Verity Coleman of interior design business Rascal & Roses, describes the journey she and her clients went on during the renovation of a Georgian property to free them of 'design paralysis', and reveals how she created a shower room that was true to its architectural surroundings.
Q: What type of property was it in?
A: Bay Lodge is a Georgian semi-detached Grade 2 listed building, situated within a Conservation Area and backing onto the Royal Paddocks of Hampton Court Palace.
Q: What was the brief from the client for this project?
A: The original brief was to undertake a new kitchen renovation, including moving internal walls to expand the kitchen and remove the existing WC and create a much larger shower room in a new location on the ground floor previously a study. The project was then extended into further interior decorations work throughout the property.
Q: What were the challenges that you faced during this project?
A: Obviously carrying out any kind of building and interiors work during COVID-19 has been difficult – ensuring the safety of our teams and clients, as well as juggling the ever-changing policy requirements from Government certainly kept us on our toes. This was also coupled with problems from suppliers. Luckily for us, delivery of materials wasn’t a huge issue as we have always strived to source from UK-based suppliers.
Q: Why did you decide on the Rutland London products?
A: We wanted to create a bathroom that really wowed in this beautiful home. It had to be fitting to its Georgian heritage and we wanted anything we installed to last a lifetime. After endless research we felt Rutland offered us all this and more. We also loved the unlacquered finishes on offer that are timeless and we knew would still look superb in years to come.
Q: What is your approach when selecting brassware and accessories for a scheme?
A: For our scheme we knew we wanted the brassware to be a key part of the design. The unlacquered brass worked perfectly with the Fired Earth Chequers Court black and white tiles, and the Farrow & Ball Yeabridge Green on the walls, combined with the mahogany furniture created the most stunning impact. For us, brass is always the first choice for period properties, but sometimes the finishes aren’t quite right – not something we ever need to worry about with Rutland products.
Q: What other products did you and the client choose, and why?
A: We focussed a lot on the colour palette for the property as the clients felt it didn’t feel as if the colours throughout flowed brilliantly. As we went through the design process though we realised that the greys were in situ throughout as the clients had found themselves (as many do) in ‘design paralysis’. Under our guidance, they opted for bold colours – the green in the bathroom worked perfectly with the rest of the colours – navy blue and off white in the kitchen and dining room, orange in the drawing room, eau de nil in the bedrooms, with all the woodwork and ceilings in plain white – making a complementary pallet that allowed the property, with all its beautiful architectural details, to sing.
Q: What would your advice be to a designer who is just setting out on a similar project?
A: The best advice we can give is to think of the property as the ‘second’ client. In beautiful period properties it is really quite obvious if you install something that shouldn’t be there, so you should always design sympathetically and understand that not all the current trends will work in these type of homes. That isn’t a bad thing though – the end results really do speak for themselves if you let the building breathe.
Q: What is your favourite part of the finished project?
A: There are so many lovely areas in this project, but the vanity unit that we sourced from an antiques dealer and had converted into a sink for our clients in the new bathroom is such a wonderful piece.
