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Interior DESIGN IDEAS AND TIPS .......................................

IN AND OUT

Borrow space from outside by adding large windows or glazed doors. The cost of new windows depends on what you want – anything from a few hundred pounds. Usually planning permission is not required but do check as it affects the exterior of your home.READ MORE

EASY UPDATES

There are a few clever tricks you can try to help make a room seem bigger. A fussy window treatment swamps a small space, so streamlining is key. Blinds are ever- popular – choose a pale color that recedes to maximize the sense of space. If you have a bay window, ensure the curtain track follows the curve of the bay and doesn’t cut across. Reflecting light and space using mirrors is a good way to add a sense of space. Keep floors as uncluttered as possible – storage fixed to a wall or freestanding kitchen and bathroom units will help make a room feel bigger. READ MORE

PALE COLOURS, or at least a consistent color scheme, also give an impression of space. Buy furniture that is the right size and proportion to the room. A compact sofa in a small living room will work much better than an oversized one that just highlights the shortage of space.

REAPLACE FLOORING THROUGOUT Using the same flooring throughout makes a space seem larger and isn’t necessarily an expensive job. If your floorboards are in good condition, rub down and stain them for a cost- effective solution. If not, try reclaimed wooden ones or parquet flooring from salvage specialists Carpets are coming back in favor too, especially natural like sisal and wool. Stone or polished concrete are also popular choices, but may not be suitable if you have a young family.

MIRROR Mirrored surfaces are a great way to make a space seem bigger, and they also help to bounce light around the room.

INSTAL A WET ROOM A spacious downstairs toilet or small second bathroom is great to have, but think about whether the space could work harder. Turning them into a wet room maximizes their usefulness. A wet room is fully waterproofed, so you don’t need a shower tray, meaning you can squeeze everything into a smaller space. It should cost around £4,000, plus the cost of the suite.

Make the most of unused rooms There is no excuse for rooms that don’t pull their weight, but it’s easy for parts of the house to become unofficial dumping grounds. Clear up the clutter and look to incorporate dumping rooms, larders and rear porches into other rooms to make more efficient use of the space.

PUT IN A DOWNSTAIRS CLOAKROOM A second loo is practically an essential, especially in a bigger family house. There may be space in a roomy downstairs hallway or you can even squeeze a space- saving macerater loo into a reasonably large cupboard under the stairs. If you’re thinking of selling in the future, it’s definitely a huge advantage. Sid O’Bagi, sales manager at Keatons estate agent in London’s Kentish Town, says families, in particular those with young children, find a downstairs toilet a must.

CREATE AN EN SUITE Small box room or rooms off bedrooms that don’t have independent access are ideal candidates for transforming into an en suite. The nearer the room is to the water pipes and soil stack, the easier the refurb will be. Distance isn’t necessarily an obstacle. Saniflo toilets (saniflo.co.uk) can be installed a distance away from the soil stack, as they macerate the waste allowing it to travel down narrow pipes

FIREPLACES

Constructing a new fireplaces is a job that requires professional planning and installation. The flue and chimney are essential for removing the products of combustion safely and efficiently from the fire and the home. As a chimney works on the principle of hot air rising, the flue must be properly insulated to keep the air warm, usually by clay liners. The design and installation of flues and chimneys are subject to building regulations, including minimum widths for flues according to the size of fire and fuel to be consumed.READ MORE

NEW DESIGN TRENDS FOR 2008

Designers are turning hi-tech in 2008, using computers to help create fabulous weaves, wallpapers and interiors. Barbara Chandler reports So, a new year, and what are the most exciting trends that will shape London’s homes in 2008? Which are the names to watch out for ? - and where are we going to shop?READ MORE

BALANCING COLOUR IN THE HOME

FOR 2008, CROWN'S COLOUR TRENDS explore the beauty of balance and the curiosity of contrast in our modern way of life.
Our lives consists of opposing, yet parallel choices - from eating organic vegetables one day to microwave ready meals the next, or pairing a Chloé handbag with a dress from Primark. Within the home, we try to recycle and buy fair trade sustainable products, but without compromising our desire to live in comfortable, luxurious surroundings. In the same way that our life decisions are balanced with complimentary opposites, so each colour trend is paired with a corresponding counterpart: Geometric & Informal Adornment & Without Nostalgia Awareness & Tales Of The Unexpected So, here’s more about each colour trend and how they can be used in the home: READ MORE

1. GEOMETRIC
In marked contrast to large floral and free flowing designs that are popular at the moment, geometric pattern creates something that is both complex but easy to understand. Design by repetition – using graphic lines, contours and rhythmic patterns – can bring clarity to both furniture and textiles, or be used on walls or floors to add impact and interest. In the home, a geometric small repeat stencil can be used on a part of a wall – for example, in a stripe from floor to ceiling or contained within a row of squares. Or take one strong colour like crimson or deep teal and use in a graphic linear way – something as simple as horizontal lines or a row of crosses – then keep the rest of the room black and white or white and grey. Geometric colour palette: Fireside® Solo® One Coat emulsion, Mascarpone® Indulgence®, Red Carpet™ Fashion For Walls® (new for 2008), Sidewalk® Fashion For Walls®, Teal Solo® One Coat emulsion, Little Black Dress™ Indulgence® (new for 2008).

2. INFORMAL We live in a precise world, where we are pressured to make our wants and needs fit with the demands of our busy lifestyles, however the more structured our lives become, the more attracted we are to the informal and spontaneous. In marked contrast to Geometric, Informal is about a more relaxed way of living and putting your favourite things together to create an easy-going, eclectic, yet uniquely personal home environment. To create an informal mood in the home, look at using soft tones from the same colour family, and then combine them with interesting materials and accessories. Put things together in a relaxed and natural way in the same way as you would create a collage, and avoid anything that looks too staged. Mellow pastel shades can be combined with pale grey and charcoal, then keep the furnishings simple for calm and quietly understated surroundings. Informal colour palette: Slate Grey® Kitchen & Bathroom, Empire Blue® Period Colours, Golden Roast™ Solo® One Coat emulsion (new for 2008), Noodle™ Easyclean®, Flawless™ Fashion For Walls®, Gallery White® Indulgence®

3. ADORNMENT Adornment is about enhancing your home with decoration and richness – not in an ostentatious way but with a down-to-earth, honest approach. An extra layer of glitz and glamour, just because it pleases us to do so, or a luxurious sheen of richness and texture can add depth and character to an interior space and make your home a more enjoyable place to be. So how does this translate into our homes? Rich and indulgent colours like dark dusky pinks and aubergine add strength and depth to a flat matt wall. Think textured surfaces, luxurious textiles and sparkle and shine. Areas of metallic emulsion in gold or silver work perfectly here. Adornment colour palette: Soft Steel® Kitchen & Bathroom, Gentle® Fashion For Walls®, Evening Wear® Fashion For Walls®, Sophistication® Metallic, Striking® Metallic, Palladian™ Period Colours (new for 2008).

4. WITHOUT NOSTALGIA In contrast to Adornment’s ornamental sensibilities, Without Nostalgia focuses on what is real and instantly familiar to us – proven colours that, when we see them, we instantly associate them with other objects. Take the orange of a 1950s Eames chair or Navy blue. These feel more modernist than retro because we understand their recognisable origins. This trend is about the use of flat matt colour and simplicity of texture and shape to create a simple, unpretentious home environment. It’s important to keep it simple in the home. Use colour in a clear but understated way and seek those quiet bright shades that have a timeless quality. These colours will provide a strong backdrop to furniture and furnishings and enable you to combine vintage finds with a modernist edge. Without Nostalgia colour palette Sketch Book® Fashion For Walls®, Promenade® Period Colours, Celebrity™ Fashion For Walls® (new for 2008), Silhouette® Indulgence®, Charcoal Grey® Non Drip Gloss, Classic Sand® Easyclean®.

5. AWARENESS Awareness of our surroundings, the world around us and our responsibility to be ‘green’ has created a desire within us to become more conscious of the origins of objects in our homes. This trend is all about taking a more responsible, forwardthinking approach to how we source items in order to create a comfortable environment. Influences from nature are still very strong, with sustainable wood, recycled objects and eco-friendly designs all becoming increasingly prevalent. When bringing this trend into the home, work with a colour palette of greens and browns – soft and watery sea green, the deepest olive, and nut brown. These are tones that harmonize with natural materials, textures and shapes, so it’s a case of simply letting the furnishings and accessories blend with the natural colours that surround them to give a restful, comforting room. Awareness colour palette Cascade® Indulgence®, Treehouse™ Kitchen & Bathroom, Brown Sugar® Matt emulsion, Bespoke® Fashion For Walls®, Royal Gala® Solo® One Coat Gloss, Carnaby® Fashion For Walls®

6. TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED In contrast to the considered, conscientious Awareness trend, Tales Of The Unexpected is all about having fun with a room scheme and adding elements of humour and surprise. By incorporating an unexpected object in a room – even if it conflicts with the overall style – gives a completely different perspective creating an unpredictable, yet exciting edge to a design. More importantly, it’s about using your instincts and mischievous nature to mix up styles and create interest. Whatever pleases you is the right thing to do! In the home, this is a more unstructured and quirky use of colour – so go with the flow and do what you fancy and make a statement. Think about using some uncommon combinations of colours that you would normally steer clear of. Large stencils or murals, or even freehand painting and drawing will also add a bit of fun to the room while unusual, almost artificial accent colours such as canary yellow and raspberry red will make the right kind of impact. Tales Of The Unexpected colour palette: Summer Pudding® Indulgence®, Pashmina® Matt emulsion, Armagnac® Indulgence®, Satin Jade® Solo® One Coat Satin, Lemon Squash® Kitchen & Bathroom, Gallery White Indulgence® These striking trends for 2008 show just how passionate Crown is about colour – and with our top interior tips on how to translate them into colour schemes for your walls, now there’s no excuse not to bring the 2008 trends to life in your home!

MIRROR DEMISTER PADS

London, UK - Sparks Direct are renowned for being at the forefront of the lighting and electrical wholesale industry, being the supplier of choice for many architects and interior designers because of their expert advice service, their cost effective prices and the fact that they offer the UK's widest selection of lighting and electrical solutions.read more

INTRODUCING TILE-VISION

Porter Lancastrian Ltd has launched digital and HD ready versions of its TileVision waterproof TV, available in 17 and 23- inch widescreen format. read more

NEW TRENDS: THE EXPERTS’ PREDICTIONS

Mixing styles of furniture brassware and wall or floor coverings. ‘Use classic brassware with a twist- slightly matt materials like pewter are popular and can easily be mixed with modern- looking sanitary ware.read more

NEW MULTI - SENSORY BATHNew

multi-sensory bath integrates water, light and vibration with four individually choreographed, relaxing music experiencesread more

KOHLER Vibroacoustics is a technology-based sound therapy defined as hearing and feeling sound vibrations through the body. Proven to promote relaxation, it is an ideal feature to add to a bathtub that is designed and engineered to instinctively ease tension and stress – as shown in the newly launched Fountainhead™ VibrAcoustic bath by Kohler Co., a global leader in kitchen and bath design and technology.

“The science of sound vibration and the art of ergonomic design come together in this bath to provide an unprecedented level of relaxation,” said Ann Roever, business director for KOHLER bathing products. “Four expert-designed sound and vibration experiences are designed to help the bather achieve consistent, slow, and deep breathing, or the phenomena of ‘Entrainment’ – the connection of internal body rhythms with external influences. “The four experiences are original compositions that integrate music, vibration and lighting in order to encourage the bather’s breathing rate to align with the beats or chord structures. The bather cannot help but relax physically because the mind is able to shift into a focus on internal, physical feelings.”

Fountainhead VibrAcoustic Experience Four vibroAcoustic experiences envelop the bather in a multi-sensory environment that synchronizes music, vibration and light with water. These original compositions were created in collaboration with a renowned sound therapist and are choreographed uniquely for this bath to optimize the vibroacoustic effect, in which the body is led into a state of complete relaxation. Two massaging beat experiences add even more physical vibration that can be adjusted to the desired level of intensity to personalize the bath experience.

Transducers producing music/vibrations are strategically placed on the backside of the bath allowing the bather to not only hear but also feel the music streaming in from one of the four preset Fountainhead experiences. The sound waves travel through the water and gently resound in the body. The transducers are located below the water for the vibration experience and two above the water for the audio. A user-friendly, conveniently located DTV Bath interface controls all features and affords bathers the option of listening to a favorite play list from a MP3 player or a radio station from a home computer.

Chromatherapy is another relaxing element that completes the well-rounded bathing experience with a sweeping wave of color in the bath. The four chromatherapy lights in the bath can create eight different colors and myriad color combinations and patterns. A color dial even allows bathers to choose a particular hue of each color. The lights are synchronized with the four preset Fountainhead experiences and will also align themselves with the rhythm of outside music.

Fountainhead Bath Design The newest addition to the recently launched contemporary Fountainhead suite, the vibroAcoustic bath maintains the collection’s fundamental design lines of flowing curves and organic minimalism. It is available in two installation options, drop-in or an exposed deck installation with a unique, raised look to highlight the bath’s fluid design that almost makes the tub appear to be a hovering basin of water.

The bath is made of acrylic and available in two sizes – 88m x 48 x 24 inches and 72 x 42 x 26 inches –, which allow bathers of different heights to be submerged completely. The 88-inch bath is only available as an exposed deck installation, but offers a large transition area built into the rim for easy access. Both sizes offer two reclined positions. The first position features a head pocket designed to give the bather the choice of resting his or her head while floating in the bath or lowering the head so the ears are under water. This enhances the sound quality of the music, making the sound even clearer than above water. The second position is for bathers who prefer to have their ears above water. For maximum comfort, a soft, pliable pillow is included with the 88-inch models that will support bathers at the nape of their neck as they float in the large bathing well. The pillow is available as an optional accessory for the smaller bath.