Dulux Colour of the Year 2020

In early September, Dulux announced their colour of the year for 2020. In complete contrast to 2019’s warm and rich neutral Spiced Honey, 2020’s colour is a cool, soft green hue they’ve named Tranquil Dawn. Image source: Dulux As with every year’s selection, 2020’s colour was chosen by a panel of expert designers, trend forecasters,…

Home Office Essentials: Part 2

If you work from home, you deserve a positive and productive home office. Even if that home office is actually just a corner of the bedroom. Creating a space that looks good, encourages healthy habits and motivates you is no easy feat. So in this two-part blog post I’m sharing just the essentials: the furniture…

Home Office Essentials: Part 1

If you’re one of the 1.54 million people working from home in the UK, you’ll know how important your work space is. A well-designed home office helps aid concentration, motivation and productivity. It can even benefit your health and wellbeing. If you’re new to home working or just looking to update your work space, there…

Sell Your Home Quickly With Design

So you’re thinking about selling your home? I imagine you already know you’ll need to put some work in to get the place ready for viewings. But did you know there are specific design-focused things you can do that may help your home sell quicker? If you’ve got the deep cleaning and decluttering sorted but…

The Best of: Late Summer Accessories

The end of summer always brings about a desire to update my home. Maybe it’s that back to school feeling, or the slight change in weather but I’ve been eyeing up new accessories. I love accessories because they add layers of personality, texture and interest to any room. Even rented properties with neutral walls and…

Three Things You Can Rent for the Home

Image copyright Clair Strong Interior Design Generally speaking buying is cheaper than renting. But there are times when renting makes more sense economically and practically; such as when we need a tool for just one project or a few extra chairs for a party. Whatever the reason, hiring provides an alternative to purchasing that can…

How to (Further) Reduce Plastic Use in Your Home

Image copyright Clair Strong Interior Design Since I first wrote about this topic in March 2018, the plastic-free movement has gained serious traction. There are now more ways than ever to reduce your plastic consumption and it’s becoming increasingly easy to make the switch. Here are some suggestions for reducing plastic use around the home:…

Designing for Children: Part 2

Image copyright Clair Strong Interior Design Last week we looked at how to design for children in the long-term. This week we’ll tackle the must-haves for any functional child-friendly space. Let’s jump straight back in! The Must-Haves Black-out blinds or curtains are essential. They will help you create total darkness at any time, which is…

Designing for Children: Part 1

Image copyright Clair Strong Interior Design Designing for children can be a lot of fun but there are some unique challenges you don’t see when designing a space for yourself or other adults. Children are constantly growing and changing, and so it is essential you design a space that grows with them. Children also have…

Practical Tips for Picking the Perfect Paint Colour

Image copyright Clair Strong Interior Design Picking exactly the right paint colour can be an agonising and time-intensive task. Flipping through endless colour cards, painting swatches, bickering with your partner and finally settling on that perfect shade of not-quite-white… only to find it’s actually not quite right. Sound familiar? If so, this blog post is…