Global Interior Design London - Blog Update

Today I want to tell you all about this fabulous bathroom I've been designing in Kensington. And oh my, what a great opportunity this was to go from drab to fab - a TOTAL bathroom renovation, top to bottom. The original felt dated and claustrophobic - it just didn't meet the client's needs. But I knew from the moment I saw it that this room had huge potential. We soon got to work. The tiles had to be expertly removed (often multiple layers) from both the floors and the walls. Well I had to use all my design skills and space artistry to make the most of the relatively small dimensions and the challenging angles of this bathroom ... but I knew that we could do it!

The walls and ceilings were professionally replastered - including high-quality angle beads that I love for a clean, sharp look to freshen up this old room. A nice touch that I'm particularly proud of was a partial lowering of the ceiling and installation of some recessed lighting. I was very particular about the placement of these lights, to make sure that the gentle vertical glow will beautify the residents when they look in the mirror, rather than bringing out any lines and wrinkles in their faces. (Email me for more info on this great technique of mine!)

We had to urgently remove a traditional radiator that just didn't give me the sleek elegant feel that I was looking for. Underfloor heating was the solution, together with some splendid oversized 600mm square tiles to make the floor space appear as large as possible and to minimise the number of grout lines. I worked to reduce the number of tiles on the walls, only covering the splashguard area next to the shower and thereby giving the space a touch of energy.

Oh I almost forgot ... before the tiling, my team of clever plumbing assistants came along to join the show. They completely reworked the lateral pipework and made some great suggestions to improve the drainage.

Here's another of my top design tips ... any budding designers out there, start taking notes now! We chose a classy lavatory that is back-to-wall, i.e. it fits nice and flush against the back wall. To make this work, one needs a flexible pipe to make the outflow connection. In many London buildings, sewer rats can be a big problem - not many people know this, but they can often climb waste pipes (even multiple storeys) and could be just a few walls away from your home in seconds. Now I love animals and would never want to harm any creatures, but I know that rats don't belong in homes and I also know that these critters have nice sharp claws that can easily puncture a flexible pipe (flood risk!). So my strategy is to use a quality device called a McAlpine Anti-Crossflow Rodent Barrier. This black polyurethane structure - see photos - is a hinged one-way flap valve that makes sure water can exit the lavatory during a flush, but no critters can crawl back up from the sewer. It's such a great solution and a totally cost-effective (£19) way of keeping your home rodent-free, sanitary and safe from floods. Recently I have been astonished to realise how few people know about this fantastic product. I know of one unfortunate situation were rats visited a ninth-floor London apartment as the building contractor had removed the bathroom sanitaryware but had failed to seal off the waste pipes! Quite shocking.

One other quick anecdote: I recently spoke to a rodent control consultancy firm at a prestigious London apartment complex near fashionable Baker Street. I chatted with the manager about the rapidly growing rat infestation within the building's waste pipes and about what could be done to make it more difficult for these little (or sometimes not so little!) critters to enter domestic dwellings. I mentioned that whenever my interior design consultancy designs or installs a new bathroom, I will always insist on a McAlpine Anti-Crossflow Rodent Barrier. To my astonishment, his company had never even heard of this fabulous product!

Final result: the client was absolutely amazed at their new bathroom! The client would never have guessed that we could create such a fabulous solution from a difficult starting point. I'm always happy to share my design insights with other people and I'm always honoured when thought leaders in the industry ask me about my top tips on bathroom design. Look out for my next blog posting, in which I will offer a few tips on how to find jobs in interior design (it's that time of year again!). Insightful tips, helpful hints, and more. Come back soon!

Back to Blog