Global Interior Design - London UK

Professional bathroom designers are masterful at merging both function and form to create breathtaking results. In this eight-part series which I call "Understanding Bathroom Design," I draw on my experience working with some of London's top bathroom designers to explain this exciting field. This first article focuses on imagining all the possibilities.

Back in the day, the most extravagant thing about a London bathroom was a newspaper, an oil lamp and a bathtub filled with soapy hot water. But thanks to the field of professional bathroom design, that has long since changed. Today, with Londoners packing more work hours into every week, the bathroom is quickly becoming a sanctuary. Increasingly, people are hiring bathroom designers to add special, high-end extras that give a touch of class to the standard look.



The professional bathroom designer starts with plenty of imagination. Today's designs can mean so many different things - in London, the spa bathroom, the retreat bathroom, and the multimedia bathroom (complete with plasma TVs and surround audio!) are some of the most popular concepts. And each of these requires special bathroom design accessories, from whirlpool tubs to underfloor heating to warming drawers for towels. Even the sanitaryware has become astonishingly varied and sophisticated. Think of bathroom designs that incorporate steam showers, shower jet panels and air baths. Also, think of hotel-inspired bathroom design. There is a movement afoot to do away with standard mass-produced vanity cabinets and toiletry cupboards. Instead, London bathroom design today is evolving toward chic watercraft basins and fabric-covered poufs. Hotel-style coffee machines and micro-fridges are even being designed right into bathroom walls or cabinetry!

In addition, home entertainment technology is bringing a completely new dimension to London bathrooms. Complete home audiovisual systems with flat-screen TVs and surround sound are becoming standard. Some bathroom designers love to tuck a DVD player / TV system discreetly away into a cupboard under the washbasin. Perfect to catch up with the Tokyo stock exchange on CNN as you get dressed in the morning!

In my next article in this series called "Understanding Bathroom Design," I'll explore the role of colour in the London bathroom design community.

Professional bathroom designers are masterful at merging both function and form to create breathtaking results. In this eight-part series which I call "Understanding Bathroom Design," I draw on my experience working with some of London's top bathroom designers to explain this exciting field. This second article reveals the secrets of bathroom colour schemes.

In crafting a new color scheme, most London bathroom design professionals start by pulling out their colour wheel. The wheel can help choose tuneful combinations of colours, regardless of whether the palette is subdued and relaxed or exciting and dynamic. For example, some larger London bathrooms might be great candidates for a high-contrast complimentary look. This will normally pull in two colours from opposite sides of the wheel, maybe combining a yellow base with navy trim for high impact. However, smaller London shower closets would not be compatible with this bathroom design scheme because it might be too overwhelming. In such cases, a monochromatic approach that focuses on a single colour but uses various hues for interest could be perfect. Imagine the same bathroom design as previously discussed, but with powder blue in place of the yellow ... exactly the same dimensions and accessories, but an entirely transformed atmosphere. Perfect perhaps for a North London flat or a West London studio loft.

Sophisticated Londoners can be desperate for that spa sensation which is so popular these days. Bathroom designers can make that happen by using cool, restful colours that include blues and greens. These often combine fabulously with the cream and two-tone brushed metal fixtures that are commonly found in spas and salons.

For centuries, the fashionable ladies of London have used makeup to bring out the beauty of their features while also covering up the tiniest imperfections. Similarly, colour can bring a bathroom design to the next level - perhaps by showcasing interesting architraves, cornices or other features.

In the olden days, bathroom design instructors in London used to teach that painting a small bathroom a darker hue will make it seem cramped. However, today's top bathroom designers know how false that can be. Using different shades of a deep colour in a smaller room can in reality make the bathroom seem more spacious. Adding texturing detail to the paintwork can add extra dimensions and bathroom designer flair.

In the next article in my series "Understanding Bathroom Design," I'll focus on child-friendly approaches.

Professional bathroom designers are masterful at merging both function and form to create breathtaking results. In this eight-part series which I call "Understanding Bathroom Design," I draw on my experience working with some of London's top bathroom designers to explain this exciting field. This third article focuses on designing for young families.

Do you remember what it was like to be little? Bathroom designs that are child-friendly can be a big challenge. But with London's ever-growing population, young families are increasingly asking about child-ready design options. The biggest issue is always how to create a London bathroom design that children won't quickly outgrow? We all realise that what seems fab to a 8-year-old at a London primary school could well seem drab by the time he/she turns 11 and enters the local secondary.

Children love colours, but London's best bathroom designers know when enough is enough. A great technique is to maintain a neutral shell by choosing cream or caramel for the walls and floors. Dashes of colour can be incorporated in the form of rugs, tiles and ornamentation. Some famous London bathroom designers love to rely on asparagus, lemon, blueberry or aubergine for a child's bath - and importantly these colours are much less overbearing and forward than (say) salmon or carrot.

The biggest bathroom design requirement for younger children is that there is sufficient space to move around. This can be quite a challenge in some smaller London residences. Some designers will include a mini-stool that children can step up onto to reach the washbasin. It can quickly slide out of sight when not needed. Touchfree taps reduce the amount of reaching for small hands, and the bathroom design team can even pre-set the temperature to make sure children won't get burnt.

Finally, a great idea is to personalise the bathroom design by pinning children's art or craftwork onto the walls. I have seen London family homes where the children painted a special tile underneath the washbasin, or the bathroom designer maybe allowed them to colour a mirror frame. This can add to the sense of fun and child-like delight.

In the next article in my series "Understanding Bathroom Design," I'll turn to designs for the elderly.

Professional bathroom designers in London are masterful at merging both function and form to create breathtaking results. In this eight-part series which I call "Understanding Bathroom Design," I draw on my experience working with some of London's top bathroom designers to explain this exciting field. This fourth article focuses on designing for older individuals.

Are you getting older and finding it harder to move around your home? I've worked a great deal with the elderly or disabled in London, and I love to help homeowners make their familiar spaces into wheelchair-accessible dream bathroom designs by decluttering, restyling and helping do away with any troublesome stairs. I love to see the residents' reactions to their new bathroom designs. Even if your budget isn't big, the payoff definitely can be when you re-envision your London bathroom from drab to fab - the wheelchair way. A fresh new bathroom design can be a critical component of the modern, disabled-friendly home.

Even a cosmopolitan, youth-orientated world city like London has more than its fair share of older individuals. With the UK's aging population, bathroom designers are being called on more than ever to create inspired bathrooms for the elderly or disabled. The perfect bathroom design for an elderly couple or individual will promote accessibility while also preserving a great sense of style. Many elderly people luxuriate in the morning by enjoying a relaxing bathing hour, a delicious cup of tea, and watching the morning soap operas on TV. For this purpose, the ideal bathroom design for the elderly could include sparkling glass toilets, chic lighted countertops, and high-gloss cabinets to house a kettle and home entertainment centre.

Aching joints can be a problem for many old age pensioners. Bathroom designers can choose to incorporate speciality baths that feature massage jets and low-rise tubs that are easy to access. In larger London residences, a bathside deck can be a great benefit - allowing the elderly to sit down and gently lower themselves into the hot bathwater.



For the wheelchair-bound, a roomy roll-in shower often serves as a highly sought-after bathroom design feature. The convenience of a hand-held shower head together with on-wall in-shower seating allows for a great washroom experience that rivals the most luxurious London spas.

In the next article in my series "Understanding Bathroom Design," I'll focus on London's latest trends in environmentally-friendly design.

Professional bathroom designers are masterful at merging both function and form to create breathtaking results. In this eight-part series which I call "Understanding Bathroom Design," I draw on my experience working with some of London's top bathroom designers to explain this exciting field. This fifth article focuses on eco-design.

I often say that the hottest colour in London bathroom design today is "green" - and by that I mean enviro-friendly design! Excitingly, it is also a great way to save money, perfect for today's challenging economic situation. Did you know that an environmentally-friendly bathroom design reduce water, heating and consumables costs?

Many top bathroom designers will recommend the use of special low-flow showers, taps or lavatories in order to save water. London bath emporiums will often stock new designs that perfectly combine efficiency with style. A recent hotel-inspired trend is to include urinals in bathroom designs - a perfect way to use less flushing water.

Floor coverings are a critical part of environmentally-compatible bathroom design choices. I try to buy local London-made floor coverings whenever possible. Natural linoleum is often fabricated using oils, cork and limestone, with eco-friendly waterproofing thanks to a plant-derived wax surface coating. For bathroom designs that require wooden flooring, I recommend bamboo, because this fast-growing woody grass quickly regenerates in the wild and therefore has a small eco-footprint.

Although the London cabinetry centres of old have long since moved outside the city, bathroom designers can still source local-made cupboards from not far outside London. But to reduce air pollution, I recommend eliminating any products that contain formaldehyde from the list of options.

In the next article in my series "Understanding Bathroom Design," I'll focus on a true designer's highlight that has recently become a huge hit in London bathroom designs - the standalone vessel-style washbasin.

Professional bathroom designers are masterful at merging both function and form to create breathtaking results. In this eight-part series which I call "Understanding Bathroom Design," I draw on my experience working with some of London's top bathroom designers to explain this exciting field. This sixth article focuses on the vessel-style washbasin - a true designer delight!

The vessel-style washbasin has been around for many centuries. It originated not in London but in Ancient China, before the existence of piped water or water treatment facilities, when people simply needed a vessel in which to hold water that had been drawn from the local well. But in the context of bathroom design, today's vessel-style basin is free-standing and sits directly atop a bathroom counter or similar furniture unit. The London interior designer can source all sorts of different styles, dimensions and appearances, to match almost any bathroom design imaginable. One can select from a wide array of standard materials, including metal, glass, and semiprecious stone, or - for super-luxury bathroom designs - one may turn to gemstone-embedded or jewelled models.

What are the advantages of a vessel-style washbasin over a more traditional model? These basins aren't constrained to slide into a regular-sized hole within a standard counter. Accordingly, London's top bathroom designers can benefit from much more creative designs and shapes, with non-symmetric detailing and unusual footprints adding visual interest. Many vessel-style basins are taller in the back than in the front - a big boost for a smaller London bathroom design that needs a "touch of flair" but that has no space for a rear splashback.

Clients often tell me they have fallen in love with a standalone basin but just can't figure out where it should go, perhaps because it doesn't quite fit in their existing bathroom design. In such cases I may recommend the basin be installed in a London powder room, where it will serve mainly for handwashing - instead of shaving, brushing one's teeth and giving the household chihuahua a bath.

In the next article in my series "Understanding Bathroom Design," I'll return to eco-friendly bathroom designs in London and discuss how to clean and maintain your bathroom in a way that helps protect the environment.

Professional bathroom designers are masterful at merging both function and form to create breathtaking results. In this eight-part series which I call "Understanding Bathroom Design," I draw on my experience working with some of London's top bathroom designers to explain this exciting field. This seventh article returns to eco-friendly design.

The use of recycled or recyclable materials is a real trend with some of London's best-known bathroom designers today. Recycled options such as glass or rubber can be a great alternative to non-renewables. Another important element of eco-friendly bathroom design involves wise positioning of windows. Installing windows in exactly the right places can help control bills by allowing sunshine to wash into the bathroom during the day or encouraging fresh breezes during the night. Bathroom designers know that pleated curtains made from recycled materials can help with seasonal variations - especially in a city like London where summer temperatures can warm up unexpectedly and rapidly.

Did you know that London's Heathrow Airport has the worst air pollution in the UK? Eco-friendly bathroom designs always use paints that are low in volatile organics. This helps reduce indoor pollution - after all, if London's outside air is polluted enough, why should you want your indoor air anything less than the cleanest it can be? Along with low-emissions paints, many modern bathroom designers will focus on fluorescent or LED lighting options. These are much more energy-efficient than filament-based alternatives, and have the additional benefit of guaranteeing a much longer operating life.

The last part of eco-friendly bathroom design is mostly about what people do in the finished bathroom itself. I recommend the use of ecologically sensitive cleaning products like vinegar, salt and sodium bicarbonate - all of which are available at any of London's many small corner shops or convenience stores. These products break down naturally once they are flushed down the toilet, and are therefore environmentally very benign. A green bathroom design can only go so far - ultimately it's up to the consumer to make sure they fix dripping taps, recycle lavatory paper and other recyclables, and only flush when absolutely necessary.

In the next and final article in my series "Understanding Bathroom Design," I'll finish with a summary of the psychology of London bathroom design - "Designing for Happiness."

Professional bathroom designers are masterful at merging both function and form to create breathtaking results. In this eight-part series which I call "Understanding Bathroom Design," I draw on my experience working with some of London's top bathroom designers to explain this exciting field. This final article talks about the psychology of design.

It can be really interesting to talk with professional London bathroom designers and learn how they see the psychology of their role. Many designers talk of the way in which a fabulous bathroom design starts with a stroke of imagination. They will mention the captivating enchantment of a well-designed room, with unconventional or thoughtful small touches making the house really feel like a home.

One of the really big questions in designing for happiness is whether to select painted walls or wallpaper or tiles for new bathroom design projects. Colour is the number one consideration. It can be used to frame and showcase certain interesting features of the bathroom dimensions, attractive London-designed sanitaryware, or favourite pieces of washroom artwork. Mood is an important bathroom design consideration in this regard - how does the client want to achieve that feeling of happiness by luxuriating in the space of their new bathroom?

Professional bathroom designers in London often refer to the "scale challenge" - by which they mean the problem of smaller London bathrooms sometimes being rather cramped and awkwardly-shaped. The designer may choose to respond by focusing on a small number of larger sanitaryware items to make the space seem more extravagant. In such cases, a bathroom design may benefit from deeper, smoother colours to provide atmosphere while simultaneously softening any dividing lines or contours.

The final aim of any bathroom design project should be simple but ambitious - namely to make our interior universe a happier space. Fabulous interiors that meet our needs and that support our wellbeing have a real and meaningful significance that goes well beyond the bathroom design itself. London is home to over 7.5 million people, many of whom have bathrooms at home that could benefit from a refresh. Happier individuals serve as more helpful acquaintances and neighbours, they are more energetic at work, and they are generally more involved members of London society.

That brings to an end my eight-part series called "Understanding Bathroom Design." Thank you for reading.

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.

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 second article talks about how to create patterns using illuminated materials.

Any perforated textile, when lit from the back or from the inside, will speckle adjacent forms with pattern, from point strips and pirouettes to constellations and dazzling laser specks. The professional London interior designer can use the trim of a window covering to create fabulous banding across a shiny floor covering in the London summer. Some interior design firms love to use ornamental metal lanterns to paint fiery asteroids on walls and furniture, while light projected through a sculpted screen can create magnificent abstract outlines in expressive contemporary interior design schemes. A factory-inspired metal stairwell with perforated treads - of the type often reinterpreted for ultra-modern interior design schemes - can throw tiny checkmarks of light onto local furniture when exposed to a bright London sky in springtime. A fabulous option with a wooden staircase would require the interior designer to specify a grit-washed tread, to deliberately throw stunning shadows from the rail onto the adjacent wall. Abstract wire-mesh sculptures by local London artists can engender powerful interior design emotions, with the pattern even becoming more important than the object itself! Interior designers can expressively use perspective to distort the pattern from complete realism, when lit front-on, to Baconesque abstract enchantment when illuminated at an acute angle. The same effect can be created by using mirrors to refocus natural light from bay windows in some of the more luxurious London residences.

Glass is another popular tool for patterns. A frosted glass table can be lit from above with a halogen downlighter to cast intricate outlines of reflected light onto the ceiling, and the interior designer can even use positioning to cause refracted light to splash abstract patterns onto the floor underneath the table. I have seen some London interior design consultancies deliberately illuminate trophy-style glassware on display shelves from the front so that the etching on the glass throws deep shadows that recapitulate a core design theme.

In the next (third) article in this series called "Colour Me Brightly!" I will reveal another secret of London's interior design community: how to create patterns with opaque objects.

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 third article talks about how to create patterns using opaque materials.

The second way for an interior designer in London to create light-based patterns involves opaque surfaces, which reflect light back into a room. This pattern creation process is more sophisticated and can be fine-tuned for stunning interior design effects. Light portrayals impact how we understand a surface and its texture. For example, the "standard" technique often seen in London residences simply involves casting a gentle play of light across a wall. The light brushes the fittings, causing the wall to appear even, flat and two-dimensional. Some top London interior designers know that their clients crave more drama and stylistic nuance. In such cases, placing lightwell fillings very close to the wall and angling them downwards can be really striking. Using this technique, interior design consultancies can transform the previous gentle wave into an enunciated designer style, as the photons shave the surface and build to form sturdy optical patterns, including top-level arcs and dramatic textures. A sharper, more laser-like focus will only make the pattern more conspicuous - recreating a look that is popular in many trendy London nightclubs.

The direct counterpoint to this interior design technique involves the use of close-offset uplighting. With this approach, floor-level filaments cause the eye to move up vertical columns of light which dance across the wall to form puddles of dappled reflected light on the ceiling. Professional London interior designers often work alongside colour consultants to make sure that the result has practical relevance as well as aesthetic appeal. In particular, some newer London residences often have uncomfortably low ceilings. Interior designers can use this lighting approach to draw attention to the vertical plane of the wall, thereby counterbalancing the hemmed-in feel of the low ceiling.

In the next and final article in this series called "Colour Me Brightly!" I will finish by revealing some top lighting tips from London's interior design community.

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 fourth article concludes my series.

Linear light patterns can focus on either the horizontal or the vertical metrics of a room. A given wall-light technique can create an immersing halo effect, if the interior designer uses concentrated super-bright light at high level that gradually fades out towards the base. Some London interior design consultancies specialise in choosing continuous sources, such as a miniature tungsten rack for a soft light or overlapping fluorescents for a cooler light. This is an effect that works very well in contemporary interior designs, where light can be concealed between the wall and the ceiling in a crevice in order to take the place of the traditional cornice.

The best method of illumination for interior designers to use when creating patterns will depend on the interior, and also on the direction of windows (natural light in London can be very seasonal). A smoothly plastered wall can jump into existence with a dappled arc wave from closed-offset down-lighters but if the interior design feature lies in the texture and in the structure or hue of the wall, then a more uniform spray of light will emphasise the wall's best perspectives. A splashback tile solution at the rear of a shower or bath is a good interior design choice for the arc wave effect, as is a Venetian blind in a London kitchen. A wood-panelled hall or study is often a compelling interior design feature, and accordingly it would be better lit with an even light that does not detract from the feel of the wood.



Shifting from instant to instant and from a London dawn to a dappled full seasonal moonrise, the impacts of illumination and shadow are phenomena we almost disregard. But London's top interior designers know that patterns of light can actually transform our emotions with respect to the interior forms that engulf us. By bringing to life walls, floors and ceilings with light-focused interior designs, pattern-making is yet another realm of illumination that can brighten our spaces and enhance our quality of life.

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