design et al are delighted to announce that Yellowhouse Design has been shortlisted for Residential £1-2.5 Million (Property by Value) Award in The International Design and Architecture Awards 2017.
The brief was to transform the ground floor, consisting of a reception room, a kitchen, and a dining room, into a playful, warm, and yet elegant space for children and adults. The clients wished to incorporate their Victorian family heirlooms into an updated scheme. The front of the house had period architectural features, while the extension at the back of the house was boxy with low ceilings. The design started with a 7m long mural wallpaper in the reception room, featuring scenes of lush tropical plants and adventure travels of another era. With the folding doors open, one feels the wallpaper scenes continue into the garden, blurring the line between indoor and outdoor. The wallpaper added colour and movement and served as the perfect backdrop to mix various periods and styles. 
The small kitchen being connected to the living room through a set of double doors, took its cue from the mural wallpaper and was updated into a modern family kitchen. The modern aspect of the space came from the choice of a bold green colour for its walls and tiles. Although it only underwent a cosmetic transformation, the result was a visually rich space that interconnected 2 larger spaces on either end. The influence of the wallpaper continued into the dining room. Yellowhouse Design resorted to another bold green colour for this space. The natural northern light streaming through the bay windows allowed for the use of a more saturated colour, resulting in an elegant and moody feel. Balancing the period features with contemporary lighting, modern furniture, and art works, gave this room a sense of playfulness and warm luxury. The final design bridged the old and the new, while injecting fresh energy into this family home.
Yellowhouse Design’s favourite aspect of the project was the carte-blanche that the clients gave in choosing colours and wallpaper. The designers believe the project works so well because in three interconnecting spaces, it was important to keep a story going to achieve harmony and balance. The marriage of the old and new – modern pieces added to a period room, Victorian pieces incorporated in a modern boxy space – were all tied together by the recurring colour green. Familiar pieces in transformed spaces created fresh energy to this house, while maintaining the essence and feel of a family home.