Thursday 27 May 2010

Day 9: House renovation*


The kitchen is moving on. The bi-fold doors are in, giving us sight of the garden [rubble!]. The skylight is pulling in sunshine from above. The plasterboard is on, bringing smoothness to the walls and some order to the chaos. The kitchen structure is showing itself, but the rubble on the floor seems to be getting higher! Next step - the base units.

Friday 14 May 2010

The Garden Room by bentheim*



In between dust and exposed wires I just had to write about The Garden Room, a new interior design by bentheim. This cafe uses stainless steel and timber to give a warm, industrial canteen feel, but it's the quirky use of metal buckets as light fittings that made me smile. The foliage wallpaper adds to the garden theme.

Sunday 9 May 2010

Day 8: House renovation*



Time to order the flooring. This kitchen looks contemporary so to give it the warmth it needs to stop it becoming too stark, it needs a wood floor. So which type to choose - solid hardwood flooring or engineered wood? Engineered wood is less expensive, more environmentally friendly [because the sublayers are often made from junk or scrapwood], and can be installed in kitchens and bathrooms because it can withstand moisture, buckling and rippling.

If it gets damaged you can sand it. You'll be able to get three to four resurfacings from most engineered hardwood floors. To help keep the modern look, choose wide planks. As the kitchen is 8m long, I've specified long planks aswell as wide. Solid Floors had the modern look we wanted but only as solid hardwood and not engineered. So we found a simliar grade at Timeless Floors, a White Oak Natural oil, £29M2. I will post photos once it's installed next week.