Essential Kitchen Bathroom Bedroom Magazine March 2013 Retour à l'édition précédente

Ssuccessful interior design requires balance. It occurs when there is a perfect marriage of style and utility. When planning kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms this consummate pairing takes on a heightened importance. And so, this month we bring you both a profusion of visual design ideas teamed with informative guides on all those practical things that you really need to know. Our visual inspiration includes insightful advice on using colour with confidence – not always easy these days when a neutral palette has been in vogue for so long. In Colour Schemes (p123) leading experts explain how and why certain combinations work and offer creative wisdom for where to use four specially created palette mood boards. Our main bedroom story, Schemes for Dreams (p100) has eight exquisite choices for restful and uplifting ornamental schemes, and our impressive kitchen case studies offer a broad swathe of decorative concepts, including a couple who have brought a little bit of African charm to the UK with a stylish rear extension that completely transforms an otherwise traditional home, Open House (p40). Then there is the striking conversion of a 16th Century barn in Oxfordshire, History Lesson (p20) where old meets new in perfectly balanced proportions. Exposed flint walls and high ceilings have been teamed with simple, contemporary lines to quite spectacular – yet tastefully understated – results. Our bathroom pages, Designer Elements (p89) have a special theme as three leading international interior designer’s reveal their professional tricks of the trade on recently completed projects. To guide you in those more practical matters The Essential Guide to Utility Spaces (p65) offers a wealth of thoughtful features to aid with conceiving a hub of domesticity and introduces the latest technological advances in washing machines, tumble dryers and irons. We talk you through those little functional features to help make day-to-day living just a little bit easier. Enjoy the issue!