Kitchen and Living Room Makeover

I love our flat and I'm pretty proud that I have managed to design a home that both Simon and I love. However, sometimes I get the urge to move things around a little in our open plan kitchen and living area to change things up a little. The trouble is our flat is teeny tiny and I've been feeling a little stuck about what I could do to improve the space.

 Last week I had a consultation and tried out the new Dulux Amazing Space website. Amazing Space is an online interior design service which connects you with an interior designer for you to chat to about your room. Dulux then delivers a custom room design that fits your requirements all for £75.

I'm going to talk to you about my experience and also cover the pros and cons of the service. Hopefully you'll feel inspired to give it a go yourself. 


The first stage is to go through a series of questions so that your designer can grasp the sort of thing you like. I really liked the two images on the right, both of them are very neutral and calm with that Mid-Century design that I love so much. The bottom image is pretty much my perfect living room, if only I could live in a low profile bungalo in California!

After filling out a simple form about our flat and the room I picked out my preferred colour palette, styles and budget.

The next stage was to use their tool to draw out your room plan so the team can learn about the dimensions of your space. There is also an opportunity to share some images that you love, I selected these...




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I selected rooms that were pretty neutral with hints of navy blue, teak and greenery. It's important to me that my space keeps that Modern Mid-Century feel and also has elements of nature and comfort. 

After sending all that information off I was booked into my consultation with my designer Rebecca. The chat lasted about 20 minutes and it was an opportunity to let Rebecca know what I thought about the items, colour and furniture that she picked chose for us. Rebecca talked through all the elements that she picked out for me and I had the opportunity to tell her what I thought. Here is the complete mood-board that she designed for me.


There were lots of things that I liked but I was concerned that the room would end up looking too green or yellow, I wanted to go for a more warm grey and neutral scheme with pops of 1960's colour here and there. Something else that I wanted to avoid was any twee or obvious Mid-Century touches, I wanted a quietly authentic and sophisticated scheme. This meant that the tropical prints, patterned cushions and the starburst clock weren't really my style. Those pieces were a bit too trend based and "on the nose" with regards to 1960s style. After talking about my concerns and what I liked Rebecca told me that she would shift things around and present me with my finalised plan in a few days.


Right on cue I received an email from Dulux saying that my new room design was ready for me. The first thing I had a good look at was the floor plan which really excited me. I love the idea of switching our room around this way and I was really keen to give it a go. Unfortunately after talking to Simon we realised that some of our existing furniture hadn't been included in the floor plan which meant that we actually don't have room to switch things around. If we did it would mean getting rid of our lovely retro record player and speakers and my computer desk (my computer is a lot larger than the image in the mock up). As our flat has a grand total of three very small rooms there sadly is no where else we could put those pieces. I think in the future we could buy a smaller round table but as we have six friends over every few weeks for dinner that idea will have to wait.

The mock up looks a little too green for me but that is probably because the software may have limited options for accessories and furniture. I like the green wall but I think that I would hold back on any other green items to avoid that indoor garden look. Pop the yellow sofa in there and change the green tableware to some nice retro stoneware pieces - perfect!


Below are my favorite picks from my consultation with Rebecca. I absolutely love the navy blue enamel lampshade and the clock options. We've been looking for a good clock to have in our living room so I think we'll end up buying one of those.



I think that Rebecca did a wonderful job picking out items that would look good in my space and considering the information I gave her she delivered something that matched my ideas really well. Thinking back I should have given her as much information as possible about the room, our furniture and what I liked as that would have made things even easier for her.

My final thoughts on the room are that it's a little too green, especially when looking back on the inspirational images I sent off which were all very neutral. I love the idea of the new floor plan but at the moment I'm not willing to get rid off some of our furniture to make it a reality. I love the decorative pieces and the furniture she picked out, I really want that yellow sofa, those clocks and the lampshade!

Pros

The service is great value for money

Most people can't afford an interior designer so this service combats that problem

Rebecca and the whole team were so lovely and very helpful

This is a great idea if you're a design novice and / or lacking confidence

Makes shopping for your home very easy and un-intimidating

There's no obligation to buy anything so no pressure at any point

I loved having a fresh pair of eyes on my space

Cons

As I know quite a bit about interior design so I'm not really the target audience for this service

The room felt a bit trend based and commercial

Some of my furniture would not fit in the new floor plan design

I work from home and my computer desk wouldn't fit where Rebecca wanted to place it (there's no room in our bedroom either)

An interior designer would visit your home multiple times and have a really clear idea of your space, sadly an online service can only have a limited about of information about your room.

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All in all this service is perfect if you aren't able to hire an interior designer, lake confidence with regards to design or don't know enough about interiors to do the room yourself. I had a small room with a lot of requirements which made this scheme a tricky one to do. If you're flexible and up for a change then I think this service would be perfect for you.


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