Be faithful to your intuitive sense

I often get asked how I come up with designs or what the latest trends are.  I have never been a slave to trends. Interior design to me is more about designing spaces for people to love and enjoy living in.  Surely a home that works for you is so much more important than one that reflects the latest trends. I have always wondered whether my answer to this question has been inadequate; people expect me to impart some magic formula but honestly, I design with first and foremost the needs of the client in mind and when it comes to creativity, I go with my gut as to what I feel works best within the realms of the brief.

My London Design Week itinerary included a seminar at Chelsea Harbour. Part of the Conversations in Design series, the title of the seminar was New Directions in Interior Design with a panel comprising Tricia Guild, Robin Levien and Neisha Crosland. The session kicked off with the question, "Are trends important?” Whilst I would say that all three of these people are in themselves key influencers of trends in the industry, their down to earth and quite humble responses really struck a chord with me. The theme was very much, be aware of trends but plough your own furrow and work from your heart. Yes, I get that! They all agreed that themes are “globally in the air” and cited examples of designers opposite sides of the world coming up with spookily similar ideas. Source of inspiration was the focus of the next question. Tricia Guild felt that this was hard to pinpoint as creative people are always collecting. She cited a visit to Darjeeling where she was struck by the coolness of a soft jade green, the inspiration behind the pale jade colourway in the new collections. The trip was a few years ago so that seed of an idea was not translated into a scheme until recently. It "just feels right for now", she explained.  Expanding on this Tricia Guild explained that designers need to “be faithful to their intuitive sense, be porous to influences but defend and fight for what you believe in”. Neisha Crosland and Robin Levien agreed that creativity is a journey, a meandering process where you are never quite sure where you will end up. I have heard a number of designers talk on various subjects but this seminar really struck a chord with me and made me even more determined to be faithful to my intuitive sense.

Written by Jacqui

A year (and a night!) to remember!

So here we are, nearly at the end of the years work – and what a year it’s been! As I write this I am currently surrounded (but not quite buried) by furniture, soft furnishings and various other things ready to be shipped out on Friday for the final ‘flourish’, marking the end of several projects we’ve had the pleasure of working on over the last few months.

This year has seen our workload increase and the HomeSmiths team increase – not only by hiring me, but having to enlist the work of some brilliant people, friends of the business who we now could not do without. Next year will hopefully see us continue to grow, hiring another Junior Designer to solely take on the residential work, while I concentrate on our work in the show home and care home markets.

Above is a photograph taken from our Christmas party last night – before we got rowdy!! It was the first year we had a big enough gathering to do a Secret Santa and there were some hilarious and ‘spot-on’ presents.  A great time was had by all along Lindfield high street and it was further evidence that the team dynamic in and out of the office is perfect.

We wish you a very merry, restful Christmas from all of us at team HomeSmiths.

Picture above: Team HomeSmiths L-R - David, Jacqui, Katie, Belinda, Nikki, Katy

Written by Katy

Dress to sell

There’s nothing more rewarding and flattering than when your hard works pays off quicker than usual. As a former visual merchandiser (have I mentioned this before?!), on numerous occasions I’ve dressed a group of mannequin’s and a customer has come along and wanted to buy the whole outfit (usually resulting in me being flattered, but internally cursing my talent as I undress said mannequin!). This week we had an incredible phone call from Barratt Homes telling us that the penthouse apartment we had installed merely two weeks previously had sold. The buyer was exactly the demographic we had targeted and he wanted everything in the apartment, down to the things that were hung in the wardrobe!

It’s so satisfying when you pull out all the stops for a project and the end result is more than you could have hoped for. This was also a project that we weren’t initially expecting, that had a very short lead time and that the whole team worked really hard to pull together in time, so I speak for everyone involved when I say that we were dancing around the room when we got the phone call.

This install also brought together the best of the people that we work with, in particular solidifying the relationship between HomeSmiths and local art curator and friend of the business, Belinda Holden, who was the shining star of this project, finding some truly incredible art for the apartment, including an image printed on aluminium (pictured above).

So what now? Well we’ve been asked to design and install the neighbouring penthouse, which we’re all really excited about. Time to think of a new amazing scheme!

Written by Katy

Books galore!!

Since our visit to Decorex, the team has been practically bouncing on their chairs waiting for the arrival of the new season fabric books!

This week was the week!! As well as filling most of the ground floor with show home deliveries for the penthouse apartment we are finishing installing on Monday, we also received most of the books we were eagerly anticipating! This has caused happy chaos around the office, and eventually, mid week I walked into a very tidy office! Jacqui had re-organised all of the fabric books and had even ‘archived’ some older ones that we have got a lot of use out of over the years.

Whilst we were up at Decorex we visited the endlessly lovely Phillip, our rep at GP & J Baker, who is an invaluable fountain of knowledge when it comes to his products! He was greeted by squeals of delight when he took us through the new collections in the Baker Lifestyle books – so much colour!! In fact fabrics from these new books have featured heavily in two of our new show home schemes that we will be installing early next year. Gorgeous, bright spring colours!

We were also visited by another rep, Janice from Sanderson, another industry Guru, and whose enthusiasm is infectious! She showed us some very exciting new ranges in fabrics and wall coverings that we can’t wait to use. The books followed shortly after her visit – we didn’t have to wait too long for these thank goodness!

More books came from Abbott & Boyd. David has known the owner of this brand for many, many years and we were delighted to be able to strike up a business relationship with them in March of this year. Abbott & Boyd products are truly stunning and our rep, Mitzi always knows what we will use, and regularly sends us cuttings or new books she thinks we will be interested in – she’s never been wrong! Their products are also featuring in the three show homes we are in the process of designing and installing and they have also been a hit in several residential clients’ homes.

I’ve taken a picture of some of my favourite fabrics that I can’t wait to use above...coming soon, to a home near you!

Written by Katy

Focused feedback

As well as residential work and show homes we also get involved in care home projects - homes for adults with learning disabilities as well as Extra Care schemes for the elderly.  Part of the design process with our Extra Care work involves me presenting to a focus group of potential residents.  At this meeting I talk through all elements of the design, inviting feedback on colours, furniture style and so forth.  This morning I attended one of these focus groups to present a new Extra Care scheme for a Crest Nicholson project in Kent.  The great thing about this type of audience is their immediate honesty.  As I talked through the board for the reception area, one lady’s expression told me everything about her views on paprika as a cushion colour.  Indeed nobody held back on questions and the insights gained through these kind of sessions are invaluable.  The paprika I am happy to say was the only eyebrow raiser! 

It was at a previous focus group last year whilst working on a project for Galliford Try, that I met Pat (left).  We got talking, she shared her love of soft furnishings with me so I promised to send her some of our remnants.  Since then we have continued to batch up off cuts every few months and post them off to her.  As you will see on our website Pat uses these fabrics to make cushions for local cancer charities; she really enjoys making them and we love the fact that our remnant fabrics get put to good use.  Pat has turned into a friend and attended this morning’s group so I was able to deliver our latest pile of off cuts in person.  It really was great to see her and she has further developed a fantastic network of grateful charity shops and stalls, eager to take delivery of their next consignment of Pat’s handiwork.

What we hope to achieve through presenting to these focus groups is a clear sense that we are producing designs that residents would happily live with and that we as designers are seen to listen to how people like to live and ensure that the designs we produce enhance that.  This to me is the whole point of interior design.  Meeting lovely Pat at one of these forums and being able to recycle our remnants was for us the icing on the cake, and I received this wonderful email from Pat when I got back to the office.

"Hi again Jacqui,

                          I have tried to use "Twitter" to thank you, but I'm not really sure how it works,

But must thank you again for SO MUCH...wonderful fabric, this lot will keep me very busy, so off to the shops tomorrow for lots of pillows......Bless you. Pat xx"

Written by Jacqui