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London Interior Design Trends: Best Colour Pop Sofas

29/4/2021

How to Add Colour to Your Living Room

The Open Plan has been looking for sofas that POP! today. We've found so many that we thought we'd share our favourites, from our favourite stores, with you.

Need Interior Design Help?

Drop us a line if you need help finding the right furniture for your home, office, bar or restaurant in North London and beyond
info@theopenplan.com
07957489989

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A North London Interior Designer's Guide: How to Transform your Hall and Staircase

27/4/2021

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If you're lucky enough to have a beautiful, old staircase, chances are you want to preserve it and make it look it's best, but how?

Gorgeous Interior Design Solutions for your staircase

Which type of staircase do you prefer?

Do you own a tired staircase? Want Expert Advice?

As most of our projects involve the hallway (which not only has to be impactful and stylish but highly practical and on budget) over the years we've tackled staircases, landings and entryways of varying ages and conditions. Today we're offering you our five tips on how to beautify yours.

BEFORE Victorian Stairs in Shepherds Bush

AFTER Victorian Stairs in Shepherds Bush

5 Ways to Design a Stunning Staircase

1. Where to tart when decorating your staircase
Establishing your budget is key as you need to know if you have £1,000 or £10,000. If it's the former you can hire a decorator to repaint the area but if it's the latter let's also get a top-end runner on those treads and risers.

2. How to hire tradespeople to renovate your stairs
Unless you're a particularly good decorator with plenty of time, you're going to need help. Recommendation is the best way to find a trusted painter or carpenter so ask around your friends and neighbours who've recently had work done. Alternatively we have clients who have successfully hired through Check a Trade, Rated People and Houzz where you can read genuine reviews of work.

3. What is the best material to use on stairs
Should you have an Oak staircase or your decor suits a more rustic/industrial/shabby look, you should get any repairs to dodgy steps, spindles and wobbly finials done and keep on top of the anti-slip, protective oil or vanish to show off the wood's true beauty. However, if you have a knackered pine staircase, with cold and slippery steps, carpet or a runner is needed. If fully carpeting only the banister and spindles need looking at but for a runner the treads and risers need either a full coverage of paint - a longer project OR you can just paint the sides, making sure to go a few cm into the carpeted area as the runner will cover the rest.
Then there's edging - whipped Vs Tape edge. Whipping is the process of wrapping the cut edges of a carpet to stop them from fraying. Tape is made of fabric which is adhered to the edges and gives a more expensive look, because it is more expensive, but looks incredibly smart.

4. How to choose pattern and colour for halls and staircases
If your walls have pattern on them a plain runner will keep the scheme in check. If a bolder look is your thing, then go for a clashing print in a neutral or harmonious colour. If the walls are bare, why? Stick a picture up at least! Then a patterned runner will give you the wow factor you're looking for. Pale colours make for a calm space whilst darker colours give you a richer and more impactful, chic entrance.
Then the woodwork - white is a popular choice as it's timeless but our advice is to always go for an off-white which is less harsh on the eyes yet does the same job and is more sophisticated in our opinion. However if you want colour for a stand-out hallway, always pick a muted shade such as French Grey or Cerullian Blue unless you're like the lovely Siobhan from Interior Design Masters in which case go for it!

5. The Environment & Where To Buy
Where possible choose natural fabrics for carpet such as wool or sisal and cotton tapes. Also use grippers and stair bars so that less adhesive is needed. For the walls look for low to no VOCs, water based paints such as Farrow and Ball and Little Greene, and with even stronger eco credentials Grafclean mid-sheen by Graphenstone which incorporates nano-technology for enhanced durability or Earthborn's Eggshell, just make sure to lightly sand and prime first.

The Open Plan would love to hear about your staircase projects should you not want to tackle the job on your own We can help with a colour consultation, bespoke design advice and project management, so just drop us a line now.

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London Interior Design News: Award Season

16/3/2021

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We've won another award!
Thank you Houzz for awarding us with a Best of Houzz award for service. These awards are issued based on the amount of five star reviews we've received - haven't we done well.
We'd like to say thank you to Houzz and most importantly all of our lovely clients who have been dropping these amazing reviews - Thank you!

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Interior Designer Advice: ONLINE and Bathroom Transformations

4/6/2020

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You may have noticed that there's been a lack of posts recently but that's because we've been writing for and featured in Zoopla and The Times
You can read our handy article on How to Transform your bathroom for under £500 here
Then read all about our ONLINE service to get socially distanced, professional design and advice from colour consultations to the full design service.

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London Interior Design Trends: Kitchens at KBB 2020

9/3/2020

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Be the first to see the latest in kitchen design and technology from last week's Kitchens, Bathrooms and Bedrooms 2020. As we saw in bathrooms (see our last post) the emerging trends are more colour, matte finishes and moves to become more eco friendly with gadgets and renewable and natural materials.
We excitedly noted an increase in appliances with can be operated from your phone, extractors taken further with air purification, recycled materials in splash backs and tiles and real wood making a kitchen comeback.
Click on our highlights and we'll show you new tech, new colours and new thinking about arguably the busiest room in the house, then Get In Touch to discuss your next kitchen.