Search results for "Briefing" in Home Design Ideas

Bespoke Blue Library for a lovely cottage near Bristol.
The problem:
The room was going to be their office, it didn’t have much storage and it wasn’t very big. It had a difficult wall nib sticking out behind the door running the length of the wall and the room and had very high ceilings 3.2 metres high. This is precisely why they decided to go bespoke.
The brief:
The clients wanted lots of cabinets and shelves to make a library / bookcase for an awkward wall in a small room. The clients initially wanted ‘L’ shaped cabinets.
Lots of bookshelves, and I mean lots, like a bookcase wall and somewhere to hide office equipment like the printer and phone chargers.
Book shelves needed to be strong so they wouldn’t sag under the weight of the books – this was of utmost importance to the brief, these clients love books and reading.
Adjustable book shelves so they could fit their books exactly and change it up when needed.
The bespoke library was to go right up to the very high ceiling and finish in a cornice.
The cornice needed a particular profile to match their existing furniture.
“It’s better than we imagined it could be” was the first thing they said when they saw it complete!
When we first visited and discussed the design for this bespoke library in Bristol with them, it became obvious that an ‘L’ shape wouldn’t work in the room, so the first draft was to have the shelves and cabinets along one wall.
There were around 5 revisions in the end, until the design was approved. The design was intricate and had to be spot on taking the wall nib and the opening door and latch into account.
The whole bookcase cabinetry was made from solid tulip wood, this is a strong and stable material to take the weight of the books. The cornice was specially commissioned to match the profile of their existing furniture. For the adjustable shelves we used brass bookcase strips.
The bookshelves are all solid English oak from our favourite local supplier a family run business called Interesting Timbers these were all finished in our rollered Osmo oil finish.
Jo hand painted the whole piece, inside and out, it in their choice of colour (Woad’ by Little Greene). Jim installed it to our meticulous standards and the clients were very happy with the results.
We are also delighted with the finished result! Do let us know what you think or get in touch if you would like to discuss your own project.

This is a great little house that has used back to basics construction methods that utilise ancient building techniques to help be a solution for the modern problem of climate change. The brief was a challenging one; build a beautiful, sustainable home for a family in a short period of time with a very small budget. The brief was fulfilled through the use of efficient design, second hand materials and the use of cob (earth) wall construction - which cost next to nothing but allowed for sculptural beauty. An amazing effort from a determined client then turned that into reality.

This paving and planting scheme features new hard landscaping elements and a new planting scheme. Artscape was initially briefed to extend and enhance the patio in the garden of a lovely home in the village of Cookham Dean in Berkshire. Our clients wanted to increase the size of the paved area so they could use it more frequently for relaxing and dining in the sun during the day. As well as increasing its size and practicality, they wanted the terrace to look and feel more inviting. The existing site was a mixture of brick paving, which was slippery underfoot, and tired concrete crazy paving. The patio also had stone retaining walls surrounded by sloped lawns and a few poorly maintained and mismatched shrubs.
Redesigned and repaved area
We first created a new, larger layout with a series of wider steps closer to the house, making a more inviting and welcoming area. Our landscapers paved the area with coursed sandstone, renowned for its incredible strength and durability. The earthy tones and unique texture of the sandstone gives it a natural timeless look which blends sympathetically with the garden setting. The worn finish of the paving also makes the surface safer to walk on. The edge of the paving curves in line from the end of the house to visually link the areas.
Bullnosed edges enhance looks and safety
Bullnosing provides the garden step edges with a smooth, luxury appearance, which also enhance safety. Safety is an important factor to consider when renovating or building new steps and paved areas. Smooth, rounded bullnosed steps or edges means there won’t be any harshly cut, sharp edges to injure someone should they trip or fall. Our Artscape paving experts can advise on the best bespoke, professionally profiled bullnose edges to suit the needs of your garden project.
Replacing sloped lawns with plants
Our initial brief was to create a new planted border just around the paved area. However, after various discussions and designs, our clients decided to follow our recommendation to expand the planting, so it included the whole sloping bank. The planting design also included the addition of small trees to create vertical interest.
New nature-friendly planting
The planting features an easy-to-maintain mix of perennials, grasses, and shrubs. This adds softness to the seating area and brings an everchanging display of flowers, foliage, textures and colours to the garden. The plants will attract more birds and butterflies to the garden, and will be beneficial for insects too.
The lawn was doing very little to support a diversity of insects and birds. Replacing even a small section of lawn with perennial flowers, shrubs, grasses, wildflowers, or groundcovers will benefit nature and wildlife. As well as supporting greater biodiversity, plants are more environmentally friendly than maintaining a lawn. Lawns are drought tolerant and will recover even if the grass has turned brown and patchy in a heatwave. But to keep the lawn looking lush, green, and beautiful in a hot, dry spell will require constant and wasteful watering.
The planting is informal and includes grasses, taking inspiration from the fields opposite. Ornamental grasses soften the scheme and bring movement to the garden as they shimmer in the slightest of breezes. Grasses are easy to grow and require little ongoing care. The main maintenance task is to cut the planting back in spring ready for the new growth to come through.
To keep the whole project within our client’s budget, we retained the existing walls, simply carrying out some small repairs and modifications where necessary. We were also able to add stunning new atmospheric lighting to the older existing lighting circuit to illuminate the area at night.
Find the right local pro for your project

This is a great little house that has used back to basics construction methods that utilise ancient building techniques to help be a solution for the modern problem of climate change. The brief was a challenging one; build a beautiful, sustainable home for a family in a short period of time with a very small budget. The brief was fulfilled through the use of efficient design, second hand materials and the use of cob (earth) wall construction - which cost next to nothing but allowed for sculptural beauty. An amazing effort from a determined client then turned that into reality.

The clients brief was simple! Demolish the existing small bathroom and design a bathroom space for a growing family. The design was to incorporate a large shower area and stand alone bath to bring the natural light in & to enjoy the surrounding rock features / garden of the outside into the bathroom experience. The cantilvered floor design with clever window locations & utlising the steep rear ecarpment as a natural privacy screen allowed for a complete private shower and bath experience, as if you were outside. Northern Beaches Designs is a one stop design solution business that provides a complete professional building design, drafting & management service to bring your dream to reality. We listen to you! We understand that each design brief is personal, to be valued and respected.

This paving and planting scheme features new hard landscaping elements and a new planting scheme. Artscape was initially briefed to extend and enhance the patio in the garden of a lovely home in the village of Cookham Dean in Berkshire. Our clients wanted to increase the size of the paved area so they could use it more frequently for relaxing and dining in the sun during the day. As well as increasing its size and practicality, they wanted the terrace to look and feel more inviting. The existing site was a mixture of brick paving, which was slippery underfoot, and tired concrete crazy paving. The patio also had stone retaining walls surrounded by sloped lawns and a few poorly maintained and mismatched shrubs.
Redesigned and repaved area
We first created a new, larger layout with a series of wider steps closer to the house, making a more inviting and welcoming area. Our landscapers paved the area with coursed sandstone, renowned for its incredible strength and durability. The earthy tones and unique texture of the sandstone gives it a natural timeless look which blends sympathetically with the garden setting. The worn finish of the paving also makes the surface safer to walk on. The edge of the paving curves in line from the end of the house to visually link the areas.
Bullnosed edges enhance looks and safety
Bullnosing provides the garden step edges with a smooth, luxury appearance, which also enhance safety. Safety is an important factor to consider when renovating or building new steps and paved areas. Smooth, rounded bullnosed steps or edges means there won’t be any harshly cut, sharp edges to injure someone should they trip or fall. Our Artscape paving experts can advise on the best bespoke, professionally profiled bullnose edges to suit the needs of your garden project.
Replacing sloped lawns with plants
Our initial brief was to create a new planted border just around the paved area. However, after various discussions and designs, our clients decided to follow our recommendation to expand the planting, so it included the whole sloping bank. The planting design also included the addition of small trees to create vertical interest.
New nature-friendly planting
The planting features an easy-to-maintain mix of perennials, grasses, and shrubs. This adds softness to the seating area and brings an everchanging display of flowers, foliage, textures and colours to the garden. The plants will attract more birds and butterflies to the garden, and will be beneficial for insects too.
The lawn was doing very little to support a diversity of insects and birds. Replacing even a small section of lawn with perennial flowers, shrubs, grasses, wildflowers, or groundcovers will benefit nature and wildlife. As well as supporting greater biodiversity, plants are more environmentally friendly than maintaining a lawn. Lawns are drought tolerant and will recover even if the grass has turned brown and patchy in a heatwave. But to keep the lawn looking lush, green, and beautiful in a hot, dry spell will require constant and wasteful watering.
The planting is informal and includes grasses, taking inspiration from the fields opposite. Ornamental grasses soften the scheme and bring movement to the garden as they shimmer in the slightest of breezes. Grasses are easy to grow and require little ongoing care. The main maintenance task is to cut the planting back in spring ready for the new growth to come through.
To keep the whole project within our client’s budget, we retained the existing walls, simply carrying out some small repairs and modifications where necessary. We were also able to add stunning new atmospheric lighting to the older existing lighting circuit to illuminate the area at night.

The overall brief for Iniala was to create
‘my perfect hotel’ for the owner. Each
room was to be different and each
room was to embody the very best in
contemporary art and design.
To complete the ‘perfect hotel’ the
owner wanted a special place for
children, not just a room called a
Kids Club with a few activities and a
PlayStation.
The idea for a ‘totally immersive
vacation experience for children’ was
born.
The brief was given to Thinkterior’s
Creative Director, Chris Jones was
to create a fully immersive guest
experience for children aged 3-13
years, where every day is a new
adventure.
The experience was to start at check
in and to be a lasting memory for
the junior guests lucky enough to
experience the Island of Iniala.
Junior guests arrive at Iniala and are
met by one of the 5 dedicated Kids
Hotel staff and check into their own
hotel. Each child gets a specially
designed back pack full of goodies,
including a hardback book which sets
out their adventures during their stay.
They have a choice of sleeping in a tree
house or a cave, and each evening
they have a story around the ‘camp fire’
which sets up the next day’s activities.
Within their own dedicated space,
junior guests can play, eat and sleep
as well as get involved with lots of
activities including cooking classes,
treasure hunts and they can even put
on a show for their parents at the built
in theatre.
Iniala Kids Hotel delivers the junior
guest with a six star experience,
ensuring they have the ‘best holiday
ever’ whilst their parents get some
serious relaxation at the impressive
main property.

This paving and planting scheme features new hard landscaping elements and a new planting scheme. Artscape was initially briefed to extend and enhance the patio in the garden of a lovely home in the village of Cookham Dean in Berkshire. Our clients wanted to increase the size of the paved area so they could use it more frequently for relaxing and dining in the sun during the day. As well as increasing its size and practicality, they wanted the terrace to look and feel more inviting. The existing site was a mixture of brick paving, which was slippery underfoot, and tired concrete crazy paving. The patio also had stone retaining walls surrounded by sloped lawns and a few poorly maintained and mismatched shrubs.
Redesigned and repaved area
We first created a new, larger layout with a series of wider steps closer to the house, making a more inviting and welcoming area. Our landscapers paved the area with coursed sandstone, renowned for its incredible strength and durability. The earthy tones and unique texture of the sandstone gives it a natural timeless look which blends sympathetically with the garden setting. The worn finish of the paving also makes the surface safer to walk on. The edge of the paving curves in line from the end of the house to visually link the areas.
Bullnosed edges enhance looks and safety
Bullnosing provides the garden step edges with a smooth, luxury appearance, which also enhance safety. Safety is an important factor to consider when renovating or building new steps and paved areas. Smooth, rounded bullnosed steps or edges means there won’t be any harshly cut, sharp edges to injure someone should they trip or fall. Our Artscape paving experts can advise on the best bespoke, professionally profiled bullnose edges to suit the needs of your garden project.
Replacing sloped lawns with plants
Our initial brief was to create a new planted border just around the paved area. However, after various discussions and designs, our clients decided to follow our recommendation to expand the planting, so it included the whole sloping bank. The planting design also included the addition of small trees to create vertical interest.
New nature-friendly planting
The planting features an easy-to-maintain mix of perennials, grasses, and shrubs. This adds softness to the seating area and brings an everchanging display of flowers, foliage, textures and colours to the garden. The plants will attract more birds and butterflies to the garden, and will be beneficial for insects too.
The lawn was doing very little to support a diversity of insects and birds. Replacing even a small section of lawn with perennial flowers, shrubs, grasses, wildflowers, or groundcovers will benefit nature and wildlife. As well as supporting greater biodiversity, plants are more environmentally friendly than maintaining a lawn. Lawns are drought tolerant and will recover even if the grass has turned brown and patchy in a heatwave. But to keep the lawn looking lush, green, and beautiful in a hot, dry spell will require constant and wasteful watering.
The planting is informal and includes grasses, taking inspiration from the fields opposite. Ornamental grasses soften the scheme and bring movement to the garden as they shimmer in the slightest of breezes. Grasses are easy to grow and require little ongoing care. The main maintenance task is to cut the planting back in spring ready for the new growth to come through.
To keep the whole project within our client’s budget, we retained the existing walls, simply carrying out some small repairs and modifications where necessary. We were also able to add stunning new atmospheric lighting to the older existing lighting circuit to illuminate the area at night.

The clients brief was simple! Demolish the existing small bathroom and design a bathroom space for a growing family. The design was to incorporate a large shower area and stand alone bath to bring the natural light in & to enjoy the surrounding rock features / garden of the outside into the bathroom experience. The cantilvered floor design with clever window locations & utlising the steep rear ecarpment as a natural privacy screen allowed for a complete private shower and bath experience, as if you were outside. Northern Beaches Designs is a one stop design solution business that provides a complete professional building design, drafting & management service to bring your dream to reality. We listen to you! We understand that each design brief is personal, to be valued and respected.

This paving and planting scheme features new hard landscaping elements and a new planting scheme. Artscape was initially briefed to extend and enhance the patio in the garden of a lovely home in the village of Cookham Dean in Berkshire. Our clients wanted to increase the size of the paved area so they could use it more frequently for relaxing and dining in the sun during the day. As well as increasing its size and practicality, they wanted the terrace to look and feel more inviting. The existing site was a mixture of brick paving, which was slippery underfoot, and tired concrete crazy paving. The patio also had stone retaining walls surrounded by sloped lawns and a few poorly maintained and mismatched shrubs.
Redesigned and repaved area
We first created a new, larger layout with a series of wider steps closer to the house, making a more inviting and welcoming area. Our landscapers paved the area with coursed sandstone, renowned for its incredible strength and durability. The earthy tones and unique texture of the sandstone gives it a natural timeless look which blends sympathetically with the garden setting. The worn finish of the paving also makes the surface safer to walk on. The edge of the paving curves in line from the end of the house to visually link the areas.
Bullnosed edges enhance looks and safety
Bullnosing provides the garden step edges with a smooth, luxury appearance, which also enhance safety. Safety is an important factor to consider when renovating or building new steps and paved areas. Smooth, rounded bullnosed steps or edges means there won’t be any harshly cut, sharp edges to injure someone should they trip or fall. Our Artscape paving experts can advise on the best bespoke, professionally profiled bullnose edges to suit the needs of your garden project.
Replacing sloped lawns with plants
Our initial brief was to create a new planted border just around the paved area. However, after various discussions and designs, our clients decided to follow our recommendation to expand the planting, so it included the whole sloping bank. The planting design also included the addition of small trees to create vertical interest.
New nature-friendly planting
The planting features an easy-to-maintain mix of perennials, grasses, and shrubs. This adds softness to the seating area and brings an everchanging display of flowers, foliage, textures and colours to the garden. The plants will attract more birds and butterflies to the garden, and will be beneficial for insects too.
The lawn was doing very little to support a diversity of insects and birds. Replacing even a small section of lawn with perennial flowers, shrubs, grasses, wildflowers, or groundcovers will benefit nature and wildlife. As well as supporting greater biodiversity, plants are more environmentally friendly than maintaining a lawn. Lawns are drought tolerant and will recover even if the grass has turned brown and patchy in a heatwave. But to keep the lawn looking lush, green, and beautiful in a hot, dry spell will require constant and wasteful watering.
The planting is informal and includes grasses, taking inspiration from the fields opposite. Ornamental grasses soften the scheme and bring movement to the garden as they shimmer in the slightest of breezes. Grasses are easy to grow and require little ongoing care. The main maintenance task is to cut the planting back in spring ready for the new growth to come through.
To keep the whole project within our client’s budget, we retained the existing walls, simply carrying out some small repairs and modifications where necessary. We were also able to add stunning new atmospheric lighting to the older existing lighting circuit to illuminate the area at night.

This paving and planting scheme features new hard landscaping elements and a new planting scheme. Artscape was initially briefed to extend and enhance the patio in the garden of a lovely home in the village of Cookham Dean in Berkshire. Our clients wanted to increase the size of the paved area so they could use it more frequently for relaxing and dining in the sun during the day. As well as increasing its size and practicality, they wanted the terrace to look and feel more inviting. The existing site was a mixture of brick paving, which was slippery underfoot, and tired concrete crazy paving. The patio also had stone retaining walls surrounded by sloped lawns and a few poorly maintained and mismatched shrubs.
Redesigned and repaved area
We first created a new, larger layout with a series of wider steps closer to the house, making a more inviting and welcoming area. Our landscapers paved the area with coursed sandstone, renowned for its incredible strength and durability. The earthy tones and unique texture of the sandstone gives it a natural timeless look which blends sympathetically with the garden setting. The worn finish of the paving also makes the surface safer to walk on. The edge of the paving curves in line from the end of the house to visually link the areas.
Bullnosed edges enhance looks and safety
Bullnosing provides the garden step edges with a smooth, luxury appearance, which also enhance safety. Safety is an important factor to consider when renovating or building new steps and paved areas. Smooth, rounded bullnosed steps or edges means there won’t be any harshly cut, sharp edges to injure someone should they trip or fall. Our Artscape paving experts can advise on the best bespoke, professionally profiled bullnose edges to suit the needs of your garden project.
Replacing sloped lawns with plants
Our initial brief was to create a new planted border just around the paved area. However, after various discussions and designs, our clients decided to follow our recommendation to expand the planting, so it included the whole sloping bank. The planting design also included the addition of small trees to create vertical interest.
New nature-friendly planting
The planting features an easy-to-maintain mix of perennials, grasses, and shrubs. This adds softness to the seating area and brings an everchanging display of flowers, foliage, textures and colours to the garden. The plants will attract more birds and butterflies to the garden, and will be beneficial for insects too.
The lawn was doing very little to support a diversity of insects and birds. Replacing even a small section of lawn with perennial flowers, shrubs, grasses, wildflowers, or groundcovers will benefit nature and wildlife. As well as supporting greater biodiversity, plants are more environmentally friendly than maintaining a lawn. Lawns are drought tolerant and will recover even if the grass has turned brown and patchy in a heatwave. But to keep the lawn looking lush, green, and beautiful in a hot, dry spell will require constant and wasteful watering.
The planting is informal and includes grasses, taking inspiration from the fields opposite. Ornamental grasses soften the scheme and bring movement to the garden as they shimmer in the slightest of breezes. Grasses are easy to grow and require little ongoing care. The main maintenance task is to cut the planting back in spring ready for the new growth to come through.
To keep the whole project within our client’s budget, we retained the existing walls, simply carrying out some small repairs and modifications where necessary. We were also able to add stunning new atmospheric lighting to the older existing lighting circuit to illuminate the area at night.

This is a great little house that has used back to basics construction methods that utilise ancient building techniques to help be a solution for the modern problem of climate change. The brief was a challenging one; build a beautiful, sustainable home for a family in a short period of time with a very small budget. The brief was fulfilled through the use of efficient design, second hand materials and the use of cob (earth) wall construction - which cost next to nothing but allowed for sculptural beauty. An amazing effort from a determined client then turned that into reality.

This is a great little house that has used back to basics construction methods that utilise ancient building techniques to help be a solution for the modern problem of climate change. The brief was a challenging one; build a beautiful, sustainable home for a family in a short period of time with a very small budget. The brief was fulfilled through the use of efficient design, second hand materials and the use of cob (earth) wall construction - which cost next to nothing but allowed for sculptural beauty. An amazing effort from a determined client then turned that into reality.

This is a great little house that has used back to basics construction methods that utilise ancient building techniques to help be a solution for the modern problem of climate change. The brief was a challenging one; build a beautiful, sustainable home for a family in a short period of time with a very small budget. The brief was fulfilled through the use of efficient design, second hand materials and the use of cob (earth) wall construction - which cost next to nothing but allowed for sculptural beauty. An amazing effort from a determined client then turned that into reality.

This paving and planting scheme features new hard landscaping elements and a new planting scheme. Artscape was initially briefed to extend and enhance the patio in the garden of a lovely home in the village of Cookham Dean in Berkshire. Our clients wanted to increase the size of the paved area so they could use it more frequently for relaxing and dining in the sun during the day. As well as increasing its size and practicality, they wanted the terrace to look and feel more inviting. The existing site was a mixture of brick paving, which was slippery underfoot, and tired concrete crazy paving. The patio also had stone retaining walls surrounded by sloped lawns and a few poorly maintained and mismatched shrubs.
Redesigned and repaved area
We first created a new, larger layout with a series of wider steps closer to the house, making a more inviting and welcoming area. Our landscapers paved the area with coursed sandstone, renowned for its incredible strength and durability. The earthy tones and unique texture of the sandstone gives it a natural timeless look which blends sympathetically with the garden setting. The worn finish of the paving also makes the surface safer to walk on. The edge of the paving curves in line from the end of the house to visually link the areas.
Bullnosed edges enhance looks and safety
Bullnosing provides the garden step edges with a smooth, luxury appearance, which also enhance safety. Safety is an important factor to consider when renovating or building new steps and paved areas. Smooth, rounded bullnosed steps or edges means there won’t be any harshly cut, sharp edges to injure someone should they trip or fall. Our Artscape paving experts can advise on the best bespoke, professionally profiled bullnose edges to suit the needs of your garden project.
Replacing sloped lawns with plants
Our initial brief was to create a new planted border just around the paved area. However, after various discussions and designs, our clients decided to follow our recommendation to expand the planting, so it included the whole sloping bank. The planting design also included the addition of small trees to create vertical interest.
New nature-friendly planting
The planting features an easy-to-maintain mix of perennials, grasses, and shrubs. This adds softness to the seating area and brings an everchanging display of flowers, foliage, textures and colours to the garden. The plants will attract more birds and butterflies to the garden, and will be beneficial for insects too.
The lawn was doing very little to support a diversity of insects and birds. Replacing even a small section of lawn with perennial flowers, shrubs, grasses, wildflowers, or groundcovers will benefit nature and wildlife. As well as supporting greater biodiversity, plants are more environmentally friendly than maintaining a lawn. Lawns are drought tolerant and will recover even if the grass has turned brown and patchy in a heatwave. But to keep the lawn looking lush, green, and beautiful in a hot, dry spell will require constant and wasteful watering.
The planting is informal and includes grasses, taking inspiration from the fields opposite. Ornamental grasses soften the scheme and bring movement to the garden as they shimmer in the slightest of breezes. Grasses are easy to grow and require little ongoing care. The main maintenance task is to cut the planting back in spring ready for the new growth to come through.
To keep the whole project within our client’s budget, we retained the existing walls, simply carrying out some small repairs and modifications where necessary. We were also able to add stunning new atmospheric lighting to the older existing lighting circuit to illuminate the area at night.

The brief here was 'gentleman's club' - vintage leather Chesterfield sofas, claret colored walls and a gallery style wall of oil paintings answer the brief.

This paving and planting scheme features new hard landscaping elements and a new planting scheme. Artscape was initially briefed to extend and enhance the patio in the garden of a lovely home in the village of Cookham Dean in Berkshire. Our clients wanted to increase the size of the paved area so they could use it more frequently for relaxing and dining in the sun during the day. As well as increasing its size and practicality, they wanted the terrace to look and feel more inviting. The existing site was a mixture of brick paving, which was slippery underfoot, and tired concrete crazy paving. The patio also had stone retaining walls surrounded by sloped lawns and a few poorly maintained and mismatched shrubs.
Redesigned and repaved area
We first created a new, larger layout with a series of wider steps closer to the house, making a more inviting and welcoming area. Our landscapers paved the area with coursed sandstone, renowned for its incredible strength and durability. The earthy tones and unique texture of the sandstone gives it a natural timeless look which blends sympathetically with the garden setting. The worn finish of the paving also makes the surface safer to walk on. The edge of the paving curves in line from the end of the house to visually link the areas.
Bullnosed edges enhance looks and safety
Bullnosing provides the garden step edges with a smooth, luxury appearance, which also enhance safety. Safety is an important factor to consider when renovating or building new steps and paved areas. Smooth, rounded bullnosed steps or edges means there won’t be any harshly cut, sharp edges to injure someone should they trip or fall. Our Artscape paving experts can advise on the best bespoke, professionally profiled bullnose edges to suit the needs of your garden project.
Replacing sloped lawns with plants
Our initial brief was to create a new planted border just around the paved area. However, after various discussions and designs, our clients decided to follow our recommendation to expand the planting, so it included the whole sloping bank. The planting design also included the addition of small trees to create vertical interest.
New nature-friendly planting
The planting features an easy-to-maintain mix of perennials, grasses, and shrubs. This adds softness to the seating area and brings an everchanging display of flowers, foliage, textures and colours to the garden. The plants will attract more birds and butterflies to the garden, and will be beneficial for insects too.
The lawn was doing very little to support a diversity of insects and birds. Replacing even a small section of lawn with perennial flowers, shrubs, grasses, wildflowers, or groundcovers will benefit nature and wildlife. As well as supporting greater biodiversity, plants are more environmentally friendly than maintaining a lawn. Lawns are drought tolerant and will recover even if the grass has turned brown and patchy in a heatwave. But to keep the lawn looking lush, green, and beautiful in a hot, dry spell will require constant and wasteful watering.
The planting is informal and includes grasses, taking inspiration from the fields opposite. Ornamental grasses soften the scheme and bring movement to the garden as they shimmer in the slightest of breezes. Grasses are easy to grow and require little ongoing care. The main maintenance task is to cut the planting back in spring ready for the new growth to come through.
To keep the whole project within our client’s budget, we retained the existing walls, simply carrying out some small repairs and modifications where necessary. We were also able to add stunning new atmospheric lighting to the older existing lighting circuit to illuminate the area at night.

The brief:
Our clients own an apartment in a mansion block overlooking Clapham Common. They wanted to modernise and bring the apartment up to date and had a few goals:
To change the existing small cellular spaces in the apartment to create a new open-plan room
To extend into the loft and create a new master bedroom suite
To create a roof terrace for some much-needed private outdoor space
The key to the brief was to ensure a good connection between the different levels of the apartment and ensure natural light could flood into all spaces. The apartment is in a conservation area, which was an important consideration.
The solution:
We changed the primary room space to run from the front to the back of the building. This change created the large kitchen dining living space our clients wanted, an area with good natural light throughout and at all times of the day.
We created a master bedroom suite in the loft space, with generous room size and lots of natural light.
The limitations of the building’s form meant that a critical aspect to creating these larger living spaces was carefully considered smaller areas, including the bathrooms and a pocket utility room. The circulation space was carefully considered, too, with the landings used for storage in the form of new joinery.
The stairs were vital in the design. Creating an in-between/half level meant we made the most of the flat roof extension for a bedroom suite and terrace. It also helped natural light get into the centre of the apartment, creating a clear connection between the different floors.
The stairs also help to mark the difference between the existing and the new. We shifted the design from a minimalist take on traditional metal balustraded stairs to open tread steel stairs with a glazed balustrade.
Externally, we kept the design quite simple and in keeping with the context. By adding dormers to the front and back, we created a sculptural and fun loft space.
The result:
A spacious, light and luxurious apartment for our clients Gareth and Mary in a Clapham Common Conservation area.
We asked about their experience with Granit, and we are pleased with their response:
Our experience overall is very good, even with the unexpected difficulties created by Covid.
If you are thinking of appointing an architect and interior design firm, Granit should be seriously considered.

Bespoke Blue Library for a lovely cottage near Bristol.
The problem:
The room was going to be their office, it didn’t have much storage and it wasn’t very big. It had a difficult wall nib sticking out behind the door running the length of the wall and the room and had very high ceilings 3.2 metres high. This is precisely why they decided to go bespoke.
The brief:
The clients wanted lots of cabinets and shelves to make a library / bookcase for an awkward wall in a small room. The clients initially wanted ‘L’ shaped cabinets.
Lots of bookshelves, and I mean lots, like a bookcase wall and somewhere to hide office equipment like the printer and phone chargers.
Book shelves needed to be strong so they wouldn’t sag under the weight of the books – this was of utmost importance to the brief, these clients love books and reading.
Adjustable book shelves so they could fit their books exactly and change it up when needed.
The bespoke library was to go right up to the very high ceiling and finish in a cornice.
The cornice needed a particular profile to match their existing furniture.
“It’s better than we imagined it could be” was the first thing they said when they saw it complete!
When we first visited and discussed the design for this bespoke library in Bristol with them, it became obvious that an ‘L’ shape wouldn’t work in the room, so the first draft was to have the shelves and cabinets along one wall.
There were around 5 revisions in the end, until the design was approved. The design was intricate and had to be spot on taking the wall nib and the opening door and latch into account.
The whole bookcase cabinetry was made from solid tulip wood, this is a strong and stable material to take the weight of the books. The cornice was specially commissioned to match the profile of their existing furniture. For the adjustable shelves we used brass bookcase strips.
The bookshelves are all solid English oak from our favourite local supplier a family run business called Interesting Timbers these were all finished in our rollered Osmo oil finish.
Jo hand painted the whole piece, inside and out, it in their choice of colour (Woad’ by Little Greene). Jim installed it to our meticulous standards and the clients were very happy with the results.
We are also delighted with the finished result! Do let us know what you think or get in touch if you would like to discuss your own project.

Bespoke Blue Library for a lovely cottage near Bristol.
The problem:
The room was going to be their office, it didn’t have much storage and it wasn’t very big. It had a difficult wall nib sticking out behind the door running the length of the wall and the room and had very high ceilings 3.2 metres high. This is precisely why they decided to go bespoke.
The brief:
The clients wanted lots of cabinets and shelves to make a library / bookcase for an awkward wall in a small room. The clients initially wanted ‘L’ shaped cabinets.
Lots of bookshelves, and I mean lots, like a bookcase wall and somewhere to hide office equipment like the printer and phone chargers.
Book shelves needed to be strong so they wouldn’t sag under the weight of the books – this was of utmost importance to the brief, these clients love books and reading.
Adjustable book shelves so they could fit their books exactly and change it up when needed.
The bespoke library was to go right up to the very high ceiling and finish in a cornice.
The cornice needed a particular profile to match their existing furniture.
“It’s better than we imagined it could be” was the first thing they said when they saw it complete!
When we first visited and discussed the design for this bespoke library in Bristol with them, it became obvious that an ‘L’ shape wouldn’t work in the room, so the first draft was to have the shelves and cabinets along one wall.
There were around 5 revisions in the end, until the design was approved. The design was intricate and had to be spot on taking the wall nib and the opening door and latch into account.
The whole bookcase cabinetry was made from solid tulip wood, this is a strong and stable material to take the weight of the books. The cornice was specially commissioned to match the profile of their existing furniture. For the adjustable shelves we used brass bookcase strips.
The bookshelves are all solid English oak from our favourite local supplier a family run business called Interesting Timbers these were all finished in our rollered Osmo oil finish.
Jo hand painted the whole piece, inside and out, it in their choice of colour (Woad’ by Little Greene). Jim installed it to our meticulous standards and the clients were very happy with the results.
We are also delighted with the finished result! Do let us know what you think or get in touch if you would like to discuss your own project.
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