Blue is the new Black

Bright, fun and unashamedly bold.  Blue is fast becoming the colour of the season, resurrecting muted spaces and providing a confident splash of colour.

Forget muted sky blues and pastel tones, strong Royal Blues and Teals are increasingly popular within our homes and fashions.

Here are some ideas to help you create the look demonstrated with Calligaris furniture.

Bold Walls

Consider a royal blue for a strong feature wall,  great if you're not quite ready to make the plunge into Blue upholstery.  This instantly brings life to other muted tones within the room such as Greys, Blacks and Whites.

Shades of blue can be quite subjective so using a tester pot on small part of the wall and viewing the proposed colour at different times of the day may be a good idea before painting the entire wall.

Tip: Confine this to larger spaces as strong dark colours will give the illusion of a smaller room.

Electa Armchair

Blue and Taupe

Mag Sideboard, Allure Floor Lamp                  Heron Table, Basil Chair, Inside Wall Units     Duffy Chair 

The perfect accompaniment to taupe grey.  A simple warm grey and blue combination can create a very unique space whether in isolation or with other strong colours such as mustard yellow and red. When it comes to casual coloured dining sets, why not integrate other chair colours into the mix?

Fabric or Leather?

Anais Chair                                                  Irma Armchair, Islands Coffee Tables       Amelie Chair, Sextans Lamp 

A practical colour to live with, our brand new Calligaris chair range is available in Oslo Aquamarine fabric and Arctic Blue leather. Choosing a good quality fabric or leather is key when selecting a standout piece of upholstery that will stand the test of time.

Accents 

Accessories can make a space. For your finishing touches, a mixture of shades of blue look great on a plain white backdrop.  Choose bold accessories to compliment your main pieces of furniture.

You needn't go overboard, choose one or two striking key pieces within the room to balance your colour scheme.

Electa Armchair, Sassi Coffee Table 

Christmas 2013

We're now taking orders for guaranteed pre-Christmas delivery on Bontempi Casa, Calligaris and Cattelan Italia.

With free national delivery on orders over £250,  order instore on 01892 512 611 or online at www.limemodernliving.co.uk to ensure your home is ready for the festive season.

For Inspiration

Calligaris My Home Catalogue

For inspiration, the new Calligaris My Home catalogue is now available to view.  Flick through the 200 page brochure for inspiration from the latest product ranges currently being updated online.

 Click here to download the e-catalogue

Home Design: Creating Practical Contemporary Spaces

There is a common misconception that contemporary living spaces are impractical expanses of clinical white walls and minimalist, plain, stark pieces of furniture.   One visualises the empty loft apartment with white wash walls, a simple low profile sofa and a lonely white Barcelona chair in a corner. 

Whatever your taste, reality dictates that is unrealistic and impractical for everyday living spaces.  Most of us have lives full of children, pets and clutter and we firmly believe modern day home design has to contend with this.  We encourage our clients to live within their space and make their houses work for them as opposed to trying to rearrange their lives in order for their home to look a certain way. 

We believe it’s possible to create (and keep!) practical contemporary spaces by putting the functional needs of the home before the design.

Considering the design of a family home, we’d begin with family dynamics, what do you actually do around the home?  Most people might expect to act differently in a specially designed space however human nature always reverts to type.  Children needing a space to relax or play, kitchens being high traffic, transient areas and living spaces filling up with clutter easily. 

Once the dynamic of the everyday is explored, one can start considering practical issues.

Pet Friendly

When choosing fabrics for upholstery sofas and chairs, consider contemporary tight weave fabrics.  For leather, choose lower grade leathers which are less supple as these will be more resistant to claws. 

When considering dining chairs most contemporary furniture brands provide an option of a high quality regenerated leather, a mixture of real and faux leather particles ensures you have extremely practical, easy to clean chairs without compromising on style.

Child Friendly

A choice of stainguarded fabrics or removable, washable covers are options for most contemporary sofas. 

Stylish doesn’t have to be impractical when choosing a dining table, should you opt for glass, consider light coloured glass tops such a White or Matt Etched glass finishes.  Be cautious of darker glass colours which show finger marks, light scratches and dust.  Alternatively, why not consider laminate finishes or powder-coated metal table tops which are contemporary and extremely hard wearing.

Celebrate Clutter

Storage is the key to creating the look.  With clutter becoming less fashionable, we still have need for the things we choose to keep, however these can be contained in stylish pieces.  The choice of a low 3 or 4 door sideboard alongside a dining room wall, a coffee table with hidden storage or closed shelf wall bookcases will provide you with a modern storage solution, hiding your everyday items within easy reach, keeping your rooms tidy and allowing you to live practically without the need to constantly declutter. 

The key is to make a feature of your chosen storage solutions, once they become a visually integral part of the room design, their function almost disappears, ensuring they don’t appear as an afterthought.

Modern home design needn’t be bland, but can be inviting and personal, for finishing touches, select key objects such as vases, striking ornaments and photo frames to display on open modern bookshelves or freestanding bookcases.

Your home should be built around you and everything you choose to do within it.  That is the key to great design. There is so much variety within contemporary furniture to ensure that you never compromise on style when you design your home with functionality in mind. 

 Author: P.White