Case study 01 · Home office
From terracotta and clutter to a room you can think in.
Direction · Mid-century modern gallery
A compact home office doubling as the spare room, shared by two people working side by side. The light through the sash window is excellent and the rattan pendant was already right. Everything else was fighting: dominant terracotta walls, two mismatched desks and chairs, turquoise curtains, and cables on show. The brief: a calm, focused workspace that still puts up a guest at the weekend.
"Our design" images are AI-generated mockups from the Render Homes report — our design recommendations, not completed building work.
What we changed and why
- Walls repainted to a warm off-white. The terracotta was the single biggest thing holding the room back — warm, but so dominant that everything else had to compete with it. Off-white opens the space up and lets the furniture do the talking.
- One long walnut desk instead of two mismatched ones pushed together. Same two workstations, half the visual congestion — it reads as intentional rather than cramped. Two proper chairs replace the odd white-and-black leather pair.
- A mid-century sofa with an exposed walnut frame in place of the daybed. It keeps the dual-purpose guest bed logic but ties into the desk and shelves instead of sitting apart from them.
- The rattan pendant stays. It was already the best thing in the room — an organic ceiling anchor that suits the direction exactly. Everything else is layered around it.
- Warm oatmeal linen curtains, hung high. The turquoise was pulling against the new direction. Hanging the replacements about 15cm above the frame makes the window feel taller and floods more light in.
- Walnut floating shelves replacing the generic white ones, plus a jute rug to define the workspace zone against the grey carpet. Small swaps, but they turn the desk wall into one cohesive thing.
- Cables tidied, art edited, brass lamp added. Visible cables quietly undermine a curated room, so they go in a tray under the desk. One large abstract print above the sofa replaces several small prints, and a brass desk lamp brings the warm accent metal in.
The palette
A few things on the shopping list
Case study 02 · Main bedroom
From utility to boutique hotel.
Direction · Soft Art Deco
A bedroom doing the bare minimum. The bay was undressed, the bedding was at war with itself, and a tufted headboard had been shouting since the late seventies. The brief was harder than it sounds: somewhere they'd actually want to spend time, that still felt like home rather than a showroom.
"Our design" images are AI-generated mockups from the Render Homes report — our design recommendations, not completed building work.
What we changed and why
- A deep emerald velvet bed with a tall channel-tufted headboard. The room can carry one big confident piece, and this is it. Everything else is built around it.
- Cane-fronted bedside tables in oak. Matched left and right, lower than the headboard, with enough surface for a lamp, a book and a glass of water. Symmetry here makes the room feel restful.
- A brass globe pendant replacing the bare bulb, plus two warm bedside lamps. Three light sources, all dimmable, none of them overhead-only. The mood is now switchable.
- One Art Deco-leaning print in green and gold above the bed. A confident art moment that ties the headboard to the brass and gives the wall something to do.
- Floor-length cream curtains on a brass pole, dressing the bay properly. The window had been working hard on its own; now it has a frame.
- Layered bedding in cream, oat and a textured throw. Plus four cushions: two oat shams, one velvet emerald, one gold velvet. Five minutes a morning to make.
- A jute rug at the foot of the bed and a fiddle leaf fig in the bay. The two finishing moves that turn a bedroom into a bedroom you want to be in.
The palette
A few things on the shopping list