Press

Customer Homework: Finding Your Design Style

April 2010

The most important thing that you can do in getting started is to identify your design style.
Are you;

Traditional?
Victorian?
Art Deco?
Busy?
Tidy?
Country? (English, French, Italian)
Contemporary?
Eclectic?

Eclectic is actually the hardest style to do right. Good eclectic happens when you achieve a design that has a common focus that is accomplished with stylistically different pieces that work in harmony. It is not simply a combination of stuff picked up from anywhere and everywhere.

A formula to follow to assure successful design:

First, identify your personal style.
Next, deign rooms to be functional.
Then, pay attention to details that will make the room feel right.
Last, a successful designed room exhibits a sense of harmony both in the elements found in it and with the spaces around it.

If you are unsure what your design style is, here are some tips:

An Easy Way to Find Your Design Style

First, gather as many home and decorating magazines as you can find and start cutting out pictures. Cut out what you like whether it's a piece of furniture or a colour combination, a tile, a lamp, whatever. Even if you can't put your finger on exactly what it is you like, cut it out of the magazine. For instance, if the photo just makes you feel good - cut it out.

Next, take a look at the collage of pictures you have and look for clues of a trend that should be developing. If you begin to see a trend but can't put a definition to it, now may be the time to meet with an interior designer.

The question to ask at this point is, can I put all of the elements and colours together to achieve the kind of room I've seen in magazines or in my dreams? For most people this is a tough proposition and for many, interior design can be a challenge.

Knowing your design style is critical to a great outcome because it allows designer and client to work together with an understood goal and with the parameters of a defined style that will keep you on track to a great new interior.

Commercial Restaurant Project: The Cleveland Tontine Hotel

December 2009:

YDA have been asked to design the en-suite bathrooms at the Cleveland Tontine Hotel in Northallerton. The commission consists of seven bespoke and individually unique bathrooms to further enhance the winning formula that the Tontine offers discerning clientele from all over the country.

The Tontine has been under the management of the McCoy brothers since 1976 and it's with great excitement that YDA have been selected by an establishment with such reputation and heritage.

This project is of particular importance to YDA who position themselves in the bespoke, boutique interior design space for the North. The challenge is to deliver schemes that go beyond design and into the personality of the Tontine. The designs and concepts are well underway with a start date of January 2010 and a completion date of March.

Commercial Retail Project: Young Guns Hair Salon Harrogate

Yorkshire Design Associates have completed the new styling room at Peter Gothard hair salon on Parliament Street in Harrogate. Young Guns is a talent orientated cutting room aimed at 16-24 year olds with a passion for fashion and style.

YDA were the designers of choice for this work and the brief was to create a vintage look and feel to the Young Guns salon, one that will get better and better with age. With a reputation for delivering bang on brief, plus the vision and know how to add the little bit of polish that makes the scheme flow and make sense as a whole, YDA have delivered an outstanding design that sets Young Guns at Peter Gothard's apart from other local hairdressers.

The Young Guns salon has a weathered antiqued theme with oversized deliberately pixilated graphic prints, cut smoked glass, muted colour palate and bespoke finishes within a Western kind of cowboy/cowgirl orientation.

The launch party on 26th May was a huge success and bookings are now being taken for those that want styling in a top quality salon.

Nick Flatley at YDA commented:

"This has been an exciting and fun project for YDA, and it was challenging to work to a totally non negotiable deadline. The marketing strategy was such that on the 26th there were going to be 150 people queuing all the way up Parliament Street to get into the Salon launch. We had to ensure that the interior was ready to make the necessary impact."

"Commercial interiors need to speak by their results. From an interior perspective we had to deliver the reason customers wanted to come back again and again. I'm quietly confident the investment in this interior will have paid tenfold by the end of summer!"

WINNERS! 2009 Design Award for Kitchen - Nick Flatley of Yorkshire Design Associates

May 2009 - kbbreview - YDA Win Kitchen Design Award

Industry Awards 2009 Winners Gallery

Oct 2008 - Excelle - Finding the Perfect Gift

Abstract:

Find the perfect gift from our range of in-house accessories.

Dec 2008 - Beyond York - Deck the halls...

Abstract:

Preparing the home for Christmas needn't be that panicky, laborious rush to make things just right - or that mad 14 days that wipes you out well into January. Planning is everything, and for a smooth run in its imperative to 'start with the end in mind.' Plan, write down and describe in detail what you want to achieve and then take the necessary steps to turn that into reality. If for example it's always the light's that cause the issues and eat up your precious time, get them out early and test them. If they need to be replaced, create a list of essential items to get in advance and get there first in your own managed time rather than unmanaged panic. This way the journey through Christmas can be a controlled an enjoyable one!

Aug 2008 - Northside - Blank Canvas

Abstract:

Combine a young, talented, fiercely passionate interior design team with a client who is eclectic in his tastes and open to ideas and you have the perfect recipe for a spine-tingling design concept.

Feb 2009 - Design et al (Little Black Book Of Style) - YDA's 80/20 Rule

Design et al - Current Issue