Renovation inspiration: five award-winning interiors to inspire your New Year home makeover
Some of the hottest trends and key looks for the home right now include midnight blue, brass and gold, velvet and marble, layered lighting, clever storage, divine details, dedicated DIY and jungly back gardens.
All these looks and more were showcased in the inspirational winning rooms in the first London Home Design Awards from Homes & Property, in partnership with the online home design and renovation platform, Houzz.
Readers were asked to enter an imaginative and thoughtful renovation project from their own home, whether owned or rented. The five categories were: living room, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and garden, and we received hundreds of entries.
LONDON DESIGN AWARDS 2018 - THE WINNING PROJECTS
(Scroll through our gallery above for the full details on all winning projects)
1. THE WINNING KITCHEN
A New York loft in a London garden — that was the aim of journalist Laura Burkitt, 33, for the Queen’s Park flat she shares with fiancé Ben Sarner.
Art-school trained, her kitchen renovation has sparked a new career in styling and design (lauraburkitt.com). The couple reconfigured all rooms in the property to make an open-plan living area plus two bedrooms — one en suite — and a small shower room.
They extended the kitchen into the lovely garden, doing all design work themselves and employing builders. Howden kitchen units were painted charcoal and brass handles were sourced online. To save money, they shopped around for reclaimed materials.
The industrial look started with Crittall-style black steel doors from Fabco Sanctuary, a micro-cement floor by Dan Dixon and exposed-brick wall.
A traditional range cooker and Belfast sink add to the eclectic look. Wall grout for engineered bricks was painted grey, and then the whole wall sanded back. Brackets made by a local smith hold hanging utensil rods from Ikea.
> Read the full article, with expert tips for your own kitchen renovation
2. THE WINNING LIVING ROOM
“My style is big and bold and I take risks,” says Stephanie Savvides-Howell, 34, who lives with husband Simon and their two Bengal cats in a five-bedroom Edwardian semi in Whetstone, N20. She is deputy head of a primary school in Belsize Park and “a sucker for period details”.
When they moved in during May last year, the living room was brown and beige. Starting point was the sideboard with textured brass front from Swoon Editions which cried out for a dark wall. Stephanie took the plunge: “It was nerve-wracking, my first experience of going dark.” The shade name, requested many times on Instagram, is Hague Blue by Farrow & Ball.
> Read the full article, with expert tips for your own living room renovation
3. THE WINNING BATHROOM
With a new career in styling and interiors, ex-journalist Jess Hurrell, 35, founded her blog, Gold Is A Neutral a year ago.
The name reveals her taste in interiors: luxurious and glamorous with metallic touches — such as the brass-faced vanity unit in her recently renovated bathroom at home in Honor Oak Park, south-east London, where she lives with husband David and their children Rafferty, six, and two-year-old Nellie.
The old bathroom was ripped out and a fish tank in the chimney breast became a traditional fire surround. A Jacuzzi was replaced by a freestanding tub in volcanic limestone from Victoria + Albert Baths.
Brass taps and the huge shower head are from Perrin & Rowe and exposed pipework was repositioned under the floor, covered with encaustic tiles from Bert & May.
> Read the full article, with expert tips for your own bathroom renovation
4. THE WINNING BEDROOM
French-born Emilie Mauran, 38, was inspired by hotel bedrooms but wanted something more personal. Farrow & Ball’s pinkish Peignoir is here teamed with a grey carpet.
Emilie’s five-week bedroom renovation involved knocking two first-floor bedrooms into one large bedroom en suite.
Hanging space in cupboards is 60cm deep, with shallower joinery linked by an attractive shelf that the judges loved, 45cm deep, on either side of the bed.
There’s a statement La Volières aviary-inspired cage pendant lamp by Mathieu Challières, wall lights, reading lights by the bed, a chaise longue and a dressing table.
> Read the full article, with expert tips for your own bedroom renovation
5. THE WINNING GARDEN
Simon Hurst, 46, bought his Thirties house in Walthamstow in 2001 and renovated it using DIY skills learned from his father and grandfather, antique furniture restorers. The south-facing garden was a blank canvas, “the perfect place to play with”.
A garden “should be an outdoor room, a secluded oasis”, says Simon. This one is a good size with access through a lane at the back, a cobbled central circle and York stone paths.
WATCH OUR VIDEO: BEHIND THE SCENES ON JUDGING DAY
The London Home Design Awards at Sketch
WITH THANKS TO OUR EXPERT PANEL OF JUDGES
The expert panel of judges included the editors of Homes & Property and Houzz, Janice Morley and Victoria Harrison; design journalist Barbara Chandler; Daniel Hopwood, former president of the British Institute of Interior Design; and Richard MacRae of architecture design studio EDRM.
Guest judges included food writer and broadcaster Rachel Khoo; Mad About The House author Kate Watson-Smyth; interior design duo Jordan Cluroe and Russell Whitehead of 2LG Studio; the founder of Mr & Mrs Smith hotels Tamara Lohan; and founder of The Balcony Gardener Isabelle Palmer