invaluable insight into the design and decoration trends for 2013.
The traditionally British floral papers sat alongside those with texture, sheen and beading to reflect every personality.
Colefax & Fowler beaded wallpaper
We browsed classic fabrics on linens as well as more modern patterns with on trend appliqué and embroidery detailing. The best-selling fabric from Colefax and Fowler this season is, perhaps not surprisingly, the Damask. There were hundreds of fabrics to handle and the new yet distinct styles from Manuel Canovas certainly provoked a lively response!
Tony presents the new Jamaica from Manuel Canovas
Tony also shared his experiences of working with the royal family, including the Queen and Elizabeth Taylor’s favourite fabrics.
Elizabeth Taylor liked the full bloom prints in reds and pinks
Tony divulged intimate knowledge of the development of the Colefax and Fowler fabric and wallpaper ranges and offered valuable tips and ideas for tying a scheme together.
The event offered a great opportunity for our guests to learn about the elements that go into making up a mood board and why interior designers use them.
An introduction to creating mood boards
Everyone enjoyed making their individual mood boards
Reviewing the mood boards
Do you enjoy interior design, colour and fabrics? Are you looking to create a scheme for a room at home? Contact our interior design team on 01423 560757 to secure your place on our next design workshop.
All our guests left with a Colefax and Fowler goody bag.
If you’ve walked down James Street Harrogate or High Street Wetherby recently, you’ll have noticed that we’ve had a bit of a face lift.
The new look for James Brindley on James Street, Harrogate
2013 is going to be an exciting year for James Brindley and we decided to celebrate by giving the brand a new lease of life. We wanted something classic yet eye-catching, traditional yet contemporary, familiar yet unique.
We think we’ve succeeded. Do you?
Our beautiful new store front at Wetherby
One of the perks of being an Interior Design specialist is having a highly skilled team of designers on hand to create a new look. The re-brand takes away the current brown colour and introduces a new dark blue to accompany the white. The store fascia has been painted in ‘Basalt’ by the Little Greene Paint Company (available at Brindley’s of course).
The new look reflects our timeless elegance
“Think classic British and you think blue. We’ve chosen a dark and dusky shade that reflects the quality and timeless elegance of James Brindley,” commented Head of Design, Justine Kirkham.
The new window graphics and signage feature our own art-deco style, bespoke design, which takes inspiration from the wrought iron railings and stain glass designs in and around historical Harrogate. This design looks beautiful alongside the blue, offering a fresh, chic look for our traditional and instantly familiar ‘James Brindley’ lettering.
Justine added; “We love our new look. The James Brindley brand has always left a lasting impression. Now it’s been modernised and given a fresh twist to accompany our exciting plans for this year.”
Interiors Update from the Brindley Design Team…
by Justine Kirkham
Head of Interior Design at James Brindley, Harrogate.
“Wallpaper – one of the easiest, most striking ways to bring colour and personality to your home. Not so long ago, wallpaper was out of favour, replaced by flat matt paint in neutral colours. Every home looked the same. As designers, we see more and more people growing tired of a neutral palette and experimenting with colour as well as shapes. This year, modern wallpaper patterns offer an exciting range of styles, colours, textures and designs; endless options to let us embrace individuality in our homes.
Natural designs in metallic finishes such as Osborne and Little Feuille De Chene
With spring we turn our thoughts to new life and nature is a big trend dominating products across the industry this season. Wallpaper designers are bringing the outdoors in, giving nature a more contemporary, colourful canvas, such as with Cole and Son’s ‘Woods and Pears’ featuring metallic pears or Osborne and Little’s Feuille De Chene from the Cabouchon collection.
Retro florals and plant inspired designs from the 1950’s and 60’s remain bang on trend and are going to get more popular as we head further into spring. For inspiration, look no further than Orla Kiely’s 2013 collection.
The epitome of retro styling, Orla Kiely, with her famous striking designs inspired by nature and fresh organic colours.
Whether a quirky Andrew Martin wall of logs, Dragonfly prints from Harlequin’s Scion Melinki or a traditionally British Colefax and Fowler floral or Zoffany Damask, there’s a wallpaper to reflect every personality. Team these papers with furniture in natural wood finishes and it’s easy to achieve a beautiful organic feel to a room.
A quirky Dragonfly print from Harlequin’s Scion Melinki.
Wallpaper is undeniably back in vogue. Always a popular choice to highlight a feature or accent wall, wallpaper is seeing a definite move back towards glorious coverage on four or more walls. Even neutral palettes are being accentuated with an abundance of texture and sheen, such as Harlequin’s Momentum collection Leaf wallpaper using glass beads on a pale backdrop.
Take it from us. It’s time to embrace the return of the papered wall – botanical, bold, nature, prints, texture and colour, colour, colour!”
At James Brindley we are always on the look out for the best in interior design. We update the stock in our stores on a daily basis and love to introduce new designers to our customers. We also like to use these fresh and innovative ranges in interior design schemes for our customers, from individual pieces to the inspiration for an entire room. We’ve profiled a couple of designers we’re very keen on this season. If you’d like to chat through how we could incorporate these designs into the scheme for your home, just call into our Harrogate or Wetherby stores to see our interior design team or give us a call.
Zimmer + Rohde
Family run for four generations, Zimmer + Rohde was founded in 1899 in Frankfurt, Germany and has developed from a two-man enterprise to an international business. They are known for combining modern classic design with the highest of production standards and supply some of the most beautiful and luxurious fabrics in the industry.
Dedar
The Dedar Collection comprises over 300 articles and 3000 colourways. 500,000 metres of stocked fabric enable 98% of orders to be immediately available for delivery. Paying particular attention to experimentation, Dedar endeavour to create future classics.
We have lots of customers working on their own interior design projects at the moment so we’ve put together some top tips to help and inspire you. We’ve included links to some of the ranges we stock so you can spend time having a browse through the collections. If you’d like our help in completing your project or just someone to run ideas by, our instore interior design teams would love to help, just call in to our Harrogate or Wetherby stores or give us a call.
The season, digital prints are catching our eye. Christian Fischbacher has introduced a print which is bright and colourful, perfect for a summery look. Also there are some delightful velvet fabrics around, we like the ones from Lewis and Wood in particular.
It’s your home, so it should show your personality. Think about your style and the way you like to live. Use co-ordinated fabric, paint or wallpaper as the background for a quirky, furniture centre piece, such as a chair in a vibrant patterned or textured fabric and you make the room your own. The John Sankey range is ideal, personalised with your own fabric choice, legs, even down to the colour of the castors.
Don’t let lack of space put you off. At the risk of sounding like a TV programme, the easiest suggestion to improve a small space is to de-clutter! If you can’t avoid clutter, put it in a pretty container instead of out on show. Another simple yet effective way to make a big impact on a small space is to add quirky wallpaper to a wall – we love Cole and Son or Andrew Martin.
The most successful designs take the room as a whole. The worst mistakes are made when the scheme has not been planned as a whole, but in parts. At the other extreme, don’t over co-ordinate colour schemes, have the courage to use contrast.
You don’t have to stay in period. Older properties can be given a more contemporary look by adding colour, textures and shapes to bring the scheme to life. You want your house to flow beautifully and feel really welcoming, with plenty of accentuated ‘wow’ factors.
Invest in your bathroom fixtures and fittings. The best way to add decorative detail to your bathroom is to create impact with a well-designed radiator or towel rail. If you can, it’s also a good idea to spend money on taps and shower heads too, as they can really create a look. Finally, every bathroom should have a beautiful mirror – we have some stunning examples in our Harrogate and Wetherby stores.
Create a high end look on a budget. The key is through attention to the small details and finishing touches. Don’t underestimate the effect of lighting, it’s worth spending money on a good central lighting piece to give an overall high end look. Also, use designer fabrics and trims, even if just in small and simple measures.
Most of all – enjoy yourself! Ask advice, try things out, see what works for your project. Take pride in your achievement, anyone can live in a house but you are creating a home.
We had a wonderful day at Wetherby Races for the Yorkshire Post Ladies Day last Thursday. The beautiful sunshine brought the crowds out and created the perfect atmosphere for the afternoon. We were delighted to be asked to judge the best dressed lady and best hat. It was hard decision for our interior designers Steve Watlings and Justine Kirkham, with some truly stunning outfits on show.
Winner of the best dressed lady was Laura Horsfield who looked stunning in red with a heart fascinator. We presented her with £600 of vouchers to spend in our James Brindley stores. Best hat went to Deborah Grogan with an impressive feathered creation that she wore with style. Deborah received vouchers for £150 of James Brindley purchases. Mrs Marsden won our prize draw competition of a beautiful bronze stallion as a lasting reminder of a wonderful day.
The James Brindley Harrogate and Wetherby stores have the privilege of a fully integrated design and retail service. With our new store layouts, our interior designers are right on the shop floor for the benefit of all our customers.
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