Slightly Quirky Interior Design

We at Slightly Quirky have recently designed a walk-in wardrobe for our clients in Spittalfields, central London, so understand what is important when it comes to storing your suits to your stilettos. One of the key aspects is good lighting. As well as layers of light, to ensure all areas are well lit, the colour temperature is crucial; this is the difference between a warm or a blue light. Here a clean, white light is best, this ensures you can see the true colours of your items... and won't run the risk of leaving the house with one blue sock and one black one! It sounds obvious, but know what you want to store. Do you have a lot of long dresses or coats? How many pairs of shoes do you have? The internal configuration will depend on how much long hanging space is required, how much shelving or drawer space you need. A top tip for shoe storage is to keep them in their boxes with photos of the shoes on the outside or clear shoe boxes so you can easily find that pair of pumps in a...

Maison et Objet, you have not disappointed. You have lived up to our imagination of what you were to be. In our minds you were 110,000 sq.m. vast and 5,000+ brands interesting. What you were was 39 ,000 footsteps of interesting and 400 photos of inspiring.   Monday morning 5am alarm brought more excitement than normal if woken at that time. The prospect of breakfast on the Eurostar was more appealing than my normal regime. Paris bound we were! Maison et Objet is one of the largest design shows in Europe and the word on everyone's lips in the design world in January is 'Paris'.   We are so excited to be part of this world full of creativity and the sort of people who make things happen. The sort of people who have a vision... see how a piece of furniture should look and create it; know how a room should be lit and make it so; know how materials work together and blend them. For us here at Slightly Quirky, we were on the look-out for inspiration and new supplie...

Don't we all have a bit of a back-to-school feeling in September? Even if it's just an excuse to stock up on some new stationery, indulge in a new winter wardrobe and new 'school bag'. Spring slides effortlessly into Summer but it often seems a sharp shift from Summer into Autumn: before our eyes, the sun now has a warm ember-glow to it, setting lower in the sky; the trees are changing from lush green to a crisp burnt palette of amber, crimson and caramels. It makes you all of a sudden have a longing for rich colours, warm textures and comfy sofas. Ready to embrace this new term... I mean season... we at Slightly Quirky are feeling refreshed from summer holidays and have some exciting new projects on the horizon so now is the perfect time trawl the Design trade fairs across London. It's good to touch base with current trends, keep an eye out for what's emerging and meet some existing and new suppliers for the months ahead. One continuing trend which struck ...

What a fabulous day yesterday was, I love working with our fab photographer, Anna. We were shooting our Taplow project- an iconic Eric Lyons modernist Span house built 1966. Prestigious architect, Lyons, had a history of working with the esteemed Walter Gropius and Maxwell Fry, before going on to co-found the Span development company in 1948. The essence of a Span house is to 'span' the gap between the typical house of the era, built for the mass market, and the architecturally designed individual homes. The ethos of these houses was all about blending the inside and outside spaces, done so with the use of large floor to ceiling windows and often L-shaped floor plans to create a courtyard area which can be used as an extra 'room'. The existing landscape was taken into consideration and mature trees often feature as a central point for the communal spaces which offer the residents a sense of community. Our clients loved the existing architectural style and feel of the...

So, the photoshoot was a success and the pictures are fab. We've had such a great response to this beautiful grade II listed property in Chiswick, west London... and have been featured in Home World Design - Architecture and Design Magazine. I think why this project, in particular, has resonated with so many people is that it is a good example of a situation many people in London may find themselves in: trying to update a period property for modern day living, in a fun, interesting and unusual way. Also, the use of inherited pieces in a contemporary way; giving these pieces a new lease of life rather than disposing of them. The idea of heritage v's disposable- an idea which is very much on trend at the moment as we see more artisan craftsmanship, handmade, one-off pieces, renovations; natural materials and fibers, texture. The details.... This stunning four storey family home was brimming with period features such as marble fireplaces, detailed coving and tall sash windows. ...

Sunday 30th August... Frantic last minute phonecalls and we managed to secure a location for our photoshoot Monday morning. We'd found a fab new photographer, booked her in excitedly for her first job... 24 hours to go and we had no house to shoot. The origanal house we had lined up cancelled at the last minute... first impressions and all that, we didn't want to let her down, not a great start. Luckily enough, a few phonecalls later, we managed to get access to another recently completed project. Our very lovely clients there were amazing and managed to do a fab job of a last minute tidy up ('don't open any cupboards' were our instuctions... for fear of all sorts tumbling out). None the less, we were greeted by fresh flowers and cups of tea... and the Hoover! To be fair, being so last minute, we had offered to contribute with the cleaning; however, our skills with a duster were redundant as, dispite summer holidays, full time jobs, 2 teenage girls, a cat... the h...

Thanks to the healing properties of hot water and lemons today I made it through Friday... after the generosity and fabulous hosting* from the Houzz team last night at their annual Summer Party... (*well stocked bar and attentive staff) Such a fun evening held at their London head office; a fab space designed really well... as you'd imagine... complete with Parisian sitting room, library and sports room to bounce those great ideas about... either on the ping-pong table or through the basketball hoop... (p.s. even the toilet paper is on-message: green, to match their branding). We enjoyed mouth watering canapes, sipped fizz on their beautiful roof terrace oasis and watched the sun set over the London skyline with the Shard and St. Paul's Cathedral in our view. Luckily the rain which splattered down over our studio that same morning decided to pass... just as well, as my summer outfit was planned and new wedges itching to get out of their box. Dressed to impress, Deborah and...

...8am site meeting today- I'm not one for a 6.15am alarm (when you've been up till midnight addicted to all things interiors on Instagram and your phone says '6hrs 15mins' until your alarm goes off.... 😣), so coffee and breakfast in the car en-route it is... Meeting with clients and builders before the work starts on their new bathroom. Wait till the builders see our tile choice... eeek! Thick tile, complex pattern... pattern matching up the wall. Plus, how do we get the bath up two flights of stairs...? It's going to look fabulous though! To be fair, our team is great... nothing is a problem, it's always 'Yehhhs' ... there might be a slight pause before they reply... but they make everything happen. I think they secretly like our quirky ideas... Back at the studio it's an afternoon of drawing our funky tiles to scale, calculating and counting (and re-counting!) the amount to order... plus a bit of last minute sourcing for a client presentation...

My interior design life began a few years ago by being thrown headfirst into it and studying at the fabulous KLC School of Design. I decided to change my career and took the plunge and enrolled to do the full time post-graduate diploma at KLC. Yes, full time back to college... back to student discounts... new stationery for the new term... new school bag... the lot!  What an intense year that was... late nights before project deadlines, lectures, inspirational talks, new computer packages to master- I had a renewed empathy for the kids at school these days, I'd forgotten how full on learning can be... but I loved it!  It was the most fabulous year, I felt inspired by the lecturers, lovely friends I met and the prospect of a career in the industry. On the day of my graduate exhibition, 2 years ago this month, I happened by chance (some say by fate) to bump into someone I knew... someone I had known 8 years previously. She is an established interior designer and I had sold a...