DESIGN IDEAS
CREATING YOUR DREAM HOME & GARDEN
INCLUDING:
• Kitchens, Bathrooms & Ancillary Rooms
• Conservatories & Greenhouses
• Pools, Ponds & Rills and more
From the floor upwards, consider key practical and aesthetic questions to result in the right design choices for the heart of home
Perfect kitchens
Kitchen lighting can be decorative and practical. These hand-slip-cast pendants are in the shape of spring flowers and cast circles of task lighting.
Blossom pendant, available in two sizes in a gloss finish, from £329, Original BTC
Planning and designing a kitchen that functions beautifully for all daily routines, as well as being a joy to spend time in, is a matter of considering how the room will be used by the whole family. ‘Start by thinking about how you live day to day – map your routines, the natural light, and how you move through the space,’ explains Natalie Hough, lead designer at The White Kitchen Company. ‘Plan your layout so that cooking, preparation, clean-up, and storage flow effortlessly, with walkways wide enough for everyone to move comfortably, even when the kitchen is busy.’
To ensure the kitchen has a desirable atmosphere, style and practicality are equally as important.
‘Consider how storage can work hardest for you with a place for everything (and a little extra), and create a welcoming spot to sit – whether it’s a table or island that encourages conversation and shared meals,’ Hough advises. ‘Choose worktops that suit your style but can also handle heat, moisture, and daily life, and pair them with quality cabinetry, effective extraction and layered lighting for both function and mood.’
Final touches matter to create a cohesive room scheme. ‘Tie the whole space together with co-ordinated flooring and matching metal details –from taps to handles to the cooker – so the kitchen feels cohesive, characterful, and unmistakably yours,’ adds Hough.
1 The perfect countertops
To ensure a kitchen worktop is practical for continuous use every day, it is advisable to choose a durable, scratchresistant and heat-resistant surface. Other considerations should include moisture absorption and ongoing maintenance, both of which may be a compromise willingly taken to achieve a desired aesthetic. Alternatively, using two different types of worktop materials can allow less practical surfaces to be incorporated in areas of the kitchen not utalised for preparation, reducing the risk of damage. In terms of style, natural and man-made surfaces will age differently so consider this aspect for longevity of design.
The Cotswolds kitchen, honed diamond quartzite surface and crown oak cabinetry, from £70,000, Ledbury Studio
2 The perfect floor
A kitchen floor should be resilient enough to withstand high traffic. If using underfloor heating, compatibility and speed of heating is essential to consider. For daily wear and tear, water-resistance and ease of cleaning will be important. Note, long-term maintenance and grout renewal vary between different types of flooring. The aesthetic is an important commitment because the surface colour and patina will influence the mood of the whole kitchen scheme. Jaipur tiles in a brushed limestone finish, from £37.20 a square metre, Mandarin Stone
Perfect bathrooms
From principal en-suites offering the height of luxury to practical yet stylish family bathrooms, step inside these beautifully designed sanctuaries
Incorporating a place to sit, soft furnishings, homely accessories and unexpected details makes a bathroom a more tranquil space to linger. Interior design by Anna Haines.
‘Abathroom should feel like a sanctuary, so begin by understanding its purpose: is it a private retreat, a family hub or a welcoming guest space?’ advises Lizzi Catchpole, head of design at Catchpole & Rye. ‘Once function is clear, let beauty take the lead – choose materials that age gracefully, fi nishes that delight the senses, and details that elevate the everyday.’ To achieve this, she suggests the following: ‘Heated towel rails, elegant fittings and thoughtful storage transform routine into ritual. Above all, create with longevity in mind, so the space feels timeless and deeply personal for years to come.’
1 The perfect tiles
Ceramic and porcelain tiles are ideal for easy cleaning in bathroom areas likely to get wet regularly. Fundamental choices in terms of style include choosing between matt or gloss finishes (for a textured wall tile with a practical finish opt for a porcelain zellige style) and deciding upon tile size. Designers advise careful consideration regarding the colour of grout and how much will be on show and require upkeep. Fellini Pianta matt tiles, £69.60 a square metre, Claybrook Studio; Davey Pine wall lights, £455 each; bathroom design by Studio Duggan
2 The perfect family shower
To ensure a family shower is designed with varying needs in mind, install a showerhead and handset, and, if possible, a ledge to place items on while showering and provide a seat. See Roper Rhodes for similar dual-function brass showers; bathroom design by Ripples
3 The perfect hardware
When deciding which bathroom hardware finish is best, the likelihood of tarnishes, discolouration and marks should be carefully noted. Stylistically, consider if the desired mood is smart (lacquered polished brass), lived-in (aged bronze and copper), or sleek and contemporary (polished nickel). Ten Ten polished brass basin mixer with handwheels, £1,035.60, Lefroy Brooks
The Missing Piece
Sculpture brings atmosphere, emotion and identity to a garden, adding the finishing touch to an outdoor space that really brings it to life
On the list of requisites for a garden, sculpture is often fairly far down the page. Plants, hard landscaping, lighting and furniture are all likely to take precedence over a piece of garden art, but sculpture can complete a space.
Garden designers will sometimes suggest that the starting point for a garden is how one would like to feel in a space, and a sculpture will go a long way towards influencing that. ‘When we create gardens we create sensory experiences, and sculptures should help to build the mood and reinforce it,’ explains awardwinning designer Chris Beardshaw, who rarely designs a garden without adding a sculptural element.
So, where to begin? Choosing sculpture is much the same as choosing art for inside the home, and the overriding rule for both is to buy what you love. ‘Cost isn’t necessarily a good indicator of the quality of the piece or its appropriateness for your garden, so don’t just select sculpture because of its value,’ Beardshaw explains. ‘You’ve got to fall in love with it, and if you fall in love with it you’ll find the right place for it.’
1 Moveable feast
Do not be afraid to shift sculpture around until you have found the perfect spot. ‘Each piece will work differently with its environment. When it’s in the right place, the sculpture enhances the landscape and vice versa,’ says sculptor Simon Gudgeon, who exhibits his work at his outdoor gallery, Sculpture by the Lakes. ‘If it doesn’t work, just try it somewhere else.’ Embrace by Simon Gudgeon, simongudgeon.com; sculpturebythelakes.co.uk
OPPOSITE OK Bean by Anthony Turner in marble, displayed at Asthall Manor’s OnForm exhibition of stone sculpture. onformsculpture.co.uk
Better boundaries
Whether making a feature of it or trying to obscure it, certain clever design rules will help make the most of a garden’s boundary
The dream for most garden owners is not to have a boundary at all – given a choice we would probably all prefer an unbroken ‘borrowed’ view, preferably of idyllic countryside or suitably breathtaking scenery. The reality for many of us is that some sort of boundary at the border of our gardens, or between us and our neighbours, is essential. So, given that most of us are not gazing at our estate over a hidden ha-ha, how best can we treat our boundaries for maximum aesthetic appeal?
‘A garden that has strong linear elements like a fence or a wall can give you that feeling of being slightly hemmed in,’ explains Helen Elks-Smith, of Elks-Smith Landscape & Garden Design (elks-smith.co.uk). ‘Try breaking it up a bit. So you might have a block of a climber and then a bit of fence showing, and then maybe a shrub to get some visual “push-pull” along the boundary, where some elements recede and some come towards you.’
Having interest in the foreground will also help with the visual trickery. ‘Pay attention to how you move around the garden and what you’re going to be looking at: something outside or something inside? If you’ve got something in the foreground between you and the fence, such as a piece of sculpture, you can bring your eye down to it and the fence will recede,’ Elks-Smith adds.
1 Green & serene
If aesthetics are the primary concern, then hedges must surely be the number one choice. Far more beautiful than even the most expertly installed fence, they also come with innumerable advantages, such as sheltering and nurturing wildlife, helping to filter pollution and generally being a greener and more sustainable choice. ‘It’s just fundamentally better for your soul to look at an expanse of green rather than brown,’ says Helen Elks-Smith.
OPPOSITE Let a climbing rose wind its way through a wrought-iron fence for a romantic frontage. Try ‘The Generous Gardener’, ‘Blush Noisette’ or ‘New Dawn’ for pale pink flowers.
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Create a decorative home accessory with Lewis & Wood fabrics at Top Floor courses in Gloucestershire
OPPOSITE Alison Jenkins runs a series of workshops on gardening and more at Damson Farm near Bath.
On course to create
Embrace the new year with a new look home and garden by learning a craft or design skill that can breathe fresh life into any space, inside or out
There is never a better time to press the refresh button than the start of a new year. Make it a resolution for 2026 to learn a skill by enrolling on a course or workshop that could be the catalyst for transforming an area of the home or garden, or even be the springboard to a new career. From
online studying and one-day courses to residential retreats and year-long programmes, there is something to suit everyone, whether learning to make lampshades or growing vegetables. Why not sign up now and start sowing the seeds of a new creative endeavour, so you can reap the rewards this year and beyond.