Interior designers are often asked about the origins of the profession – especially in the context of quality of life versus product. Has our modern quality of life driven our craving for high-quality design, or has design really been more of a primary impactor in defining how we enjoy wellness? In this article, I will draw on my experience in London’s prestigious interior design community to reflect on how the design process works from this perspective.

When interior designers begin engaging with a potential client, they will often ask about function. What is the desired purpose and use of the room or residence? The answer to this question has a profound impact on everything we do. If a client is desperate for luxury high-end London extravagance in the form of a damask settee, we may recommend a synthetic damask fabric instead of cotton or satin for a household that includes young kids and a pet dog. Breathtaking interior designs are always the goal, but only in the context of compatibility with our clients’ unique London lifestyles.

Interior designers will work hard to understand client requirements from the outset. Some professional London Interior Design consultancies will even have a series of highly structured interview questions that they routinely use. The interior designer will offer a free consultation at the client’s home – whether inside or outside London – to discover exactly what the client loves and hates about their current residence. Budget should be a conversation point from the very beginning. It is important to clarify whether the client prefers to be given fifteen different interior design options from which to choose, or just two or three.

One area that can be really challenging for the interior designer is when a husband and wife have different ideas about the desired outcome. This can happen regardless of whether the individuals are happily married or considering an impending separation. The interior designer sometimes gets “caught in the middle,” which can cause real tension.

In recent years, the London interior design community has seen a real upwelling in terms of social media and internet-enabled design opportunities. One of the most positive results is that would-be clients are now much better informed regarding interior design themes and concepts. Londoners read articles just like this one and start to get a sense of the interior design process even before we reach their front door or exchange our first set of emails!

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Interior Design London – Global Interior Design Consultancy Company in London, UK for interior design services.

Professional interior designers are expertly trained in the use of lighting features to create breathtaking results. In this four-part series which I call “Colour Me Brightly: Understanding Light in Interior Design,” I draw on my experience in London’s interior design community to explain this fascinating subject. This first article is about patterns.

Ask a London schoolgirl to imagine natural patterns, and she may talk at length of curvaceous seashells, the undulating edge of waves on the shore, the grooves in a gnarled tree trunk. Interior designers know that patterns are all around us. Patterns profoundly influence all interior design schemes, transforming our appreciation of color and texture, adding fluctuations and drifts or promoting harmony and stillness. London Interior Designers will focus on soft, fluid outlines in order to create relaxing patterns. By contrast, bold graphic statements in a wallpaper stencil can be invigorating for a London discotheque or salon. Pattern is a foundational ingredient of interior design, fragmenting overwhelming shapes and plain surfaces while simultaneously lending personality and profundity to a room.

London’s professional interior designers know one big secret: pattern is created not only by fabric and wallpaper. Light also forms any number of patterns through a virtual tussle or rough-and-tumble interaction between light and shadow. Light patterns are foundational to interior design schemes – from snippeted, kinetic and frosted patterns to curvy arcs, spearhead-style lines and theatrical projections of abstract forms.

Patterns of light fall into two main interior design categories. The first is all about objects in the path of light, casting shadows. We draw our inspiration from the natural world where, when sunlight strikes rippling water on London’s famous River Thames, flickering patterns are reflected up into the trees along the water’s edge. Similarly, if an artificial light source is directed onto water – perhaps a pool, fountain or babbling artificial brook – active reflections will dapple the surrounding walls and become an interior design feature. Sunlight may shine through the branches of a tree to create moving patterns of light and shade below, and similarly a low-voltage uplight, positioned behind indoor plants, can create beautiful interior design features on the walls and ceilings. This technique can be stunning both inside and outside the building.

In my next article, I turn to patterns that use perforations and glass.

About Author

Interior Design London – Global Interior Design Consultancy Company in London, UK for interior design services.

1. Rotating Fireplace:

Complete with optional remote control, this futuristic rotating fireplace from Spartherm radiates warmth to every corner of the room like a sun in the solar system. Running on gas, the Diva can be rotated at the touch of a button and doubles up as a stove.

2. Oakland Wall Fireplace:

Besides the visual impact, the unique asymmetrical design of this fireplace makes a cosy home fire a visual feast. The enameled front of lava stone comes in a range of bright colors to tempt your inner artist to greater heights.

3. Design Fireplace:

Inspired by nature, the floral chic marble surround of this fireplace combines serious and frivolous elements. Both austere and fun at the same time, the rectangular shape makes for plenty of fire space and eye candy at the same time.

Chazelles’ juxtaposition of warm and cold elements makes for an interesting dichotomy for every stylish living room.

4. Magritte by MCZ:

Made entirely from brushed Silva Oro, this semi built-in chimney fireplace contains the heat inside transparent cover, creating the illusion of a lively television screen.

The sleek, chic design is built for 90° corners and can be fitted to left or right sides of a wall unit. Available in two dimensions: Forma 77: 170×96×80cm; Forma 98: 190×85×80cm.

5. Vauni Ethanol Fireplace:

A free-standing, chimney-free hearth, this globe-shaped fireplace rotates at a 360-degree axis, so you can see it from any part of the room. Powered by ethanol, which enable you to refill and adjust the flames to the level of your choosing without any soot or ash to clean up afterwards.

6. Travelmate Mobile Fireplace:

Fret no more, if you don’t have a chimney and want the possibility of fire in every room during winter. This smokeless fireplace, ignited by means of a weather-resistant powder coating, has a magnetic glass frame which enables the size of the flames to be regulated from the outside.

At just 20 inches high, you can move your fire wherever the mood takes you please and have no guilt about carbon emissions.

7. Vogue wood stove:

Enclosed by a large, curved window, the flames in Austroflam’s futuristic invention seem to burn forever. A heat memory system ensures that fuel consumption is reduced and heat stored for longer than most.

8. Tabletop Fireplace:

Designed by Gido Wahrmann for Carl Mertens, this diminutive hearth is a clever mimic of two lighted logs. The ‘logs’ are tiny stainless steel lamps, mounted on a 10? x 14? slate base, and the flames use oil for fuel. Whoever thought campfire songs couldn’t take place round the dinner table?

9. Glass Fireplace:

Using wood or gas as a medium, this stylish open glass fireplace is designed to open the mind and expand living space stylishly. Enclosed by four glass panels to eliminate smoke in the atmosphere, the fireplace can be turned on and off by remote control.

The gas burner has three safety stops, a regulated lighting system at the base and a glass plateau with a mirror underneath. Simple and Zen, this design comes in pyramid or rectangular shape, with clear or tinted glass.

10. FilioFocus:

Atelier Dominique Imbert’s minimalist work of art can be free-standing or wall-mounted and uses either wood or gas as fuel options. The fireplace gives a feeling of a great open fire with a conic furnace and the free-standing fireplace is aesthetic and functional at the same time. Glass and steel combine to create an interesting interaction between serenity and action. Sheer genius.

11. Modern Fireplace:

For the ultimate in functional modernity, check out Edilkamin’s three geometric designs: the Art Acciaio, the Art Wenge and the Kubik. Solid and simple, each fireplace is integrated as focal point into a furniture unit as effortlessly as the storage shelves which complement it.

Choose according to the mood of your room: while the Art Acciaio has a coating of satin steel, the Art Wenge is entirely covered in wenge wood and the Kubik has a painted surface of steel grey anthracite.

12. Cyclone:

A mesmerizing cross between a natural and synthetic fire, the Cyclone Gas Fireplace makes the fire a key decorative element of the home. Emitting only 15,000 BTUs, the Cyclone Gas Fire is both fuel-efficient and practical, while offering a unique twisted flame display at the same time.

Operable by remote control, the Cyclone System comes as a preassembled surround in either a brushed copper or brushed nickel finish and offers a 360 degree view.

13. Radium & Scandium:

Emulating a plasma television screen, Radium and Scandium catalytic vent-free gas fireplaces are especially designed for lofts or rooms where ventilation can’t be installed.

Using catalytic converter technology, which means hot air is cleaned as it leaves the combustion chamber, these slim vent-free gas fireplaces can be installed anywhere where a gas line is available.

14. Planika Fireplace:

An immaculate example of fire without smoke, the portable Planika contains flickering flames in designs of glass to create an inspiring focal point in any room you choose.

Ideal if you don’t have a chimney or vent, it eliminates odour, soot and smoke and generates little more than carbon dioxide similar to a human’s breath. The circular design, which fits into a pre-cut coffee table or trolley, makes an interesting decor item.

15. Home Flame Collection:

Made of double-skin stainless steel, with a ceramic sponge in the middle, this patented combustion chamber creates a large, even set of flames and ensures that the very last drop of bio-ethanol burns.

The ingenious combustion chamber can also be placed in any fireproof container and creates state-of-the-art elegance when placed in objects like Michael Rösing has developed.

16. Greed For Quiet:

A glorious indoor take on the campfire, Greed For Quiet is both a fire pit and piece of furniture. Surrounded by wood planks supporting five chairs, the star-like design creates the impression of floating.

Each “chair blade” is able to rotate around the fire pit to a desired position. The focal point, which doesn’t look unlike a giant fondue, is fitted with a chimney piece to ensure all the smoke is eliminated.

Kitchen cabinets also don’t have to be limited to one side of the countertop. If your kitchen design has a peninsula or island, you can use the ends and back side for more cabinet storage space.
Kitchen cabinets come in more styles and finishes that you can imagine. However, if your budget is limited then you don’t need to replace them for an entirely new look. Cabinet refacing lets you select cabinet patterns that are up to date and beautiful.

New countertops don’t always need to be included in this home improvement project either. Laminate countertops come with repair strips that will give new life to a worn surface.
 
Laying Out Completely New Kitchen Designs
 
If your budget calls for a complete renovation, then now is the time to really think about layouts and maybe calling in some specialist. The basic theory is that there should be no more than 2 steps between work stations. That means you should be able to go from the sink to stove in 2 steps; from the range to the refrigerator in 2 steps and so on. However, with today’s extra large sized kitchens that’s not the case any more. You still should choose layouts that consider how much time it takes to accomplish the normal tasks of putting dishes away from the dishwasher or getting foods from the refrigerator to the stove.

The newest gadgets in these mega kitchens make timesaving and energy efficiency into an art form. There are refrigerator drawers right next to the range and microwaves that brew your coffee while making your toast!
 
Fixtures and Furniture
 
The finishing touches are what make kitchen designs more inviting than ever. The furnishings, light fixtures and even the cabinet hardware can make kitchens into real living rooms. Look for task lighting that can highlight work spaces and then radiant lighting for atmosphere. You can even turn the legs of old furniture or newel posts into bases for centre islands to make you kitchen furnishings blend with the rest of the house. Get creative and enjoy doing much more than cooking in your new kitchen.