In May 2011 'The Arbor' opened it's doors to the general public. 'The Arbor' at the Cemetery and Crematorium in Gloucester, houses purpose-built facilities (The Willows Tea Room and The Mulberry Function Room). I had the great privilege to be asked to work on the project with Gloucester City Council and am very proud to say that my first commercial venture has turned out to be a real success.
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The Mulberry Room under construction
| The Willows Tea Room under construction |
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The Mulberry Room | The Willows Tea Room |
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Open for business!
The Job: Master bedroom makeover The Client Brief: " The problem is that the room is not at all appealing at the moment! I need more space, the room is too dark and needs livening up - and please give me a proper floor and get rid of the awful wardrobes!!" "I want to add a tv to our bedroom so that I have somewhere to come and relax and watch a film. I also have a print we bought back from Italy which we would like to get framed to display above the bed."
The Plan: New carpet, re-paint walls, add feature wallpaper, new window dressing, remove and replace old mirrored wardrobes with something more up-to-date, re-jig the furniture to create more space, add wall mounted tv and co-ordinating accessories. |  |
The Result: The mirrored wardrobes were removed; the walls were painted and a feature wall papered in co-ordinating colours was applied. The room was carpeted with a light coloured, modern wool carpet to open up the space and the bed was repositioned. New bedside cabinets placed either side of the bed, with large table lamps were added to bring symmetry to the room. A new floor to ceiling wardrobe was built into the alcove, which had plenty of inside storage enabling the old chest of drawers to be relocated to another room in the house, therefore keeping the space open. |  |
The old wooden blinds were replaced with white wooden blinds which added to the new modern look of the room. The bed was dressed with co-ordinating covers and cushions and a TV focal point was added to the wall opposite the newly positioned bed. Accessories in co-ordinating colours, and a souvenir print provided by the client (which was framed to match the rest of the decor and hung above the bed) completed the look. Job done! What the client said: "Thank you so much for this truly wonderful transformation - the only problem now is I don't want to leave the room!" |  |
BEFORE: the conservatory was predominantly used as a dining room but was also being used to store excess furniture and bric-a-brac. The decor was outdated and the room needed bringing up-to-date. The job was to de-clutter the space and make the room as bright and inviting as possible, focusing on the rooms' main use as a dining room.
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AFTER: the room was completely de-cluttered and cleaned. The walls were then freshened up with a couple of coats of paint in a bright, zingy shade of green (Dulux specialist colour mix) and the radiator was painted the same colour to blend in. New furniture was placed, with the dining table and chairs being positioned directly in the centre of the room. Existing artwork was used to decorate the walls and a sofa was brought in from another room to provide casual seating space with a reading area. Now this room is a delight to dine in!
 |  What the client said: "I can't thank you enough - it's hard to believe it's the same room. Well done on your choice of colour too, as I wasn't sure to start with but am so glad I trusted your opinion and agreed to it! I can't wait for my first dinner party!" |
