design et al are delighted to announce that Run For The Hills have been shortlisted for Interior Design Scheme – UK Award within The International Design and Architecture Awards 2017.
The design brief was to create a beautiful master suite in the light-filled first floor of the client’s Georgian townhouse in Islington, London. Run For The Hills were tasked with fashioning an entire floor of the building into a sizeable master bedroom and bathroom. Respecting and preserving the beautiful original features of the Grade II listed townhouse was essential and a specific requirement of the listed consents secured the changes the designers wanted to make during the project. Working within the boundaries of the historical restrictions meant coming up with highly creative solutions for adding contemporary functionality to a space steeped in so much history.
The clients have a growing family and wanted a huge amount of storage for clothes, shoes and paperwork, which Run For The Hills fused discreetly into the fabric of the design. Their bespoke wall panelling design cleverly disguised acres of hidden cupboards and wardrobes. The panelling was handle-free, with push/catch opening and in-built lighting. The panelling structure also served as the backdrop to the feature master bed, with dedicated cubby holes either side of the headboard for extra night-stand storage, to ensure the main bedside tables could be kept tidy and uncluttered. Carefully positioned power sockets and media outlets were installed discreetly for the clients to easily charge devices at night without filling their side table. The custom designed cabinetry was carefully detailed to look like fixed Shaker panelling, but in fact it wasn’t fitted at all in certain areas, to stay within the bounds of the Listed consents. The designers opted for a rich colour palette of teals, blue greys and rosewood reds. Painting cabinetry and original shutters in tone on tone shades of Farrow & Ball, then adding organic touches via the live edge bedside tables, mid-century wood and leather bench at the end of the bed. Using layers of textural interest, clashing patterns and highly tactile fabrics to dress the super king-size bed. Brass bedside pendant lights from Bert Frank were hung low to enhance the impressive ceiling height and to also save crucial space for storage on the bedside tables.
Run For The Hills sourced a beautiful antique cigar cabinet to sit in the alcove between the bedroom windows, and for a touch of fun, a Ju Ju feather hat from Love Warriors of Sweden sits above. The end of bed low bench is a lovely rosewood and leather piece from the 1950s, which sits opposite another statement rosewood chest of drawers nestling in an alcove. The pendant lighting to both rooms was sourced from European vintage sellers, one an impressively large capiz shell pendant from Pamono, the other an antique brass lotus flower ceiling lamp from 1st Dibs. Adding this suite of beautiful vintage pieces of FF&E to both rooms, adds an extra layer of historical interest to the suite and helped ground the scheme within the context of the listed building. As an added special quirk to the project, all furniture sourced had to be fully customised to sit correctly on a very old and wonky wooden floor which undulates wildly across the rooms. The clients love the story it tells, so it was retained in the scheme and furniture had to be taught to sit nicely upon it!
The scheme included the design of a fully bespoke, steel-framed shower enclosure. Which was housed within a beautiful light-filled part of the overall suite. The structure is wonderful in itself, but the addition of beautiful handmade ceramic tiling and lovely brass accents, make it justifiably the focal part of the en-suite master bathroom. For the vanity, the designers decided that the metal shower needed to be juxtaposed with something natural, Run For The Hills repurposed a vintage mid-century rosewood sideboard to create a free-standing washstand with floating mirrors. Run For The Hills also designed a mild steel frame to house two floating mirrors above his and hers Carrara marble vessel sinks by Living Roc designs, imported from Canada. Working with the joinery team to ensure the vintage unit could hold two lovely marble sinks which weighed an enormous amount. It was quite a task making sure the vanity unit could take the weight whilst retaining a delicate look and feel.