10 Beautiful Rooms

Good Morning, Greetings, Evenin' All and Hi. Does that cover it? Whether you're pouring coffee or wine, sipping water or soup, this is a hearty wave from The Mad House and a welcome in, come-over-and-see-what-we're-looking-at-today moment.

leather sofa grey walls by cassandra ellis

Today's edition of 10 Beautiful Rooms features the work of one designer. This is unusual I grant you but a) her rooms are great and b) she makes furniture as well so we can actually BUY THIS LOOK. Her name, for those of you who weren't here on Friday (*stern face*) is Cassandra Ellis and one of her projects was featured last week as it's for sale. Yes, you can buy the whole apartment too. Although I'm guessing a sofa will be more affordable.

grey shelves and wall panelling by cassandra ellis interior design

This is one of her projects and I think you'll like it. Soft greys, natural materials and lots of wood. There is another over-riding characteristic too, which is the judicial use of antique or vintage furniture. I was researching this subject for a magazine feature last week and spoke to a few interior designers (not Cassandra on this occasion) and they all spoke about how antiques and vintage furniture are crucial to a successful room design.

pale grey bedroom by cassandra ellis design

If you look at these rooms, you will see how Cassandra has incorporated something old into every room (regular readers will also remember my design rules: something old, something new, something black and something gold). The chest of drawers in the alcove below looks great against the grey paint and is so much more beautiful than a modern shelving unit in this setting.

cassandraellisinteriordesign 

This pink sofa below is shown in the apartment that is for sale (careful if you click it's nearly two million pounds and you WILL want it) and so, I might add, is the sofa. It's the company's best-selling piece (can't say I'm surprised) and it costs £2,200. It's UK-made with a hardwood frame, feather wrap cushions and a sprung seat. If you're unsure of what all that means drop in next week when I will be doing a guide on how to buy a sofa with all this information explained and why it's important.

this pink buttonback daybed is available from Cassandra Ellis Design

In short, though, that's a fantastic price for this piece. I was also looking at the furniture of Rose Uniacke, one of my other favourite designers and one of her sofas is around £7,000. I have a pink chaise longue already sadly so I can't have this daybed but if I didn't I would, if you see what I mean.

adding a touch of black in every room really grounds a space

Moving on to another project and you can see once again how the antique furniture works brilliantly in this very modern extension with its navy blue girders and soft grey walls. Also, note the lighting – that's how you do it when you have a glass ceiling. I am asked this a lot and there you see it illustrated.

Now I probably shouldn't say this but I would have put the lights lower over the table. You can always move them if you have a party and need the table to be pushed to the side of the room.

antique furniture looks particularly good in a modern setting

Navy blue is a theme running through this house and while many designers and magazines are claiming to be moving away from grey (mostly in search of the next big thing) the two colours work brilliantly well together. And blue is, after all, the Dulux Colour of the Year for 2017 so both it and grey will be around for some time. Also consider dark olive green with either dark or pale grey for another fabulous combination.

navy blue velvet, sheepskin throw and wooden floorboards

I appreciate that we all say we aren't influenced by trends, but the truth is that if people keep telling you something for long enough, and if you keep seeing it again and again, eventually you start to feel that it might be the right thing. It's a question of familiarity. That's how things move from magazines to mainstream. That's what happened with grey paint. Nowadays it just feels like the perfect neutral and we don't even question it. It has moved from fashion to classic.

dark grey button back sofa on reclaimed floorboards by cassandra ellis design

Dulux say they make paint colours in five year cycles so they must be pretty confident that their greys, greens and blues of the 2017 palette are keepers. And looking at these houses,  which have a simple soft palette of shades punctuated with dark textures or materials to ground them and the odd flash of metallic and you can see how brilliantly it all works together in our cool rain-washed climate.

the settee by cassandra ellis design 

This final piece is the Settee, which  costs £2,950 and is just a stunning piece. I think I need a new room in my house…. what do you think?

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