Tag: interiors

DFS launched their So Simple… range in London last week and we sent our intrepid CREATE by kld designer Vicki McGahon to check out what So Simple… is all about.

CREATE by kld is Kingston Lafferty Design’s new tailored interior design and decoration service and is available across Ireland now.

Hi, Vicki here, I am just back from London and the launch of a very exciting new range from DFS, So Simple…. With new lifestyles and smaller spaces, DFS have come up with a new way of buying sofas, easy as 1,2,3.  Let’s face it apart from your kitchen the next show off thing in our homes is the sofa. Over style, comfort comes first when choosing a sofa but DFS have certainly put both together here.

To briefly go through the concept, it’s a 3-step process

1. Choose your style (8 to choose from)
2. Choose your size (3-seater, 2-seater and armchair)
3. Choose your Fabric (27 to choose from comprising of wool, velvet, linen and leather look)

Every So Simple… sofa is then designed and handmade to order. And what’s more, the DFS designers, makers, stitchers and shapers deliver the goods with a 15-year guarantee.

Sofa shopping made easy. But to help a little further I’m going to walk through my top 3 from the event.

Personally, my favourite styles were The Tom, The Mya and The Guy.

The Tom was by far my favourite, it looks compact and neat but what surprised me was that you did sink into it so definitely wins on both style and comfort. It was on display in a leather look, but I think it would have been amazing to see it in the wools or linens, my choice would have been the peacock teal wool.

The Mya was a big hit with everyone there and stunning in the pink linen. Pink is everywhere and it’s losing that tag of just being feminine. KLD recently created a stand for Fleetwood and used the Betsy 1920 palette from Fleetwood’s Vogue range and it was all kinds of sophistication, but a room for everyone. But back to the Mya, A perfect nod to a traditional chesterfield sofa but sleeker with thinner arms making it easier to fit into all sized spaces.

The Guy is definitely the winner for that lounge experience. You literally sink into it. It was displayed in the natural earth velvet which was super soft and luxurious.

I can’t wait to help our CREATE by kld clients see the options in this range. My top tip would be don’t be afraid to mix the styles.  I can certainly see a 3-seater Tom positioned alongside two Mya chairs. And play around with the colours and fabrics, the velvets would be lovely mixed with the wools.

I want to say a special thank you to DFS for having us all over and to Niamh O’Carroll from O’Carroll Consulting who organised the Irish contingency and looked after us while we were there.

Thumbs up to DFS for creating this oh so simple way to shop for that all important sofa. A perfect option for folk who find themselves with smaller spaces to furnish.

Here is a short video montage of the the launch and the So Simple… range

You can check out the full range of So Simple… sofas, sizes and choices here

Bye for now,

Vicki

The latest colour within our gemstone-inspired series of colour blogs is definitely one to read about.  Today’s colour is purple and inspired by the gemstone Amethyst, a jewel tone that screams loyalty and luxury.

Purple, in its pure form, is made up of red and blue and its shades include violet, lavender, lilac, wine, eggplant, periwinkle, plum and grape amongst others. In fact, Ultra Violet is Pantone’s colour of the year for 2018.

A dramatically provocative and thoughtful purple shade, “PANTONE 18-3838 Ultra Violet communicates originality, ingenuity, and visionary thinking that points us toward the future.”

Purple has always been associated with royalty, a favourite colour of aristocrats, who obtained it by combining blue and red. As it appears very rarely in nature the colour purple was exclusive and expensive and conveyed power. In fact, Queen Elizabeth I forbad anyone except close members of the royal family to wear it.

As mixture of passionate red and reliable blue, purple invokes many strong emotions, is quite dominant and can quite often affect mood. Therefore, deeper purples can better serve by complementing other colours rather than dominating a room.

Purple can be a perfect colour for chairs, ornaments, tables, in fact any furniture or fitting in your room and because of that aristocratic connotation, nothing screams opulence like lush deep purple velvet texture.

DFS Spring/Summer 2017

Purple is also quite versatile, and can easily manipulated through shade adjustment and combination with other colours. Therefore, it is always important to know what goes with purple.

Used tastefully and selectively purple can really make your home look like a million dollars.

Referring back to the pantone colour of the year Ultra Violet, the Pantone website tells us it is nuanced and full of emotion, “the depth of PANTONE 18-3838 Ultra Violet symbolizes experimentation and non-conformity, spurring individuals to imagine their unique mark on the world, and push boundaries through creative outlets.”

Paint Options

At KLD we use Fleetwood Paints for a majority of our work. Here is a selection of our favourite purple inspired shades!

Amethyst & The Purple Family

Go bold and add the colour purple  to your life.

Note: Colours may appear differently on screen than in person. We always recommend looking at a physical paint sample prior to selecting a specific paint colour.

When we travel we take in new surroundings, learn cultural traditions and see a new world. Interiors and design play a huge part in our experiences across the globe.

Travelling to new environments allows us to explore new styles, sample new materials and learn how cultures and styles are represented through design.

We learn, albeit unconsciously, about the people who created the space, their history and their values through good design.

Design should be considered in the context of its surroundings and often the best hotels are those which draw cultural influences.

With this in mind we’ve devised a list of inspirational hotels with interiors so beautiful, you’ll definitely want to add them to your bucket list!

Uma Ubud, Indonesia

Hotel Sant Francesc, Palma

The Four Seasons, New York

Perivolas Hotel, Greece

Le Royal Monceau, Paris

Ovolo Hotel, Sydney

Boro Hotel, New York

Add some reflective surfaces for depth and light within your garden…..

If your feeling like spending the weekend outdoors we have some great garden DIY inspiration for the sunny weekend ahead.

Mirrors are a fantastic way to brighten up any garden space. Adding large or small mirrors to your garden creates extra dimension to the space.

Adding mirrors to your garden not only creates extra dimension to the space but it also increases the light in the space as the sun moves throughout the day. It also reflects the planting that you have within the garden, making the garden feel much fuller and giving the garden more depth. This idea works particularly well with small gardens making the garden feel twice the size.

We here at KLD did some of our own garden mirror DIY during the week, and here is how it is done.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

1. Mirror with decorative feature or frame
2. Paint – We prefer to use bright fun colours to brighten up your garden space.
3. Paintbrush
4. Metal Wire

HOW TO:

1. Select a mirror in which you would like to revive. This can be an existing old mirror which you have in your house which you no longer use or a new one. We chose the ‘UNG DRILL’ mirror from IKEA.
2. Take the paint colour that you wish to use on your mirror. We chose the colour ‘Secret Lagoon’ from the Cuprinol ‘HAMMERITE’ range.
3. Paint your mirror and wait for it to dry, it may need two coats if the mirror was a dark colour to begin with.
4. Use the metal wire to hang your mirror on your garden fence or wall.

OUR FAVOURITES:

1. CUPRINOL do a great range of garden paints for all your garden DIY.
2. IKEA have a great selection of affordable mirrors if you don’t have one at home.

We are delighted to have our South Circular Road Residence featured in this months issue of Image Interiors + Living

This was a project for our client Karinda, who was someone we worked with before on Smithfield Residence and were very excited to work with again, especially as her family had grown, and her and her partner now had a little girl and now another baby on the way. Smithfield was a great project and filled with character and industrial quirkiness.

We designed a lot of custom pieces for that project, most of which were then carried forward to their new home. Part of our design brief was to create something new and suitable for the new home from the existing items.

One of the most rewarding things about designing someone’s home is the relationship you build with your client, often to the point that the relationship feels far more like a friendship than anything professional and then seeing how the lives of your clients evolve and change is really lovely, especially when you become apart of their life again and get to design their family home!

The house we designed was a modern family home, with a beautiful back garden and lots of unique features throughout. It was all about a light and airy feel with attention to detail. The industrial details still feature but with a scandi and eclectic twist. We also got to be playful and experimental with colour.

Karinda is Australian and grew up on a farm, she and her husband had a real love of art and the outdoors which can be seen throughout the house. We used a lot of planting in our styling to maximise this and to bring the outdoors in. We are big fans of indoor planting in KLD.

Whether using real or artificial planting, plants can add texture and architectural interest to the space. It is also very calming to be surrounded by nature in your home and proven to reduce stress and promote productivity.

We were delighted to work with the magical Appasionatta Flowers for the shoot day. Their dreamy succulents and planting added the perfect finishing touches to the space.

The house is home to the couple and their young daughter, it is an organised and practical space that allows them to function as a young family.

Storage was a key consideration so a lot of the design involved creating bespoke storage solutions for them. The cabinet above is more of a feature piece but the seamless joinery behind the sofa was designed to blend into the space. It offers a full wall of additional storage.. which in most homes is a God send!

One thing we love to see is a space that allows a family to be who they are. We can spend our lives trying to perfect every space and constantly trying to keep everything pristine but a better space is one that tells a story, realistic to the way we live our life.

Unbeknownst to us these spaces with genuine charm and details of daily life are often what people respond most positively to.

As with all photo shoots, styling was a part of the process, but the styling was done in a manner that was minimal and mindful of the existing design, so as not to alter the essence of this family home.

This mostly involved setting small scenes like laying a table with some beautiful kitchen ware and also dressing an al fresco table scene. The table is one of our own upcycled creations with salvaged builders trestle legs. It added quite a punch to the garden.

We sourced some items  from the gorgeous Article in powerscourt centre, flowers from the lovely Appassionata and three beautiful art pieces from the Print Makers Gallery for the shoot. The ceramics make for the perfect table spread and the artwork enhances the living area and bedroom beautifully.

Photography is an integral part of design and conveying our work and designs as best as possible is something very important to us and our business.

We were delighted to work with photographer Ruth Maria for this shoot, who has such an eye and captured stunning shots of the space.

We are so pleased with this gorgeous feature – thanks to all the girls in Image Interiors, Ruth, our suppliers and Karinda for making it all possible.

Follow Kingston Lafferty Design’s board Valentine’s on Pinterest.