Colour Trend of 2017: Greenery

December is a month of two key events; one obviously being Christmas, the other being the long awaited unveiling of The Colour of The Year, from Pantone. For 2017, Pantone has revealed a zesty and tangy shade of yellow-green called Greenery. Greenery has been designed to bring nature to life and let it be celebrated in the home; perfect in time for spring! It also represents the powerful and dedicated following that more organic materials and natural production have received over the past year.

Pantone also revealed 10 colours designed to complement and celebrate Greenery, which include a mix of earthy tones such as Bone Brown and Sheepskin, and bright shades which inject a pop of colour, such as Sulphur and Pink Yarrow.

Greenery can be a daunting colour to introduce into your scheme after a winter of deep and calm hues, but we’ve sourced a few interiors that are sure to inspire:

Give a new lease of life to a piece of overlooked furniture by painting it in refreshing Greenery. Not only will it immediately update your room scheme, but you’ll love your furniture as if it’s brand new.

Bring green in through textiles, whether that be in the form of a new lush sofa, elegant curtains or luxurious carpeting; this way you can add an extra dimension of texture at the same time as injecting a hint of colour.

Paint! Or if you’re feeling bold, paint your walls in a zesty green, we like Little Greene’s Pale Lime. This looks most effective when styled with traditional furniture, particularly in contrasting colours, like monochromatic black, rich woods, or simple whites. If you’re scheme is more modern, create an engaging pattern on the walls, in the form of a grid or geometric pattern.

Get the look
Farrow and Ball, Little Greene and Myland's all have a wide selection of green paints, but none come as close to matching the hue of Greenery like Porter's; an Australian favourite now finally available in the UK. Our favourite tones are the Absinthe, Blade and Granny Smith.

For fabric, look to Christopher Farr's Armatures Feuilles, designed by Raoul Dufy:

For a more affordable alternative, Sanderson Home's collection offers patterns that are fun and modern, with bright colours that would work in almost every interior. For Greenery colouring, look to Angel Ferns and Amy.

What do you think of Pantone’s Colour of the Year 2017, Greenery? How would you introduce it into your interior? You can find many more inspirational ways of implementing Greenery into your home on our Pinterest board!

The dining room is both a space that needs to comfortably house and entertain a large group of friends whilst still feeling relaxing and homely to seat the family during the week. Use clever design details and personal touches with the right products to create an atmosphere best suited to you, whether it’s adding a bright colour wall or statement pendant lighting.

Explore some of our recent Dining Room projects:

16th Century Farmhouse
The Tudor rich dark wooden beams create a beautiful statement frame around this traditional dining room. The dark ceiling beams are matched with light aspects, found in the Cachou by Lelievre for the traditional dining chairs and curtains in GP & J Baker’s Honeysuckle, leaving the room with a warm and more modern touch in an overtly traditional space.

Modernist Country Retreat
The ceiling makes up one­-sixth of the space in a room and yet it normally misses out on adding an extra bit of excitement to the room. This modern dining room enjoys a high pitched ceiling and an abundance of natural light from the large glass windows and doors which is let in through delicate Osborne and Little Serifos sheers ­ painting the ceiling in a bright blue creates a surface for natural light to bounce off, brightening the entire space. The use of colour on the ceiling draws attention the eye and leaves the otherwise large and empty space feel atmospheric and like a home. The modern chandelier by Curiosa & Curiosa was designed bespoke to set off the blue ceiling with the aim to draw attention to the details of the unusual space. Over the kitchen island, large statement blue pendants, also from Curiosa & Curiosa, were showcased.

Comfortable & Contemporary
The brief for this room was to create a space that was light and comfortable enough to be used during the day by the whole family yet would come alive at night. The scheme was inspired by two statement furniture pieces, the dining table and sideboard that both feature ornate detailing in a rich warm wood, and were sourced by the client on their travels in Japan, creating a space with a slight oriental atmosphere. The bold glass lamps from Porta Romana are in eye­-catching chartreuse, injecting a hint of colour into the scheme, matched with handmade natural lampshades. The project involved bespoke product sourcing of items that contrast, yet complement, the oriental scheme, such as the leather and steel dining Philippe Starck dining chairs from the 1960s, and the pendant Arctic Pear Chandelier from Ochre. The dark and mysterious landscape painting is from the renowned Trowbridge Gallery, which ties with the rest of the colour scheme of the Rich Chocolate Sisal carpet from Fibre Flooring, Boracay wallcovering from Arte and the Larsen curtains.

Edwardian Renovation
An Edwardian country house that required a dining room fit for all members of the family, whilst still representing the property’s traditionally country image. The entire space was extended and attached to a garden room to make it feel bright and airy, framing the warm walnut antique furniture. Traditionally English brands, such as Mulberry, were used, with subtle floral curtains in a natural colour. Warm light wallpaper was selected to make the room feel bigger; the use of Valentino Stripe by GP & J Baker also draws the eyes upwards, creating an increased sense of height.

Take a look at some inspiring dining room interiors we’ve found to ensure a stylish eatery for all uses:
1. Don’t be afraid to inject bright colours - this could be in the form of a statement wall, through select pieces of furniture or showcased through soft furnishings

2. Or, if you prefer no colour at all, use a mixture of natural textures, such as herringbone wooden floor, leathers, rattan, rustic woods and furs to draw the eyes attention and add another dimension to the space.

3. If you want to create wow factor  but do not want to overhaul your entire room, think about introducing a bold wallpaper. Go for a large pattern, such as from Cole and Son, or for a scene that relates to elements of design in your dining room, Surface View have a wide range of designs and patterns inspired from all over the globe, including collections with the V&A, Natural History Museum and the Warner Textile Library.

If you would like to recreate your entire dining space, are looking for that perfect furniture piece, or would just like a simple refresh, get in touch with Cannon West Interior Design:
design@cannonwestinteriors.com • 01732 810274
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6 Top Tips for Decluttering Your Home

Marie Kondo and her unconventional how-to-guide is currently taking the world by storm, regularly at the top of best-selling book lists and many have claimed it to have transformed their lives! You must have already heard of her famous KonMari method by now, but if not, Marie Kondo’s renowned book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying: A Simple, Effective Way to Banish Clutter Forever is the secret to a stress-free and simple de-cluttered home.

Having devoted 80 percent of her life to her KonMari method of simple clutter banishing, starting tidying at the age of 5 - discarding and then thoroughly organising - the book is filled with a diverse range of tips and inspiring benefits to both your home, life and health of a clutter-free home. The benefits are substantial; it’s not impossible to see that putting your house in order positively affects all other aspects of your life, including your working life and family relationships - readers have noted that KonMari inspired them to launch their own dream business, reconcile with old friends, increase work productivity and success, and even lose weight.

Space Clearing isn’t just a recent fad, with many other renowned advocates across the globe, including Karen Kingston. Kingston, whose books Clear your Clutter with Feng Shui and Creating Sacred Space with Feng Shui uncover the relationship between clutter and energy with physical, mental, emotional and spiritual effects, worked with us at Cannon West to create a positive and creative energised space.

When it comes to decluttering, there’s so much inspiration and advice to look to from award-winning books. We’re not talking about excessive tidying and cleaning to create a space that is sterile and resembles a showroom, but to create a space that is beautiful and tidy, that allows you to showcase and enjoy your loved furniture and accessory pieces. After trying these tidying methods ourselves for both our home and Showroom, we’ve put together our top tips for decluttering your home:

1. Find your inspiration
   You need to be focused to ensure you declutter effectively and efficiently, not haphazardly. Think in detail about how you want your space to look. Take a look at inspiring interiors in the latest magazines, online on Houzz and renowned design blogs. If you have any trouble or difficulty, work with an Interior Designer, it’s not expensive and the benefits will be astronomical. Whether you’re designing a new room interior or even dreaming up a new home, visualise in detail so you can realistically achieve your goal. As Marie Kondo says, discarding and tidying will transform your life. But you do need something powerful to guide and inspire you! 
2. Let the emotional and lifestyle benefits inspire you
   ‘Tidying has far more effect than feng shui or power stones and other spiritual goods’, as Marie Kondo herself says! The magic of tidying has a phenomenal effect on our everyday lives; by forcing us to question whether every single item we own truly sparks joy and making a decision to discard because of this, allows us to naturally hone our decision-making skills, and in turn our confidence in ourselves. As decluttering and tidying can dramatically improve our lifestyle and perspective, use this as something to urge you forward - is there something specific you would like to change about yourself, excel at, or simply try for the first time? Focus on starting that dream business, finding happiness, getting in touch with long lost friends, or improving your performance at work - whatever it is that inspires you, use it to motivate your tidying method! 
3. Use the KonMari Method
   Marie Kondo started studying the art of tidying seriously at the age of 15, and now owns a business in Tokyo where she uses her KonMari method to help transform people’s homes into inspiring, relaxing spaces. With the KonMari method, you’ll never feel like you’re constantly tidying again:
   
   • Tidy all at once - If you tidy a bit at a time, the result will never be as successful, and things will get messy again quickly. Tidy all at once, but ensure you allot enough time for the project, ideally a weekend per room.
   • Visualise your destination - Visual your ideal lifestyle before you start discarding anything. What are your goals? You must think in concrete terms, with specific ideas that you can vividly picture. For example, picture somebody’s house that you really admire and look forward to visiting, because it’s so peaceful, tranquil and inspiring - what is it that makes it so peaceful; does it have clever storage? How are the decorative pieces displayed? Is it clutter free? Take inspiration from it and use it as a destination for when you’re decluttering.
   • Determine if each item “sparks joy” - Take each item by hand and ask yourself “does this spark joy?”. If yes, it stays. If not, then throw it out. It’s important that you must touch every item, so that your body can react - you let your body and your emotions tell you what to do. Your focus must be on cherishing items you love, rather than focusing solely on discarding, which is something Marie Kondo acknowledges as only bringing unhappiness.
   • Tidy by category, not location - In most households, items that fall into one category will be stored in various places across the home. Put everything of the same category together in one place before sorting out, for example; take all of your clothes from your wardrobe, chest of drawers, shelves, hangers etc. and organise as a whole, rather than tackling one location at a time.
   • Tidy in the right order - Marie Kondo always tidies in the following order: Clothes, Books, Papers and finally Komono (misc).
   • Discard before you place things back - You have to discard first, do not put anything away, or buy anything new, until everything you are going to discard has been removed. 
4. Tidy with friends
   As the KonMari method states, tidying works best when it’s done in one huge go, rather than scattered over time. This can be a bit of a daunting task, so why not make the most of it and get your friends involved? They’ll be able to offer a valuable second opinion and will probably be a good voice of reason when it comes to whether that piece of clothing is really vital to you or not. Once you have your pile of items to discard, you could always see if there are certain pieces you could swap! 
5. Work with the local community
   Decluttering and tidying can leave you with a lot of products that, although no longer right for you, are in too good a condition to just throw away. Give back to the local community, set up morning trade sessions, or sell at a fete to raise money for the local school or Parish. 
6. And lastly, think of the storage solutions!
   Once you have decluttered your home, you need to ensure that it stays clutter free. The only way to stay clutter free and ensure that your home is a restful haven is with clever storage solutions. At Cannon West, these are some of our favourite storage solutions available right now:

• Molteni & C’s Graduate open shelving 
• The Dormy House’s essential hallway storage and shelving
• Mobil Fresno’s Alternative Vital collection
• Poliform’s contemporary wardrobes

Need more inspiration? What could be more inspiring than contemporary, clutter free, interiors?

Molteni Walk-in Closets

Frequently asked questions and myths about hiring an Interior Designer

• Isn't hiring an interior designer really expensive?
  Absolutely not. In fact a designer can save you money by preventing expensive mistakes and by sourcing items that are excellent value for money. They often carry furniture and fabrics that are only available through interior designers and cost less than you would expect.
• What do interior designers do exactly?
  Designers do just about anything to do with design and decoration in your home. This could mean giving a tired room or whole house a new lease on life with a completely new look including lighting wallpaper, fabrics, flooring and furniture. Or just supplying some fabric for a new pair of curtains, reupholstering an old chair or finding a special item like a bathroom wall light or Scandinavian hall bench. Sometimes people use designers to help manage large restoration projects. Designers don't just devise themes and choose colours and fabrics, they can also organise and manage the decorating, curtain making, furniture, lighting and flooring installation and ensure that the job is done to time and budget.
• How do interior designers charge for their services?
  This varies. However at Cannon West Interior Design we don’t charge anything for home visits. We will come and meet you and talk about the job free of charge. If we are redesigning a room or house we charge a small design fee and commission to cover time spent creating the scheme and the sample and illustration boards and scale plans and elevations. We also work on commission only when doing smaller jobs like a pair of curtains. We come and measure up, make recommendations about the colours and fabrics, bring sample books to look at in situ and charge nothing. You pay the retail price.
• I have strong ideas about how I want things to look. Will the designer try to make me change my mind?
  We may suggest other alternatives and explain why they could work too but ultimately the decision is yours. We respect our clients likes and dislikes and try to find things to fit in with them, not change them.

We hope this has answered some of your questions about the business of interior design and what we do. Please give us a call on 01732 810 274 or visit the showroom for an informal chat about your home.

More on www.cannonwestinteriors.com  or email 
design@cannonwestinteriors.com