How to Guide – General Design Steps

Kate Mooney, MD of occa-design and occa-home gives you her insider tips on how to acheive successful and creative hotel-chic designs for your home:

THE BASICS

Hotel design is  a fabulous way for a designer to experiment with a number of different looks and styles. Occasionally the hotel design is pre-determined by the hotel brand and our role can be more  consultative and technical as opposed to creatively designing something new. More often however we are working with global brands to help them determine their style and look or we are working on smaller boutique hotels  that don’t have a prescribed style and offer endless design solutions…as you might imagine, these are the projects our designers prefer!

Having completed a huge number of hotels over the years, we have developed professional methods to bring the whole project together effectively and efficiently. Many of the elements professional designers must consider in a commercial project also relate to designing your own rooms in your own home.  Being armed with this experience and knowledge should help you avoid costly mistakes!

Professional interior architects and designers such as occa-design work on all aspects of the interior of a building from the very begining of a project. We envisage the space from the guests perspective and work with the other consultants to make sure that the whole design relates to that.

There are three elements to being an interior architect and designer and these can be broken down:

As interior architects we work on the space planning, determining where the rooms, restaurants, bars, lobbies etc will go and how they will relate to each other. We look at the location of services, the acoustics, the ventilation and the basic structural elements that affect the way the hotel guests will eventually use and feel in the building.
As interior designers we work on the main design elements of the space that affect the way it is used such as ceiling design, light, floor and wall finishes, fittings such as bathrooms and kitchens.
Using our skill in the decorative arts, we add the final layer of colour, texture, soft furnishings and accessories to give the space it’s character and ambience.

When we are designing any hotel space, we work with two main considerations – the operational aspects of the building and the style that we want to reflect. This approach also translates very well into planning your home.

From here there are three parts to the design process that we undertake, long before we even start to think about the colour scheme or what fabrics we want to use :

• Layout
• Style
• Budget

LAYOUT

Our hotel bedrooms are often quite small and yet must fulfil a lot of different functions – sleeping, socialising, eating, working, and even washing. We therefore put a lot of time into pre-planning the space.  We draw a plan of the room and consider the different requirements of each of these functions – where will the bed go?  What about a dressing table?  Should this also be a desk? Where can you watch TV? Is there anywhere to eat breakfast or a late night snack?

You should also think these things through in relation to your own room and they way you want to use the space whichever room you are working on.  Draw a plan and mark out a basic furniture layout to suit your needs.  This will give you an idea of how much you can fit in the room and the optimum sizes for your furniture.

STYLE

This is the fun bit – what’s your style?  How do you want the room to feel?  What do you want it to say about you?  On our hotel projects we work on a variety of styles depending on the hotel brand and on the client.  Determining your style is a common process that you can use for all areas of your home to create a carefully considered home that has your own distinctive character running through every room.  A common mistake made by a lot of people is being influenced by too many [and often conflicting] styles and trying these out in every room in their house.   This generally leads to a chaotic and disorganized environment where it is difficult to feel at home.

At occa-home we have created three signature styles to help you decide what you like.

Comfy is our easy and pleasing style – always sophisticated with a neutral pallet and accent colours.  Lighter timbers and softer shapes create a style that is elegant and timeless.

Fancy is our touch of five star hotel chic luxury.  Glam and dramatic with fabulous details in chrome and black, Fancy is definitely a statement style.

Funky is cool and contemporary, bold and fresh, mixing bright white, architectural lines with acid accents and iconic design pieces, funky is full of fun and attitude.

So is your style any of the above – or do you have your own unique ideas?  This is the stage in the design process where you need to think carefully about what you want…and remember it’s important that the room works for you, the way you live and reflects your personality. A slavish reproduction of something you see in a magazine will struggle to make you feel comfortable and at home in your own space.

A simple tip I give to all my clients – even large hotel developers, is to look through magazines and the internet and find images that make an impression on you.  Create a scrap book and add to it regularly – take away from it too if you revisit an image and realise that it’s not really you or your style.  Do this for a couple of weeks and very soon you’ll have pulled together your own mood board that will offer a clear representation of what you like.  Adapt this to create your own unique style and always refer back to it when thinking about how to develop your designs.

BUDGET

If style is one of the most pleasing parts of the design process, budget is more often than not, the most important.  Understanding your budget before you start a project ensures that you will get the very best value for your money when you finish it.  Whatever your style, there is usually a way to interpret it within a variety of budgets.

Pre-planning and creating a wish list with all the costs worked out for your design, helps you realise your dream room without too many mistakes or compromises.  Use your wish list to prioritise the work you want to undertake and the furniture etc you will either re-use or buy new.

As in fashion, some of the most sucessful interiors are created from a mix of design classics and high street finds. Invest in key, timeless pieces where possible and compliment these with more economical elements. Signature items such as a designer light fitting or design icon chair in a room immediately creates the impression that the rest of the space is from the same source – use your imagination to find high street pieces that compliment this style and very soon your room will have depth and character. At occa-design we are particularly good at mixing and matching budgets and dessigns to provide our clients with a five star look at a three star budget!

THE FINAL SCHEME

Only now that you have thought through all these steps, are you finally at the stage where you are  ready to make decsions on colours and materials  for your final scheme – the actual furniture, fittings, fabrics and equipment you want for your room.  If you constantly refer to your scrap book and wish-list when making purchasing decisions you will be sure to make the right choices and prevent yourself becoming distracted by every new product you see or making expensive mistakes.

Having the plan and style already worked out and fixed in your mind, you will be able to implement the main elements in your new room within your budget and then add to this as and when additional funds become available – without losing site of your overall design and concept. Get as many samples as possible of fabrics, paint colours, wallcoverings and keep them all together with images of your prefered furniture, light fittings etc.  Make your own sample board by cutting out and sticking all the pieces down in similar proportions to the scale of the room and very soon the overall look and feel you are creating will become apparent.

Do what you budget allows and retain your wish-list, scrap book and sample board even after the main works are complete, so that when you can afford something new to add to your scheme, you are still thinking in the same style and the new addition will work effortlessly with the rest of the space.

Most of all – enjoy the process and have fun!