On the occasion of Milan Design Week 2023, GROHE presents its revitalized GROHE SPA sub-brand by flooding the prestigious Pinacoteca di Brera in an endless play of reflections. Entering the courtyard of the Pinacoteca, visitors can immerse themselves in a holistic experience with water at its core. Designed by the in-house design and brand identity team LIXIL Global Design, the immersive installation reflects the art museum, including the statue of Napoleon at the center by one of the most important sculptors of his day, Antonio Canova.

The stillness of the water expands the space and creates a kind of illusion while representing cleanliness and well-being. Four cubes are placed in the courtyard’s corners to provide interior spaces where GROHE SPA’s four tiers are showcased. A mirror surface is used on all these cubes to contribute to the infinite look of the installation.

“Our immersive installation celebrates the GROHE SPA concept of ‘Health through Water’, while paying tribute to the artistic legacy of Pinacoteca. We believe that water is the source of vital energy. By appealing to different senses with our installation, we want to create a special experience for our guests – just like our GROHE SPA products do. Transforming the bathroom into a home spa is not about using individual products, but about creating holistic experiences that embrace the positive effects of water on the body and mind,” said Patrick Speck, Leader, LIXIL Global Design, EMENA.

Each of the four physical cubes nestled into the space is dedicated to one of four tiers that bring GROHE SPA to life. First, the GROHE SPA Icon 3D collection: The 3D metal-printed products redefine what is possible, while taking sustainable product design with ultimate customization options to a new level. In addition to seeing the exclusive products, visitors can hear the sound of the 3D printing, see the process on an LED screen and feel a change in temperature: it gets warmer as soon as the printing simulation starts.

The second tier is comprised of the bespoke Atrio and Allure Brilliant Private Collections which allow customers to choose from a carefully curated range of colors, materials, finishes and handle designs. In order to enable end-consumers to enjoy an authentic marble style with a high-quality finish, GROHE is partnering with Caesarstone, the global pioneer of premium countertop surfaces, to craft faucet handles from the brand’s durable surfaces in timeless designs. The installation demonstrates this partnership perfectly: As the key element, the black and white marble divides the space into two halves, demonstrating the many combinations that the collections make possible.

The GROHE Colors Collection is in the focus of the third tier. With trend-leading colors for products such as GROHE Allure and Aqua Ceiling Modules, the collection makes it easy to create personalized bathrooms. Cool Sunrise is the main color used in this cube, and the displayed collections bathe the room in a golden light, while visitors can hear the sound of water and feel its humidity thanks to the elevated temperature. Completing the exhibition, the fourth tier revolves around modular shower solutions. GROHE has created a multi-sensory experience with mist, light and sound modules, as well as an LED screen showing images inspired by nature.

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For this year’s edition of Milan Design Week, Ellen van Loon and Giulio Margheri have designed an installation commissioned by SolidNature taking place in the basement and garden of the neo- Romanesque Casa Maveri in the Brera District.

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On the occasion of Milan Design Week 2023, Stefano Boeri Interiors unveils “SWING“, a special circular-shaped swing inspired by early 20th-century Spanish Surrealism and the American Circus in Madrid placed in the Pharmacy Courtyard of the Università degli Studi in Milan.

The installation is part of the Interni Design Re-Evolution exhibition-event, in which Amazon brings to life “The Amazing Playground,” a large interactive and experiential space that includes a selection of home furnishing products available on Amazon.co.uk.

“SWING” brings together space, time and rhythm and also wants to be a celebration of free time, an opportunity to rediscover the pleasure of light-hearted and fun moments dedicated also to online shopping of furnishing products, an experience that is today as simple and pleasant as playing outdoors.

“SWING”, designed by Stefano Boeri Interiors, is also a playful counterpoint to the abstract rhetoric on sustainability, in favour of a national urban forestation project, such as Parco Italia, promoted with Amazon Italia by Stefano Boeri Architetti and AlberItalia, which aims to increase, improve and protect Italy’s natural capital and its biodiversity.

The installation is designed with sustainability in mind: the materials chosen can in fact be reused in other contexts thanks to the possibility of breaking down and reassembling the individual modules that form the installation, both respecting the original circular configuration and reinventing their shape and size according to the needs of the project and the location. 

“We are proud to return for the second year running at the FuoriSalone, at the Interni exhibition-event, with ‘The Amazing Playground’, in such an iconic location as the Pharmacy Courtyard of the Università degli Studi in Milan and with such a prestigious partner as Stefano Boeri Interiors. We hope that visitors will enjoy feeling a bit like children again by spending some time in our installation and that, with interest and light-heartedness, they will discover our wide selection of design products for the home,” comments Michele Marini, EU Director of Amazon’s Furniture and Large Appliances categories. “Through this installation, we also want to tell people about our support for projects related to the preservation, improvement and restoration of the natural environment, which are part of our commitment to sustainability enshrined in the Climate Pledge friendly programme. This includes Parco Italia, an urban forestation project through which we want to generate a positive impact for the communities where our employees and customers live.”

Inside the Pharmacy Courtyard, in addition to interacting with the installation, visitors will be able to discover a selection of products available on Amazon.it including designer home furnishings and, by scanning the QR code associated with each product, they will be able to get all the information in detail. These will also include some some of the 100,000+ products that meet sustainability standards and help preserve the environment, labelled Climate Pledge Friendly, available to Amazon customers in Europe. 

In the courtyard, Amazon also presents technological solutions that facilitate the shopping experience of furniture products. Both on the site and in the Amazon app, Amazon customers can take advantage of Amazon Augmented Reality, which allows them to visualise products within the space in which they wish to place them; Amazon 360 Spin, which allows a 360° view of products; Discover, the feature that allows customers to filter items according to their style preferences and provides personalised recommendations from a selection of thousands of products, and Showroom, which allows customers to personalise and furnish their room with the furniture items of their choice, in absolute comfort thanks to additional services such as online booking of delivery time and even installation, depending on the type of products.

In addition to the products shown in ‘The Amazing Playground’, including Amazon brands and products made by small and medium-sized Italian companies, on Amazon.it customers can find a wide selection of accessories and designer furniture for the home, both from well-known and niche brands, available in a variety of sizes, colours, finishes and prices, as well as home automation solutions, including lighting options, Echo devices and products integrated with Alexa. Convenience and speed of delivery are key aspects of the shopping experience for furniture products: Amazon makes available a delivery feature for large items, which allows customers to plan the time and day of delivery according to their needs and receive the products in the room of their choice. Amazon.it customers can also choose to split payments into monthly instalments by requesting the opening of a line of credit with Cofidis S.p.A., to be used as a payment method on Amazon.it for orders with a value between 100 euros and 3,000 euros. All information is available on the help page Terms and conditions for instalment payments.

The Amazing Playground event is made possible thanks to the collaboration of numerous partners: Bialetti, De’Longhi, Groupe SEB with the brands Rowenta, Moulinex and Lagostina, Samsung Home Appliances, Alessi, Baroni Home, Bellissima (Imetec), Blomus, Composad, Driade, FontanaArte, Ichendorf, Inoxlm, KARE, LEGO, Motorola, MSI, Philips Hue, Sony, Steelcase, Swarovski, THUN, Umbra, Zafferano, Zinus. Technical partners: iGuzzini, Intel, Lenovo, Samsung Home Entertainment, Samsung Mobile Experience. 

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Chinese practice MAD Architects unveils Momentum, a giant interactive installation designed for the courtyard of Statale University during Milan Design Week 2023. Momentum seeks to freeze the moment of art creation, with the simplest cube is used as a carrier to undertake different forms of art expression. Momentum, exhibited during the Salone del Mobile, hopes to evoke the solidification and refinement of time with this form. 

In the daytime, Momentum’s skin reflects the surrounding environment of the courtyard of Statale University, becoming a forever-changing art form of its own. As night falls, and the installation turns transparent and ethereal, the lighting inside illuminates a new character.

Momentum is also a combination of virtual art and a physical installations. It features an AR (Augmented Reality) art experience, where viewers may experience fantastical virtual art by scanning a QR code on Instagram, and becoming a creator of their own. 

During this, MAD’s fifth participation in Milan Design Week, the works brought have been accompanied by a breakthrough of boundaries and the integration of diverse arts. “With the end of the COVID pandemic, we’ve placed more consideration on communication and the interchange of multiculturalism,” MAD Architects Founder Ma Yansong tells us. Past work includes Invisible Border 2016, Fifth Ring 2018, Freedom 2021, and Dynamik Chair & Thread Chair 2022.

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On the occasion of Milan Design Week 2023, Italo Rota and CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati unveiled “Walk the Talk”, an installation that dramatically transforms Milan’s Botanical Garden into a 3500 square-meter interactive game. Designed as an accessible “choose your own path” adventure, “Walk the Talk” challenges players to discover and reflect on everyday choices for sustainable mobility. The installation features energy-harvesting tiles that produce dynamic light and sound effects during the day and night.

The “Walk the Talk” path is structured as a metaphorical stroll around Milan, featuring the city’s major landmarks. It is made up of over 400 wooden tiles and 32 different types of icons spread across 3500 square meters. Each one represents either an obstacle or a solution to the game’s theme of urban mobility: from traffic to public transportation and electric car sharing. Players – either alone or in tandem with others – navigate their way through the city by finding sustainable solutions to challenges such as overcrowded neighborhoods or lack of pedestrian areas. Their route depends on the choices they make, as they encounter various crossroads and intersections along the way. 

The path’s colored tiles are produced with a combination of special luminescent varnishes and films which harvest and store energy during the day and release a prolonged glow after dusk. This glowing effect is enhanced by a low-intensity lighting system throughout the garden, adding an atmospheric quality to the space and allowing visitors to play the game after dark. The “Walk the Talk” path is designed along with game designer collective Blob Factory Gaming studio, and with graphic design concept by studio FM Milano.

“Walk the Talk” uses the gaming framework to form a dialogue between the visitor and Milan’s much-loved  Botanical Garden. It provides a participatory way to engage with this historical location and with the city, as well as an experience that people can share,” says Italo Rota, founder of Italo Rota Building Office.

“The future of mobility presents substantial challenges which require collective understanding and participation,” says Carlo Ratti, founding partner at CRA and director of the MIT Senseable City Lab: “At a time when digital gamification is everywhere, we wanted to experiment with a physical game board – one of the largest ever made. “Walk the Talk” is an accessible experience to help jumpstart an important conversation about the future of mobility.”

CRA has explored the theme of sustainable urban mobility in a variety of projects, both as a design studio and by drawing on research conducted by Carlo Ratti’s MIT Senseable City Lab. Projects include the “New Deal Paris”, an exhibition project envisioning how Paris’ highway might look like in 2050 with the widespread adoption of autonomous mobility; and “Anas Smart Road”, a collaboration with Italy’s leading road agency ANAS to implement a digitally-integrated  highway to  improve  safety conditions and traffic management. In the city of Milan, CRA has designed the master plan for MIND – Milano Innovation District (former site of 2015’s World Expo), featuring offices, research centers, the future Science Campus of the University of Milan, and a neighborhood planned for shared, self-driving shuttles.

The project is developed for global energy company Eni as part of the Design Week’s INTERNI Re-evolution exhibition, and will be open to the public until 26th April 2023.

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On the occasion of Milan Design Week 2023, Azimut Yachts presents “The Sea Deck,” an installation that rediscovers contact with nature through an emotional walk on the waters of Milan’s Darsena.

In the nautical world, Azimut has realized the ideal of returning to nature: the Shipyard was the first to combine technological solutions to reduce environmental impact with stylistic and design innovations aimed at breaking down the barriers between inside and outside to embrace the sea once again. The symbol of this approach is the new Seadeck Series, the first hybrid Series of motor yachts for families, which will achieve a 40% reduction in CO2 emissions in an average year of use compared to a traditional flybridge boat of similar size.

The new Seadeck Series, epitomizing this philosophy, has inspired AMDL CIRCLE and Michele De Lucchi in the creation of “The Sea Deck”, a floating promenade on the Darsena, designed in collaboration with Azimut to bring the experience of the ancient navigable waterways back to the city of Milan and offer visitors a new perspective on enjoying the water from a unique point of view near Leonardo da Vinci’s historic canal. The project was designed to re-propose the same revolution that Azimut has introduced in the nautical world, inviting you to embark on a journey to discover the technologies developed by the Shipyard to reduce environmental impact and to share a moment of return to nature, which is the essence of navigation.

In fact, the installation reinterprets the aft terrace of the Seadeck Series yachts, the Fun Island, which is an open lounge embracing the sea, designed for the first time to offer an immersive experience in nature: it is accessed from the quay through a covered stand that recalls the architectural identity developed over the years by AMDL CIRCLE for Azimut. Once on board, visitors will be able to walk – strictly barefoot – along the ring, suspended above the water, to the center of the Darsena and satisfy that desire to “go further”, the part of Azimut’s pioneering DNA that nourishes sea explorers. Along the way, five interactive stations open on cantilevered terraces, referencing the openable “wings” of Seadeck yachts, to teach the path traced by the Shipyard to reduce emissions and energy consumption, the “green heart” of the Seadeck Series: from the new hybrid engines to the onboard systems that reduce energy absorbtion, on to the with the installation of solar panels and the use of recycled materials and including the carbon adopted to lighten the upper parts by up to 30%. In the evening, the LED lighting evokes the same emotions as boat lights shimmering on the water.

The installation created by Azimut in collaboration with AMDL CIRCLE and Michele De Lucchi has the patronage of the Municipality of Milan for the values of sustainability and circularity according to which it was created. The Seadeck Series combines technological solutions with the use of natural, recycled and recyclable materials. AMDL CIRCLE looked to these in defining this project for the fuorisalone: as on the yachts of the series, the traditional teak is replaced by cork, an effective and more sustainable alternative, and the decking of the installation was made from 2 million recycled and ground bottle corks, which will then be transformed again into insulating material for architecture, further reducing its environmental impact. Collected by volunteers on behalf of the Arts & Crafts Cooperative of Cuneo, the corks, all from Italy, were treated by Amorim Cork, which has long been involved in raising awareness about how cork’s important role in the ecological equilibrium of the world.

From the first step onto cork, the ancient raw material symbolic of the Mediterranean, visitors will enter another world, an unprecedented place for sharing urban space and reconnecting with the most powerful and regenerative of elements, water.

Azimut, AMDL CIRCLE and Michele De Lucchi are meeting the visitors of Milan Design Week near the Leonardo Canal from the 17th to the 23rd of April to discover, in this unusual relaxation space, a new connection with the waters of the historic Navigli.

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Getting more natural light into your home can improve your mental wellness and increase serotonin levels to make you feel happier. Since it’s a cost-effective and sometimes free light source, it can also help reduce household energy bills and increase your home’s property value. 

Fortunately, you can use a few effective methods to make your rooms and corridors sunnier, lighter, and brighter. These include upgrading or remodeling options to maximize your house’s design and enhance light exposure in dark areas. 

Here are five ways to increase the natural lighting in your home: 

1. Install More Windows 

Windows are the key element to getting more sunlight into your home, even in areas positioned away from the sun. So, if your budget allows, you can add larger windows in your home that can ideally be placed higher or above rooms, such as skylight windows.

In relation to this, if you have high ceilings, installing floor-to-ceiling windows without interrupted columns can light up a whole room while also giving you magnificent outside views. Yet if you need replacement window options, you can have them installed into the width of a wall as a picture window or choose doors made of glass to let the sun in. 

2. Use Sheer Curtains 

A smart design hack used by interior decorators to light up a home is by using sheer curtains or blinds. They let light pour into a room while softening direct sunlight, so you keep your house cool with a well-lit ambience. 

Additionally, sheer curtains and blinds control outside light coming in, your home can remain lit up during the evenings because of moonlight and street lamps, so you won’t have to turn on the porch or outside lights as often. An important tip to remember is that curtains and blinds made from airy fabrics and neutral tones will work better to invite natural light than darker-toned ones.

3. Paint The Walls White 

This natural lighting method will add a brightening effect to your room, as white-colored walls are excellent light castors. Painting your walls white is a cost-effective illuminating solution, especially if you have a problem with dull, dim, or shadowy interior rooms or live in an enclosed apartment. In this case, you can opt for white paint with a glossy finish to create a reflective natural glow. 

Plus, you can extend this to your exterior by painting your roof overhangs or eaves white so they can catch and send sunlight back into your home. An alternative choice to purely white walls is pastel, muted, or neutral tones such as cream, pale yellow, or light ice blue. 

4. Use Reflective Surfaces And Objects 

Another simple way to add to your home’s natural light is to use reflective surfaces and objects to catch and emit brightness around the room, even during less sunny days. These can be transparent ornaments or metal décor pieces in your living room cabinets, glass blocks in your bathroom, and shiny floor tiles, for instance. 

One reflective object you can truly utilize is a mirror strategically placed in darker corners or angled opposite a small window to bounce the light to the rest of the area. Mirrors can also be used decoratively as wall screens to make the space look bigger while bringing in more light.

5. Create An Open Floor Plan 

Increasing natural light isn’t just about bringing objects and materials into your home, it can be as simple as utilizing the size of rooms.  An easy way to do this is to create an open plan open floor plan feel to a room by rearranging the layout. If furniture can be positioned nearer to walls allowing more space between doors, walking paths, and room entryways, then you can eliminate shadowy areas created by obstructing items. 

Additionally, you can take this a step further by going the remodeling route and taking down a few walls or columns to make single rooms that allow more light. This can be most effective if you integrate the open plan with an indoor-outdoor living space with connecting doors that cast sunlight deeper into your home.

Conclusion

You can increase the natural lighting in your home with just a few strategic methods that are budget efficient. You can add more or bigger windows to your home and maximize the light they bring by placing shiny, reflective objects and materials around them. These can be mirrors, glossy white walls, and glass blocks into your rooms. 

Then to brighten up whole rooms, you can install sheer curtains and change the design of your home to reduce dark areas. With this, you can enjoy more evenly cast natural light in your home and the wellness benefits that comes with it. 

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It goes without saying that displaying your property in the best possible light with great photos is essential in order to get the highest price. But as you may have seen on one of the many property shows, well before the photos are taken, staging your home for your target market is even more important. This is the key to giving the right first impressions to buyers online; enabling them to visualise the sort of lifestyle they are seeking – in a home just like yours. Great staging also ensures they’re just as impressed when they visit your property in person for a viewing. 

“Two things remain irretrievable; time and a first impression.” Cynthia Ozick

Since when was staging necessary to sell a home? 

Staging certainly has its roots in real estate in America, rather than in the UK. In America, the game of real estate is much more competitive than in the UK, and it is much more common for multiple agents and agencies to compete for high-value listings. In the UK, although sales of brand-new homes naturally include staged properties, in the general property market it still falls on homeowners to stage their home and to dictate the right direction for that transformation. 

Estate agents in the UK might offer you advice on how to achieve a higher price for the property, but it usually revolves around the idea of more significant improvements like a new bathroom or kitchen, rather than the overall aesthetic appeal of the home and the emotional journey the buyer will go on when they view. 

Staging is more about not only selling the home but selling a lifestyle. The key is in identifying your target buyer group and then staging your home to fit the ideals of that group. It pushes well beyond the boundary of selling a blank canvas, as is the most common house sale preparation advice in the UK. Instead, staging uses clever tricks and methods that position your home as the perfect home for those specific buyers. It essentially skips the step of leaving it up to the buyer to imagine themselves in your home, and actively provides props, sensory cues and a helping hand to achieve a certain perspective for the property. Buyers are then able to truly visualise themselves when they think of life in your property. 

Staging 101: How To Enhance Your Home For Resale

On average, it takes about 10 weeks from a property being listed on the market to an offer being accepted, according to the Home Owners Alliance. Staging your home can speed that process up, but more importantly, get you the kind of high quality offers you want to sell your house at a great price, and with a smooth exchange process. The following tips will help you to stage your home for resale, for the best possible offer prospects: 

The Blank Slate Rule

Although removing all of the very personal items from your home like photos, keepsakes and visually impactful decor isn’t the key to staging, it is the best first step, according to storage experts at Storing. Using secure self storage is indispensable when clearing out and protecting items for later when you find your next ideal home. You may also want to remove and store larger furniture items that don’t form part of your plan for staging, or even clear absolutely everything out if you’re going to be doing a full redecoration. Units come in all sizes so there’s no limit to how much you can store. 

Plan

A clean and clear home is easier to plan for staging, and you’ll want to plan every room out with your target market in mind. Retirees won’t likely want a modern home office, a young family won’t necessarily want a high maintenance garden, young professionals won’t necessarily want a spare room as a potential nursery. If you’re in any doubt, checkout the competition online and consider speaking to your estate agent for a bit of insider knowledge about potential buyers. They will know exactly who your target market is and what they are looking for in a home, based on the habits of buyers they are working with every day. 

Get a really clear image of your target market and what they want, plan your colour scheme (neutrals always work best), and think carefully about what you want to say with each room, and what journey you want the buyer to go on as they view. 

Any basic repairs should also be carried out before you start. 

Layer 1 – Neutralise

Now your base is ready, and you have a plan, layer one of staging is your neutral redecoration.

Choose a simple colour scheme for each room. In areas where you don’t want to pay for new carpets, flooring or repair other aspects of the space, try to clean the problem area as best you can so that it looks as aesthetically pleasing as possible without misleading the buyer or disguising an issue that needs addressing. Rugs are always useful.

Approach other areas similarly, with a ‘best we can afford’ approach to cleaning, repairs and decoration upgrades. 

Layer 2 – Furnish

Layer two is furnishing and some of the preparation for this stage is done during the planning stage. 

When you furnish your home with staging in mind Marie Kondo’s advice for imagining your ideal lifestyle when laying out your home is really helpful, simply apply it to the buyer’s ideal lifestyle in your house. 

Room by room, imagine your ideal buyer and think about what they would use that room for. Choose basic but attractive furniture suggestive of that room’s use, and place it whilst also giving the furniture room to breathe (no clutter or heavy grouping of pieces). 

There is absolutely no need for excess, or multiple items to emphasise multiple room-uses. Opt instead for basic, linear, practical furniture that suggest a use of the room that makes sense for your ideal buyer. 

A great example of staging techniques and furnishing is with that tricky compact bedroom. If a young family are your target buyers, a single bed and a computer table makes good sense, suggesting a guest bedroom and/or room for a child. If your target market is an older couple, a desk and a chair could be suggestive of a creative space like an art studio or simply a home office. Equally, a bed and a set of drawers may help older buyers picture the room as ideal for grandchildren. 

The furniture you use to stage does not have to be high quality, but it does help if it is matching in tone or colour. Modern, simple furniture is also usually best for continuity, lower cost and for a wider appeal overall to all age groups of potential buyers. 

Layer 3 – Dressing 

Dressing is the fun part of house staging, and it is where you can employ clever tricks to entice your target buyers to make an offer. Key pieces can create a talking point, and the finer details ensure the overall effect appears organic and natural. 

When dressing, you’re adding the finishing touches to every area. A dining table with some beautiful table settings, a chic soap set and some fluffy towels in the bathroom, crisp sheets, a glamourous throw and cushions layered on the beds. These are details that provide polish without overwhelming the look. 

You can also be suggestive of use with your house dressing. A teddy on a bed is enough to suggest ‘child’s bedroom’, a pile of workbooks and a pencil case is enough to suggest a corner desk is for homework. These are very simple props that have a vast impact on the way your buyer thinks as they view your home. 

Don’t be afraid to appeal to the wider senses when you dress the property, either. Create a stunning scent-scape using vibrant citrus, or welcoming vanilla. Our sense of smell is closely linked to memory, so the right scents used throughout the different rooms could be enough to cement your buyers’ positive feelings throughout the house, making your home more memorable to them. 

Just a word of advice – don’t take it too far or your buyers could suspect you’re covering up an odour issue. 

Lighting is also an important aspect of dressing, as fairy lights or lamps help to illuminate the space in multiple ways beyond the drab, harsh single focus lighting of a main pendant. For viewings in the day when it is light, your windows should be perfectly cleaned and all window ledges clear. Shrubs and trees should not block the natural sunshine from flooding in and bathing each room in beautiful, warm natural light. 

Last But Not Least….

Feng shui considers the entrance to your home as the ‘mouth of qui’ – the portal where we receive positive energy and opportunities, and getting it to look wonderful could be all you need to boost your chance of the best possible resale opportunities. 

Because it’s the first part of the house buyers will see, your curb appeal also matters and is certainly worth the extra effort. Could you add a lick of paint to the front of your house, and a few nice pot plants to your entryway? How about a new gate, or a little bit of jet washing on those mossy surfaces?

The back garden should also be staged to imply a certain sort of lifestyle. The best gardens should offer a small escape to nature, be easy-to-maintain and be without hazards like uneven paving or crumbling sheds. There’s no need for any expensive landscaping, just well-maintained greenery and perhaps a table and chairs in an area you want to suggest as a place for outdoor entertaining. 

If you are selling your home out of season it may be helpful to store outdoor toys and garden furniture along with your other belongings in your storage unit. 

“If you are working on something that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed, the vision pulls you.” Steve Jobs

Let the vision that you create pull your buyers into making an offer, with impactful staging that guides them on a journey in your home perfectly focused on their needs and the lifestyle they want. 

With the right layout, thoughtful props and details, your home can sell at speed for the highest possible price, to a committed buyer, leaving you ready to enjoy your own perfect vision of the future in your new place. 

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The kitchen is often the heart of the home. It is where the family tend to meet and depending on your lifestyle, it could be used to entertain and where you’ll spend the majority of your time. As cooking is a creative art, you want a space where you can prepare meals easily, and enjoy them.

When it comes to your kitchen design you may be feeling stressed. You may be feeling overwhelmed and worried that you’ll get the ‘design wrong.’ Fear not, as this guide will help you make the right choices for you.

Let’s do it.

1. Consider the Space

Space will be a dictator in your kitchen design and what you can achieve. Your goal should be to make the best use of the space for you and your family. So with this in mind, consider the following:

• What can be achieved in the space? – You may not be able to host a twenty person dinner party if the kitchen is too small, so rule that out. Stick with what’s achievable and ensure function as well as form. 

• Materials – Materials have been developed that utilise the best of all available technology. As such, kitchen countertops by Cosentino can be sourced that add both form and function. This should be researched thoroughly.

• Colours – What kind of colours do you like? What goes with the space? If your would be kitchen is well lit you’ll have greater choice as you can use darker tones to bring a feeling of luxury to your space. If it is not that well lit you may want to stick to brighter colours to bring the space alive.

• Don’t forget the Refrigerator – Remember any design is going to have to have space for appliances.

• Kitchen triangle – If your kitchen is going to be visible from space, i.e. big you may have more than one working area so the triangle may not apply. If it is more of a humble space, many professional designers assert that the oven, sink, and fridge should form a triangle with each side six to nine feet apart to maximise efficiency. Food for thought!

It is a good idea to draw the dimensions of your kitchen or use an app so you can visualise the design and get a good idea of how it will look when finished.

2. Open Plan Design Requires a Rethink

If your kitchen design fits in with an open plan layout then you have to consider the following:

• Better light – The chances are as the kitchen and the lounge are fused together it may well have better light so colour choices are more open.

• Colour – As you are designing a room that is effectively part of another, colours have to match and there is no room for clash. If you look over at your kitchen from the lounge and your heart drops, redecorate one of the rooms.

• Social vs. Culinary creations – Open plan kitchens are great for sociability as you can have a conversation while preparing a meal with someone sitting on the sofa. As there are no walls between the two spaces, bringing in food to a dining table makes everything more integrated which is fantastic for entertaining. 

Conversely, if you do love cooking the smells will waft into both rooms. If you can live with that there is no issue. If you can’t you may feel it is time to insert a wall between both rooms.

3. To Have an Island or not to Have an Island?

Islands can be a good focal point for a kitchen and they provide a good entertainment space, and you can keep an eye on your children as you prepare a meal. That said if space is limited it might make a space feel smaller.

4. Lighting Matters

Lighting should be thought about as two-stage lighting. Using natural or ambient lighting try and design your kitchen so it illuminates the whole room evenly. Then bring in task lighting so that chopping vegetables is easier. Good use of lighting can bring a space alive as well as adding function.

5. Make Sure You Have Enough Storage

Storage is another factor to consider. You need enough to store everything and a little creativity here can go a long way. You may want to display certain items on shelves or have utensils hanging from the ceiling. You may want to hide certain appliances behind doors. It all goes on your taste, space, and design.

6. Focal Points

It is good practice to have a focal point for the kitchen and work the design around it. Cookers and islands make for good focal points and you may want to shop around to get ideas. It is, at the end of the day your choice as to how your kitchen looks, but some add drama to their kitchen using quite elaborate materials such as copper where appropriate.

The kitchen is the heart of the home so make yours as good as it can be.

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