Essential Kitchen Bathroom Bedroom - January 2018

Welcome to the January issue
I’ve been having a real personal decorating dilemma this month, whereby in the process of re-imagining our kitchen extension I can’t decide whether I am more on the dark or light side of the interiors debate. On the one hand, I love everything open and bright, in that sort of Scandinavian way, and I’m picturing beautiful blonde wooden floors with exposed wood cupboards and a light, perhaps blush, shade on the walls. But then, on the the other hand, I’m so drawn to dark cabinetry and dark floors and as we have already decided on Crittal-effect windows for the back of the house, this seems like the right look to go for. So when we visited Jane Rockett’s house (co-owner of Rockett St George) to photograph her kitchen and glean some tips on decorating for the festive season, I was thrown into even more of a quandary. Jane comes down on neither side of the debate, and has seamlessly mastered the art of achieving both looks at the same time. She has gone with dark walls – it was the first time I had seen the Abigail Ahern Madison Grey colour in the flesh and it really is sumptuous – along with super-smooth pale floors and lots of rustic touches, it works so beautifully. Turn to page 58 and
glimpse at how Jane gets into the festive spirit in Rock the Party. I also love this sort of high-low mixture in our other kitchen projects this issue – Laura Harper Hinton’s clean-lined space in Eclectic Mix on page 24 and Sally and Nick Rees’ traditional painted oak design which works so well in their character-filled oast house in Country Tale on page 38. Really, there is no one side or the other as it’s all about embracing both the dark and light; the challenge lies in getting the right balance.
We hope you enjoy the issue and we look forward to seeing you in 2018 for more kitchen, bathroom and bedroom planning. From myself and all the team here at ekbb we wish you the happiest of holidays.
Happy New Year!