Following on from my post last month – sometimes simple design is the best solution – here are some more shots from the interior design project in Hampshire that I featured.
Again there can be a lot of careful planning and design work in advance to create the feeling of calm and simplicity in the final interior. And we’re always thinking about function alongside form.
In the kitchen the client preferred to have the walls free of any cabinetry, so that the kitchen would feel open. We designed the room so that it would feel spacious and without cabinets at eye level, although we had to solve other design issues.
Wall cabinets are usually the ideal place to hide task lighting – crucial in any kitchen. Ceiling lights seldom work as you create your own shadow when leaning over the worktop. Here we used three simple, modern wall lights from Gubi, which complement the sleek, minimal design of the German kitchen beautifully.
This ‘Bestlite’ wall light was designed in the late 1920s by Robert Dudley Best. A friend of Bauhaus school-founder Walter Gropius, Best was heavily influenced by the modernist movement. Stripping away the decoration of the lighting designs he’d previously been making, Best’s new design was a smart combination of function with simple aesthetics. First made in 1930, it’s been in continuous production ever since.
The wall lights are also highly funtional, providing perfect task lighting for users of the kitchen, yet in an artful and attractive way.
A simple extractor from Elica is used for the hob – to complement the overall design rather than to distract. A ‘feature’ extractor wouldn’t have been in keeping with the rest of the room. And functionally? We ensured this could be ducted to outside the property for the best extraction.
Calm and simplicity in the room isn’t just about what you see though – there can be a lot of sound in a kitchen too which we sought to minimise. Extracting to the outside reduced the noise that can be caused by recirculating extraction, and a high-specification dishwasher is almost silent in operation.
In the sitting room alongside, we wanted to use natural materials within the simple space. Interacting with natural materials always helps calm and wellbeing. Here we fitted a large green oak beam as a shelf along the wall – a solid beam over two metres long. And knowing that at some point somebody would probably perch on it, it was securely fixed into the structural wall!
Part of the beauty of its appearance is the natural cracks and splits in the timber, as well as its raw finish and colouring. To keep this look and feel yet ensure it would be practical for the client, we specified a special lacquer coating which doesn’t change either the look or the feel of the timber.
Again, many details, and a lot of thought and preparation. Visitors shouldn’t be aware of all of this in the interior, but I hope they enjoy the finished result. I hope you do too, that I’ve also given you a sense of how this lovely space feels.
