The initial discussions

Finding the right person for any job is always a challenge, but when it’s designing the interior of your home, it is even more important to make the right choice. Luke needed an interior designer for his flat in Blackfriars to create the home he had always wanted. ‘I decorated and furnished my first property myself,’ he says, ‘but the result was a bit of a hodge-podge. For my second, I wanted professional help.’

Luke contacted us at interiordesigners.net and we put him in touch with two different companies that matched his brief. ‘I met with both for a chat,’ he says. ‘They asked similar questions about my tastes and my budget, but Kat and Jess of Field Day were more enthusiastic right from the start. They seemed hungry for the project. And, maybe because we are a similar age, we were on the same wavelength and had similar tastes. I know what I like and what I don’t, but they helped me narrow down the choices.’

Kat and Jess brought a room-by-room presentation, including packs of samples and colour combinations to their second meeting with Luke. ‘I was impressed by how hard they had worked,’ he says. ‘They went beyond the usual. I also liked the fact that there were two of them. It felt like better value for money! And it meant there was always someone to answer my calls and a third person to help with decisions.’

The budget

‘I had no idea how big my budget should be to do the work,’ says Luke, ‘so I suggested a figure to interiordesigners.net.’ At interiordesigners.net, based on our experience of other projects, we advised him that his figure was unlikely to be enough to get what he wanted.  Luke discussed it with Field Day and raised the amount. Once the budget was set, Kat and Jess worked hard to keep on top of it, bringing it in within £100 of the original figure. ‘They constantly had the budget in mind,’ says Luke, ‘so I knew what it was costing me and what I would get for the price.’

The bulk of the money went on custom-made fittings rather than furniture. ‘I was more concerned about the function of the furniture than where it came from,’ says Luke. ‘This is a party house, I didn’t want anything too precious.’

The process

The project was slow to start because Luke was waiting for the purchase of the property to be completed, but once that had been sorted, Field Day set a timeline and stuck to it. ‘It was not a painful process at all,’ says Luke. ‘It was fun and exciting. I didn’t have to chase anything. Communication was straightforward, too. There was a lot of empathy between us and I felt connected to them.’

Inevitably one or two snags occurred during the process but Kat and Jess took these in their stride. ‘There was a problem with the electrics,’ says Luke, ‘but they did some troubleshooting and sorted it out. And because the mirror behind the bed was so big, there was a worry that we would have to hire a crane to install it, at considerable cost. Kat and Jess chopped it into three pieces instead, and you cannot notice the join at all.’

The result

‘I love how the flat looks,’ says Luke, ‘it’s like living in a boutique hotel. Kat and Jess nailed it.’ Apart from the overall look of his home, his favourite thing is the way Field Day treated the walls: ‘The concrete panels, the custom-made wood panels behind the bed, the bespoke tiles in the living area, the huge mirror – if you took all the furniture out, I’d still love the flat. I didn’t know such things existed or were an option,’ says Luke. ‘It’s totally unique. I like making decisions but I don’t have the time or knowledge to pull something like together. Jess and Kate made it look easy.’

For more pictures of the project click here. 

Next time, putting your property on the market? How an interior designer can help give it the edge.