FORMAL sITTING rOOM, Edwardian Home

INTERIOR DESIGN, hILDENBOROUGH, kENT

The Project

This handsome Edwardian home on the edge of Hildenborough has some stunning period features that we really wanted to celebrate, whilst still bringing some joyful colour into the mix. We had recently completed a bold family room for our client, and this next project, a formal sitting room, was to have its own personality.

The brief

The brief for this project was to create a warm, welcoming formal sitting room.

The client had consciously decided that this room was going to be free from a TV, so the focus was on conversation, reading and entertaining.

Our client favoured a soft pink palette, so a key part of the project would be to identify the perfect shade for this north-facing room.

We wanted this room to feel really welcoming, especially as it is the first room that you come to after entering the hallway. The herringbone wooden floors had been sanded and lightened, so this gave us a beautiful canvas to work from. This flooring also ties together the hallway, sitting room, and family room beyond, so even though each space would have its own personality, we had this common ribbon that would run throughout.

We designed bespoke bookcases for either side of the fireplace to add grandeur to what will be a formal room, and this was also a key design choice for storage and lighting. We specified rear-facing dimmable LEDs into these cabinets that would allow the lighting in the room to be completely flexible, and also highlight our clients’ beautiful ornaments and artefacts.

Getting the palette right for this room was so important, as the room is north-facing. We opted for Myland’s “Gentleman’s Pink” on all walls, as this would give freshness but save the room from feeling cold. We layered jewel tones onto this calm palette, with smart velvet sofas in Warwick Eco-Velvet (colour "Pine"), and pops of pink and burgundy in the bespoke cushions to tie the scheme together.

We commissioned a beautiful rug to add cosiness, and also to zone the formal furniture arrangement. A double border on the rug brings in the colours from the dress curtains and completes the scheme.

Switching out chrome fixtures for antique bronze, bringing in brass coffee tables, layering dress curtains over the existing shutters all helped warm this room up … now it just needs the log burner lit, and it’s ready for guests.