You know that feeling when you agree to take something on, plan it as much as possible, look forward it...........yet still don’t really know what to expect?  Well this year at the Lindfield Arts Festival we ran some workshops for children where they got the chance to plan their ideal bedroom and create their own mood board.  Our young designers ranged in age from 5 to 13 yet what they all had in common was an unbridled confidence in what they did and did not like.  Unbound by concerns about what is and is not “in” they designed from their hearts, quickly finding lights they loved, rummaging through fabrics for inspiration and going mad with bold colours.  I have said before that interior design to me is about creating environments that make you smile, spaces you want to spend time in and that make your day to day use of them a joy.  Without exception all the designs reflected the personalities of the child and made them smile!  I absolutely loved the day and was knocked sideways by the amount of talent I saw – as were some of the parents!

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

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

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

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

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

The new designs in the rugs and flatweaves collection from the Rug Company shown here at Decorex.

Something.....beautiful.

At Tent I found this elegant chair from Munna Design, the “Corset” armchair

Something.....I am using in my next scheme.

There is so much to love about Elitis papers and I love the new collection.  They had a stand at Decorex this year and are distributed through Abbott & Boyd

Something.....gorgeous.

Loved this stunning display at Decorex featuring the new Quebec sofa from Robert Langford

Something.....fun. 

At 100% design this goose feather “Eos” shade caught my eye, great from any angle since the light source is completely hidden.  The shade comes in two sizes from Danish company, Vita and may well be featuring in a show home bedroom soon ;) The Silvia fitting, also pictured, comes flat packed and is designed to be assembled at home in 15 minutes.

Written by Jacqui

Last Friday we were given three new and exciting show homes from the largest developer in the UK. And they’re all completely different; a seaside family home, a Sussex first time buy against a woodland backdrop and a masculine penthouse apartment on the outskirts of London.

In the midst of show home fog, we still had other residential and care home projects outstanding. I was leading my first residential project for an absolutely delightful couple with really eclectic taste. The project itself wasn’t an easy one, but one I had got really stuck into. A long, narrow room oozing personality from collected knick-knacks and different types of furniture that had a mixture of strong colours to go with it. What they needed was a scheme that would encompass all of these things, bring more depth into the room and suit their personalities. I’m pleased to say I delivered. The client was thrilled with the scheme and (much to my delight!) very excited by the way we had pulled the colours together.

In a complete contrast to this I also found myself carefully choosing replacements for an existing care home, whilst Jacqui worked on a scheme for a new care home project. As is normal in this business several heads are better than one, and just as I had asked the team to become involved in the project I was leading to help me to problem solve, we all got involved in some way or another with the care home scheme. Jacqui and I were looking at different colour schemes that were different and in particular those that were warm and inviting, but weren’t too ‘out there’ because it will be a care home for the elderly. Eventually a gorgeous, warm colour palette was chosen – again colours that you wouldn’t necessarily choose together, but that bring a new lease of life into each other once married.

Another unusual job we are currently working on is a colour scheme for an external project, a completely new one for us, and one that has certainly been a challenge! Particularly on the way we would usually approach a project, perhaps because of the lack of fabrics?

As many of you may have also noticed, the website has undergone some recent changes! As well as a new colour scheme for the new season, new tabs have also been added (browse away!).

Stay tuned for next week’s blog, which will see the team absorbing some new ideas from our approaching Decorex visit!

Written by Katy

A large proportion of our projects are residential, helping people breathe new life into their homes, advising on making the best use of space and extending properties but we also work in the care home market as well as designing and installing show homes.

This particular project for a regional developer, a great client who we have recently started working with, was set for install a couple of weeks before we were due to fly to Turkey for a week’s family holiday.  You know what’s coming don’t you...  Well there were various site delays, squeezing our install date to closer and closer to our departure date.  It was Jubilee weekend; we were due to fly to Turkey on the following Thursday; the show home was launching two days later on the Saturday.  Now I should say at this stage that a schedule this tight is extremely rare.  Placing furniture whilst paint is drying is never going to be ideal for anyone but we will work closely with the client’s team on site to make it happen.  The site manager got the first floor finished and carpeted in time for the Jubilee weekend so that Bank Holiday saw David shifting furniture into place and me ironing bedding in a porta-cabin since there was no power in the house.  I am now a dab hand at ironing bed linen without it touching the floor!  We left site that Monday with the bulk of the first floor done bar soft furnishings and final dressing.  Downstairs was still way behind so we were asked to delay finishing off until the Friday afternoon.  We flew on Thursday so this meant leaving it in the oh-so-capable hands of our project coordinator Nikki and at the time, newly appointed Junior Designer, Katy.  The before picture you see here is how the sitting room looked mid afternoon...and below what it looked like ready for launch the following morning; I think you will agree that the girls did an amazing job! 

People who know me will understand how hard it was for me to leave an unfinished job; I felt bad about leaving the girls to deal with it and it completely compromised the interior designer control freak in me!  The reality was that the girls did not leave until close to midnight and were on site again early on Saturday placing art!  Good design needs careful consideration and planning and I should stress that all this had happened on this project.  It was just the final bringing together that we were squeezed on.  Since this plot had already been sold, the real test was what the purchaser thought.  Well, she burst into tears....of joy I am happy to report!

Written by Jacqui

Pictures taken by and property of HomeSmiths Ltd.

In the same week we paid a visit to a home fashion showroom to look at some thrilling new products, and similarly they were displaying some key colour, pattern and texture trends that were also taking pride of place on our great British high street.

I think that trends often do become fashionable depending on what season it is, and many are the same trend re-branded. ‘Nautical’ is a great example of this. The minute spring/summer hits the shop out come the red, white and blue stripes, bird prints, washed driftwood etc and it is called ‘Summer By The Sea’ or ‘ Coastal Dreams’ or some other idiom that I ‘resort’ – see what I did there? – to calling nautical because I can’t be bothered to learn what it’s actually called!

Something that has particularly come into its own recently however is tribal and ethnic prints. In particular, the ‘Ikat’ design. Obviously this is more of a summer print, but as these colours can often have warm tones, think spices, it can also work in the winter.  

 My theory on this is that as more people are going travelling on their gap years, our fashion industry is being influenced by designs from all over the world. This is a pretty obvious conclusion; however I am surprised that these designs are being used in both the fashion clothing world and the fashion interiors world. As far as I’m concerned, unless there is a national event this is a rare occurrence. In my previous years working in department stores I would rarely see any parallels in the fashion departments and home departments.

 Ikat (and other ethnic/tribal prints) is one of those lovely prints that can be translated into the home or onto the body and just ‘work’. The same cannot be said of some floral prints that make one look like they are ‘wearing a curtain’ or animal prints that can make you look like you are living in a ‘tarts boudoir’! It’s not for everyone, no. But I think it’s one of those great trends, like nautical, that could possibly become a staple of the high street and the interiors world.

Written by Katy

Top left and right picture taken by HomeSmiths

Bottom left picture property of Balenciaga

Bottom right picture property of Debenhams