ONE ROOM RENOVATIONS
Using a mix of materials and a palette of pastels created a fresh and airy space
Carla Dinari, an interior designer (Amii Interiors), lives with her husband Arash and their two children, Indi and River, in a four-bedroom detached 1960s house in Mannamead, Devon
Before
‘The room was a good size, but with a stained carpet and outdated beige and blue floral floor-to-ceiling tiles, it was in serious need of a makeover. The drawers and cabinet were dated and flimsy; they had to go’
Was there a lot of building work to do?
Yes, more than we anticipated. The house still had the original plumbing system from when it was built. I wanted the basin taps to be wall-mounted and the shower to have concealed fittings, which meant we had to build a stud wall to hide the plumbing, so it made sense to strip it all back and start from scratch. We also altered the door frame to install a space-saving sliding door, and bricked up a second doorway.
How did the space planning go?
My non-negotiable was having a freestanding bath under the window, and I would have been happy to completely change the layout to accommodate it if necessary. Luckily the rest of the elements fell into place, which helped save money as we didn’t have to move any of the utilities. I marked out the space with tape and boxes before we invested in the furniture to make sure everything would fit.
Were there any challenges?
Yes – it took two weeks to get the bath up the stairs! When the builders realised how heavy it was, they brought in a small crane to lift it up to the second floor, but the bath was too wide and the hallway too narrow for the crane to lift it. After considering, then dismissing, bringing the bath in through the upstairs window, they ended up using old-fashioned man power. It took four of them with straps to finally drag it up the stairs.
There’s a lovely mix of colours and materials…
I created a moodboard on Canva, a design app, to help hone my ideas. As soon as I spotted the terrazzo tiles I knew the soft tones would be the base for the colour scheme. I wanted to add some wooden textures into the mix, so our builders converted our old TV cabinet into a vanity unit with a countertop basin. The simple black taps ground the lo
