Essential Kitchen Bathroom Bedroom Magazine apr17 Back Issue

Sometimes the hardest part of planning a new interiors project is just getting started. This applies to kitchens and bathrooms particularly, when there are so many ideas for cabinetry, fittings, lighting and materials that it can seem particularly dizzying even committing to any one thing, never mind a whole new scheme. Which is why I’m immediately drawn to Lara Sargent’s Style Statement feature on page 114. When setting out on planning your bathroom, she suggests picking one stand-out design feature – be it floors, taps or even those amazing reclaimed tiles you’ve always coveted – and go from there. Recognising what the one ‘look’ you want to achieve is can be just the impetus you need to see how the rest of the space could be, and is a method that can be used as easily in any other room in the house too. We all need technology in our kitchens and throughout the home, but what about the bedroom? Often seen as traditionally digital-free zones, staff writer Lucy Macdonald re-examines what’s out there for homeowners planning sleeping spaces now and finds that there’s actually so much in the way of intuitive and convenient tech, you might be surprised – see Smart Sanctuary on page 140. At the other end of the spectrum, and an important thread running throughout this issue, is our attachment to all things natural, inert and handmade, with the continuing popularity of wooden and country-style kitchens. While not all of the homeowners in this issue have chosen traditional kitchens, they’ve all incorporated handmade, hand-painted or solid wood features within schemes, with many of them – such as the Coes on page 32 – even commissioning wooden chairs, tables and island stools in keeping with a heritage theme. Assistant editor Emma Foale looks into the abiding appeal of the material and the work of wood specialists such as Sebastian Cox, Tom Raffield and Liam Treanor in Heart of Craft on page 80. Enjoy!