Transforming a house into a home can be a long journey with many challenges and decisions. Let us take you on a tour of this eclectic and colourful home to inspire your next interior project, be it a whole renovation or just a few home accessories. 

Living Room 

Roman Blinds Fabric: Warwick Suka Usiku. Furniture & Accessories sourced by Ivywell Interiors. 

We believe your home should be unique and tell your story. For some, it may be family pictures or artwork, but for this owner, it was the time spent in Tanzania for work. Uprooting family life to Africa held so many dear memories for the owner that she wanted us to incorporate them into the house style. Being new to Bristol, she also wanted to create a minimalist and urban feel - quite a brief to fulfil!

We used the beautifully rich teal Vardo from Farrow & Ball on the chimney breast while keeping the rest of the walls white - mainly for budget reasons as money was tight. We added gold accents to create a plush feel but otherwise kept to a monochrome colour palette with the black and white roman blinds, fabric from the Warwick Monochrome collection. 

Lower Ground Floor Kitchen Diner

Wallpaper: Casadeco Op'art. Statement chair from Bristol-based Raft Furniture. Dining Table and bench by Bristol-based Konk Furniture. 

Located on a hill with sweeping views of the South Bristol landscape, the kitchen diner is on the lower ground floor with access to the mature garden through bifold doors. 

The feel of the room is warm and eclectic firstly to fade in the existing grey loveseat but also to create an inviting space ideal to host parties long into the night. Thanks to the large rear opening the room is bright with warm tones of oak complimented by the wallpaper from Casadeco. 

The room is large and we kept the furniture minimal to give the owner versatility to include a piano in future. 

The table was a key piece in making this room function. With three children, the owner needed seating space. We specified a custom hand-built table from Konk Furniture with extensions to accommodate friends and family too. The design detail we particularly love is the oak live edge that just makes this table the centrepiece of the room without overwhelming the space. 

The house had recently been 'gutted out' and as with many older properties, we had to work around quirks such as the stairs protruding into the space. Negotiating the 'leftovers' from previous owners or developers can be frustrating - should I rebuild and start over? is a question we often get asked. It's a personal choice and we usually advise weighting the pain versus gain. Is rebuilding going to cause you more hassle? Will it be worth the money? Would it uncover more issues? At the same time, if there's a detail you cannot put out of your mind and that will annoy you every time you walk into the space, it might be worth rebuilding. As we said, it is personal and part of the many decisions that we would address during our design process. 

Ground Floor Reception Room 

This room was a bit of a walk-through space but we immediately saw the potential for an open multi-functional room that could cater for both quiet reading, children playing and an extra bed when required thanks to our sourced and supplied made-to-order sofa bed. The owner will also be including a harpsichord in this space which we cannot wait to see!  

Wallpaper: Casadeco Nangara Anangu. Curtain Fabric: Camengo Olinda. Sofa & Accessories sourced by Ivywell Interiors. 

As the room needed to be minimal to take into account future use, we need to create immediate impact with other elements than the furniture. We opted for a patterned wallpaper from Casadeco that packs a punch with beautifully detailed curtains with embroidery details that just pop. 

Bay Window Bedroom

Upstairs are two double bedrooms and a single room. Although we opted for the same high pile carpet to keep to our budget, each room is different to keep to the eclectic style of the house. 

Curtain Fabric: Kobe Vicenza. Furniture & Accessories sourced by Ivywell Interiors. 

We had the curtains made in a neutral but textured fabric from Kobe. The track is ceiling mounted and curved to perfectly dress the window with a slight overhang to keep the style informal. We often marry existing and new furniture but in this room, we had carte blanche to source and supply what we felt was right. We opted for a light oak bed with a matching bedside table and chest of drawers to create cohesion and an overall feel of serenity. 

Garden View Rear Bedroom

Wallpaper: Casadeco Pampelonne

From calm heaven to intense optical illusion wallpaper, this house doesn't cease to present the unexpected - a feeling that the owner was keen on creating. 

Loft Conversion Master Bedroom

Curtains: Ashley Wilde Kinamba Ebony

The house benefitted from a large loft conversion. We needed to re-use the king-size bed which gave us the tone to create a monochrome bedroom that contrasts with the green of the trees that can be seen from the fixed Juliet balcony. Keeping in mind the budget considerations, the main expense in this room was the curtains. They feature a beautifully thick fabric that both serves as a light blocker and thermal barrier. 

The room has a minimalist feel that the owner was keen on to give her the opportunity for further addition as the family settles into their new home. 

Here's the client's lovely review - available on our Houzz Profile: 

"Megane and the Ivywell team did an amazing job on our house! We love the look they created, keeping a flavour that was unique and personal to us (our links to Tanzania) while bringing in modern but classic elements that we would never have managed to choose on our own, to make the house look fantastic.

Megane is a talented designer, and also practical, finding a great balance between the pieces that would give the ‘wow’ factor and working really hard to keep to the budget. As I was abroad, Megane was so patient in sorting out what felt like hundreds of last minute things that needed doing. She was completely committed to getting the best possible look on the house, and went well beyond the extra mile to make it all come together for the deadline. She deserves a medal rushing around to set up the house in 30 degrees heat, as the additional requests just kept coming! She was always lovely to communicate with, really clear on what was happening when, what I needed to do, and keeping me motivated sharing pictures and her enthusiasm for how the house was coming together.

Thank you so much Ivywell for creating a beautiful home for us. Needless to say - highly recommended to others!"

Check out our other latest projects and if you want to discuss your next design project, get in touch to book a consultation with us.