Mastering the space before you style

Mastering the Space Before You Style

There are key moments within the design process that are essential to get right, and for me, these are seating arrangements, artwork and creating balance.

It's incredibly important to give yourself ample time at the beginning of a project to really master the space and land on the best outcome for the room.

Before beginning any project, we will always insist on undertaking a survey of the property. This provides us with incredibly accurate information that informs the dimensions and scale of everything we choose and design.

Once you have an accurate scaled drawing, you can make cutouts of scaled pieces of furniture and play around like a jigsaw to find the best layout.

Chairs at Right Angles to Facilitate Conversation

I love a rectangular living room as it provides the opportunity to build a circle in the centre for conversation. If a room is large, you want to have multiple seating arrangements in addition to this in other parts of the room, such as a banquette in the corner and a writing table with two chairs in the other corner.

As long as chairs are at a right angle to each other, you can have a good conversation - so I always ensure this applies within my designs.

Geometry is Everything

A room doesn't necessarily have to have perfect symmetry, but it does need to be balanced.

Sometimes a large piece of furniture can make a room feel too heavily weighted towards one side, so you need to balance it the other way; a big painting is a great way to do this.

The only items of furniture that should sit against a wall are solid pieces such as sideboards and side tables; the rest of the pieces should come forward.

For me, a room must firstly be comfortable, secondly be beautiful, and thirdly it should be harmonious and balanced.

Pictures with Provenance

I love to hang artwork with picture rails and chains; not only is it beautiful, but it's also easy to switch out artworks without needing to make new holes in the walls.

At Gazebo, my home in Tangier, the majority of the artwork has been sourced locally and has been created by local artists.

I also have managed to bring some incredibly special pieces into my art collection that have historical ties with the house itself and the area around it.

Achieving Harmony and Balance

One of the techniques I use to achieve harmony within a room is to opt for curtains and wallcoverings to be in the same pattern, or at least the same colour and tone.

I will then make sure that large items of furniture are in soft and muted complementary tones, and don't cause too much contrast.

I never want to 'disturb' a room by creating too much friction.