Kitchen Design Challenges

When going though home builds there is one room that is always the heart of the home, and that is the Kitchen.

This is one room that will become one of the hardest rooms to design and that requires a lot of thought and decision making. Not only is the design important but the selection of finished that will represent the final product, but also being a cohesive area within the rest of the home.

I know with my background and my family that the Kitchen is the heart of the home and I know some amazing memories have happened in there. From my Nanna teaching me her cookie recipe or creating dishes for friends for a Dinner party.

Reasons why people find it hard to get the design right

I think that people find it so hard to design the space is because they haven't worked out exactly what they want in a Kitchen. Another influence that will affect design is listening to other people who are concerned with aesthetics rather than practicability of the space.

The location of the Kitchen to the house can also influence the design, the Kitchen is generally located centrally to the house with the Dining and Lounge area flowing from it. This can also influence peoples ideal perception of the design as it may become a focal point when in the adjoining rooms.

Planning:

Some of my tips on nailing your dream design

• Go into your current Kitchen and list the faults and the achievement of the design?
• Write a list of what you want and what you need in the Kitchen?
• What Kitchen shape would best suit your needs ?
• What size appliances do you require?
• Are drawers preferred or cupboards for storage?
• Is the current bench space in your current Kitchen enough?
• Is there room for a Butlers Pantry?

Other Design notes:

• Check the distance between benches is enough (too small and you wont be able to navigate through correctly)
• Have you considered all design options that will give you the greatest amount of space utilised in the room?
• Are you going to contract an interior designer or a Builder to undertake the work ?

Selecting Finishes:

When selecting cabinetry finish you have to consider the final cost, but also achieve that you are wanting. It is best to see an interior designer who can recommend different products or you can go to a cabinetmaker , both should be able to provide you with costs once the selections have been made.

For benchtops there are thousands of selections that you can make. These come in all different colours, thicknesses and costs.

• Laminate
• Engineered Stone
• Marble
• Corian
• Tiles

For cabinetry selecting a colour can become an issue, because there are so many brands, colours and finishes. You can get a high gloss finish to a laminate that has been embossed texture to replicate a raw timber.  These also vary in prices depending on your preferences.

My top tips:

1. When planning your next Kitchen, draw up 3 or 4 options. Once drawn narrow it down to your favourite to work on.
2. If your stuck, get some inspiration jump on to Houzz or Pintrest, and have look at what people are doing with their interior spaces.
3. Ask a professional - Consult an interior designer or a cabinet maker for their ideas and how they would change the space.
4. Get everything costed to make sure you can afford it. It would be terrible if you have committed to the design and selections to find out that it has come over budget. Any changes you make you should cost them so that you can see the budget of the Kitchen.
5. Enjoy the process and your creation. 

Must haves !

When starting with design there are some things that I cannot design without!

Here are my 5 top items:

• Reliable computer
• Adobe - Creative Cloud
• Internet
• Magazines 
• Sketch book

These are all of the items that you will find on my desk within an arms length. 

Reliable computer - You need a reliable computer or laptop that you can store all of the images and content on. Having a laptop is a great idea. My preferred computer is an Apple Mac Book Pro. I just love it! All of my devices connect up to it, it has an amazing battery life! ( Even if the battery does go flat you can always switch to working on your Iphone if you have them linked up like I do) 

Adobe Creative Cloud - This is an essential if you are doing anything related with design. You can create clients concepts boards and layer sketches with colours to provide a 3D render for your client!Convert it to a PDF document and use all of the editing features also.  Depending on what you need the Adobe product for there is a use for everyone. 

The Internet - How could we live without this !! You are using it right now to read this post. The internet provides an amazing gallery of images and inspiration. With Social media the internet has become as powerful as ever! From a simple search wanting to know eactly what a design movement looks like or a technical constructtion term it has it all! 

Magazines - I love flicking through magazines. There is something that I enjoy within this digital age of being able to flick through a magazine and tab the pages or even being able to  scribble ideas or future projects that I may be working on. I love working with something physical because you can cut it up and add it into a scrapbook or to add that final touch to a concept that you are working on. 

Sketch Book: There are so many uses for sketch books. You can use these for not only any possible sketches for client meetings but using it to create ideas freely. You can brain storm and have a mixed media complete the vision that you are after. I like using a sketch book as there is no required structure to it ,you can write/draw and decorate all of your thoughts down on to the page to reflect the ideas that you are trying to convey or explore. 

Lighting - Pendants

Lighting within the home is so important. It is something that you know you need to get right as it can set the mood of the room. 

There are so many styles of lighting that you can incorporate in to any space. You can even mix multiple styles within a room to create an eclectic look!

So many places sell pendant lights even Kmart in Australia now ! With how fast the Design industry moves you need to make sure that you are picking something that you like not what is on trend for your own home. 

Depending on what you are looking for there are a whole heap of replica lights that you can purchase for half of the price of the real item. This enables the average person to have a bit of Milan in their home for half the price with a similar look. 


When looking for the right pendant light you need to figure out these things:
- What style are you going after?
- How will this suit the current space and the current decor items?
- How many pendants will I be putting in the space?
- Do I want this the be a subtle feature or the focal point of the room?

Whiles trying to find something different for you , I decided to consult my Olioboard that has some amazing pieces. If you want to know the exact details of the lights follow this link: Pendant Lighting

In my next post I will be discussing my Design must haves for referencing documentation !!!

Bedroom Revamp

Wanting to change a Bedroom room in your house for a new look? Here are some tips and tricks to change that space quickly and will hardly cost a thing.

1 ) Furniture

Work out what you want to do with that area, do you want to repurpose the room or do you want to keep it a Bedroom?

You first need to workout if you can use any of your existing furniture once you have figured out if you can use anything. The most versatile piece of furniture is a bed ensemble. This can be moved into any room and be transformed. You can use a fitted wrap this is applied beneath the mattress which is called a valance sheet these come in a variety of colours to create a contrast between the doona cover and the headboard.  

If you are needing to purchase new furniture, I would suggest writing a list of all the items that you will need to purchase and the maximum sizes that you need for each piece. 

2) Colour scheme 

Does the colour scheme need to change within the room to fit your vision ? If the answer is yes these are the following things that you might need to consider, to make your vision become a reality:

- Painting the room 

- Changing bed linen

- Update your accessories 

- Update your furniture selection 

3) DIY
You can change the rooms look instantly by doing a few projects yourself  that will cost you next to nothing.  

Painting of the room - Painting of the room is one of the simplest ways to transform the room. It is a simple and cost effective. You can select one colour or multiple colours to recreate your space. There are multiple brands on the market. You can use textured paint or a metallic paint on just one wall to create a feature within the room. 

Wallpaper - If you want to add some texture or a variety of colour into the room try using some wallpaper. You can get this at an affordable price from a variety of stores like trade stores like Bunnings or any other speciality stores. Wallpaper is something that you can change easily and regularly to change the theme of the room in an instant. 

Create your own artwork - by creating your own artwork either doing it yourself or by printing it off the internet and placing it around the room. This is an easy way to add some more of a personal and funky touch into the room. You can use images from anywhere and print them on card or even get them printed on canvas' to hang around the room. 

Mirrors - You can add full length mirrors into the room to make the space feel taller and the impression of more space. If you don't want to drill holes or hang a mirror you can lean it on a slight angle just against a wall. There are a variety of mirrors that you can buy some have decorative edging or a bevelled edge and you can purchase these from any furniture store at a low price. For example Fantastic furniture have large mirrors under $100 each. 

4) Lighting - Whilst you are updating a room you should also relook at your light fittings. This is something that is simple to update. You can purchase a more modern looking light fitting or update your side lamps. My favourite stores at the moment for selecting light fittings are Beacon Lighting, Target and Freedom as they have a large amount of variety and styles so you are able to get exactly what you are looking for at affordable prices. 

There are some of my tips and tricks on the things that you need to consider for updating of Bedrooms. Happy Styling !!!

Kitchen Design Consultation

When working with clients you need to make sure that you have a brief or an idea of what the client is expecting to receive. I have over the past few years began to understand that you need to discuss with your client in the first meeting to gauge what the clients expect of your services and anything else that they believe is should be part of the final pricing and design.

During your first meeting with the client you will need to ask them the following :

What do you require in your Kitchen ?

What items would you like but don't need ?

Do you have any Images of Kitchens that you like?

Are you after a modern Kitchen or more of a Traditional Kitchen?

What Layout are you after?

What is the total budget that you are willing to spend?

There are probably hundreds of questions that you could ask your client but these are the questions that you will find be able to get the most out of your time with the clients. 

By asking the client you can gauge pretty quickly what they want. Depending on the services that you offer you may go and select some products, colours and the layout for the client in a professional presentation. Once you have all of the information that you require initially from the client you will be able to provide the client with pricing and some sketch plans of their new Kitchen design . 

Once you present the client with the drawings, colour scheme and price, the client will be able to tell you what they like and what they don't. When working with the clients I find that it is useful to go out with them and go to the specific places that you think will benefit them to get the desired look, this could be going through Display homes with the client the determine what colours, layouts and textures they like, or going to a tile store to start looking at what colours are currently being stocked. 

By doing any of the above the client will feel more than satisfied with the services that you offer. If you are always communicating with the client on time frames and any new information that is coming to hand you. The constant contact with the client is essential for any business to run smoothly as you will be able to speak to your client on a regular basis to make sure that they are fine with any selections that you have made with them and the layout of the Kitchen. 

Remember as the Interior Design expert you need to be able to showcase to the client not only your personal style but remain subjective to any selections they make as they will be the ones using the space day in day out. 

Rainday Interiors - Bedroom Revamp

Since it is a rainy day here in Perth, thought that I would use some of my creativity. Here are some items that you can affordably purchase and use to revamp your bedroom. All of these are from common stores too. I have listed the items below.

Freedom Aspen Double Bed Head on Sale for $244 regular price $349

Kmart Knitted Ottoman - Charcoal - $29.00

Kmart - Prism Terrarium $ 8.00

Kmart - Marmo Marble Floor Lamp - $ 39.00

Target - Lisa T Indigo 16cm Clock - Gold$25

Target - Harlow Quilt Cover Set -$59

Adairs Home Republic Concrete Geo Gold $ 49.95

Adairs Home republic Marbled Winter Prints Hex Scale From $55.95

I opted for a very simple scheme where you can dress the room up with accessories when you are wanting a change of the room quickly.

Have a great weekend !

Bathroom Design

A bathroom from my experience is one of the worst rooms when it comes to making the final decision. You have so many things to consider where should I put the bath? Do I need a second vanity? How much do I require? Those are the questions that most people get stuck on.

Bathrooms are such an important part of the house just like the Kitchen you spend a large amount of time in it. Not only do you have a shower but you normally get ready in there preping and priming yourself for the day. 

Why is it when we go to design this space in particular that we seem to have the difficulty.Heres how to have a stress free design process. 

1) You don't know what you want

Of course we all have a ideal bathroom but this can cost thousands of dollars and we might not be able to afford that right now. This ideal bathroom may have some concepts that can be used in the new bathroom but how do you know which features to keep and the other features to save for another day?

An easy solution is to write a list of the wants and your needs within the bathroom. 
Do you want a shower that is large and that you can walk into or do you want a vanity that is floating with 2 basins ?

By writing a list you can see what you can put into your new bathroom design with out changing the allocated space. 

Another option for creating a well designed bathroom is to look at the builders designs and look at how the bathrooms have been designed. This will be able to give you an idea of the possible layout. Even going through display homes or anyones homes to find the right bathroom layout for you.


2) Products
Once you have the layout that you want you then need to decide on the products and materials that you will be using within that space. Do you need prefabricated cabinets or did you want a cabinetmaker to construct the products? Are you wanting a ceiling shower or a rail shower? Did you want a above counter basin or a inset basin? 

Once you have narrowed down the products you are wanting to put into your room, you will need too start considering cost. Sure you can get a basin that is $1000 but you can get a replica that is much more cost effective enabling you to select other items that you want to be more of a feature.

Another thing is that you either need to alert your builder if you are using one or the plumber of the products and ask if there are any other installation costs and if they would recommend any of those products. 

3) Selecting colours
Once you have finalised your layout of the Bathroom, you now need to pull everything together with selecting the tiles and laminates. This is defiantly the part that people find the most daunting, but use the following tips to make your selection process easier.  

My top tips for successfully choosing tiles are :

- Do your research !
Before going to the tile store make sure you have an idea of the colour scheme that you are wanting to put into the room. Cut out magazines, search the internet for colour schemes that you like. Take pictures of friends or display home bathroom themes. 

-Browse
As silly as it seems people only like to go to 1 tile store and make all of their selections. I would suggest going to multiple tiles stores , before picking anything have a look around and see what they have. Just because you walk into the store doesn't mean that you have to pick anything. Once you have found tiles from the store that you like, go back and make a formal selection. Remember you can select tiles from different tiles stores if you can't find everything that you need in the one store. 

-Get Samples
Why get sample tiles ? You should get a sample tile of anything that you select so that you can take the tile home and see what it looks like in the different light. The lighting in the tile stores is deceiving and could and in some circumstances will look different once it is laid. 

By also taking a sample tile home you can see how the laminates look again that you picked. It will also allow you to get a second opinion either the builders design team or a family member. 

-Utilise the resources provided to you. 

If the builder offers a consultation of tiles and plumbing fixtures before the meeting, make sure you take that up. The bonus of this is that you will have someone that knows what is included and what works its their job. Make sure you ask lots of questions and find out what other clients have selected.

If going to the tile store alone ask the colour assistant for some advice on the type of tiles that they would select and also what grout colour they would recommend. Ask them if you should tile the kick board in the floor or in the wall tile. These colour assistants are full of information and will be able to point you in the right direction. 

Those are the tips and tricks that I use regularly to make selections regardless of the client. Do you have any specific tips? And how do you compromise to get the final look