Interior Design Master Class
Finishing touches
In the last part of her series, award-winning interior designer Jenny Blanc discusses how accessories
are the details that make a holiday home a very special place to return to year after year
Budgets can put constraints on everyone. It’s true to say that clients’ budgets can become stretched in the process of making a dream holiday home. As the design execution takes shape, there will be elements that might require more expenditure. And then there will be new ideas that simply present themselves along the way. The budget is reviewed every step along the way to keep everything on track and when something has to give, it’s the items at the end of the line – the accessories – that are carefully deliberated over.
Bespoke service
All part of the interior design commission, accessories are collated from the best brands around the world – Limoges china, Murano glass cutlery and a hand-painted charger from New York create this exquisite place setting.
Depending on where your holiday home happens to be and what is available locally will determine how this very important element of creating a home will come together. Finding just the right pieces can take weeks of travelling the island or area, and all to no avail.
As an interior designer, I want to give clients the home they have dreamt of owning. As the commission takes shape in the form of storyboards and plans for each room and area, the design team have spatial planning to carefully think through. Following on from this a concept for furniture and fabric will develop, but accessories play an important part too. It’s all integral to the commission, to see the detail through to the very end. It’s also about that very important aspect – proportion. The accessories need to relate to the new interiors.
Wall art
High-end artwork is a compelling purchase which can also provide a potential investment. Many clients come to us having discovered local artists on previous holidays and are keen to introduce paintings into their home. Local artwork of good quality has much to recommend it. Not only can paintings evoke atmosphere but the style and colours will echo the environment of the place.
I have spent many an enjoyable shopping trip with clients to galleries in search of just the right piece. Don’t be surprised if you don’t find anything on first view. It’s all about finding an artist that hits a chord with you and whose work you can see hanging in your home. Many artists are only too pleased to take on a commission and everything down to the mount, frame and execution can be ordered to your specification. Take your interior designer along with you so the size and position for the painting or a collection of artwork can be thought through to show it off to its best potential.
Canvas paintings work particularly well in hot climes as air is able to circulate around the picture. Framed artworks need careful mounting and framing to allow ventilation and prevent condensation; this is particularly relevant where antique maps are concerned. It is worth discussing all this with your designer, so the right choices are made to make artwork truly successful when it’s finally positioned in the property.