Author Archives: Sue Blatchford

How to Make the Most of Small Space with Clever Interior Design

Clever Interior Design for Small Rooms and SpacesDo you live in a small home or have small rooms? It can be a struggle to know how to decorate and furnish smaller spaces without making them look cramped and cluttered.

Not all homes are going to be super spacious, especially if you live in a city centre, this is just a fact that we have to accept. But there are a number of ways to use clever interior design to make the most of even the smallest of spaces.

We have found some great tips on how to decorate and make the most of a small space, so if you put them into good use you might be seeing your home in a whole new light in the future.

The Lighter the Better

Let’s start by talking about colour, or shall we say lack of it. When it comes to decorating a small space you should stick with a light colour palette. Yes this completely goes against our tips on how to decorate with accent colour but dark colours in a small space will have the effect of bringing the walls in closer. Dark colours on the ceiling should definitely be avoided.

The use of a neutral palette or light fresh colours will bring more light into a space and open it up even more than you could imagine.

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No More Magnolia! How to Decorate Your Home with Accent Colours

How to decorate your home using accent coloursAre you getting bored of the colour magnolia and the collection of neutral colours that are on trend at the moment? It seems to be a reversal on the fashion of ten years ago when Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen used bright clashing colours like vivid lime green in ‘Changing Rooms’.

Understandably, if you are trying to sell your home, it is better to tone things down and try to appeal to the taste of the masses. But with some clever colour choices, you can add some colour to a room with accents that will look fantastic and can be even more appealing than a bland, neutral palate.

However, the introduction of brighter colours, even if just as accents, has to be done right or things can go severely wrong! So, to help you to avoid colour mishap, have come up with some great tips on how to decorate your home with accent colours.

The 60-30-10 Rule

When it comes to decorating especially with accent colours, the one thing you need to remember is the 60-30-10 rule, we are not sure why it works but it just does. The 60-30-10 rule is simple and easy to remember:

60% of a dominant colour

30% of a secondary colour

10% of an accent colour

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Top 10 Things to do at Home in the Warm Weather

Relax in the SunshineAccording to the news we are “supposedly” set for a 3 month heatwave. Whether you want to believe it or not, and we all know that forecasts aren’t completely accurate sometimes, we will get some warm weather during Spring and Summer even if it only lasts for a couple of weeks.

With that in mind and considering that the weather is looking lovely as we write this (wish we weren’t in the office right now!) we thought this would be a great opportunity to share our top 10 suggestions for making the most of the warm weather at home!

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The Future of Housing – How Will We Be Living and What Will We Be Living In?

Future HousingMovies and TV programmes such as Back to The Future II, Tron, Elysium and The Jetsons show depictions of the future and some of the potential homes we could be living in and the way we could be living.

Whether these movies actually show accurate portrayals of the future is one thing but movies like this do, however, make us think about what our lives will be like in many years and what we could be living in.

So what could housing look like the future?

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Four Things to Consider Before Buying a House

Buying HousesWhether you are a first time buyer or an experienced home owner there are always a number of things to consider before buying a house, or even in some circumstances begin searching for a home.

There is so much to consider so we thought we would cover off four key points that we think you should think about before even starting your search or making an offer.

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What to do If Your Home Is Damaged by Weather

City of York floods

Unless you are already aware that you live in an area common for flooding, none of us ever think that this will happen to us. Whether it is complete devastation due to flooding, wind, or other stormy conditions it is difficult to be completely prepared to the effects that a powerful storm can have on your home and life going forward.

With this in mind we thought it would be a great idea to look at some of the key tips for preparing for future weather damage, and what to do if your home is damaged as a result of weather.

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Smarts Quarter is now Complete!

For the team here at Green Spinnaker, Smarts Quarter was our first development, and what an amazing first development it has been. With all the apartments sold and the construction now complete we are looking forward to seeing the new owners moving into their homes very soon.

In just under a year we have gone from a bare, muddy plot to a collection of thirteen luxury apartments and maisonettes. Built and fitted to our high specifications we hope to see the new residents enjoying their new homes for many years to come.

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Growing Green at Smarts Quarter

gardening mudThe time has come to get down and dirty in the mud, introducing our brand new communal courtyard garden! Get your gloves and shovels at the ready as we bring you that fresh spring feeling, in September! The gorgeous variety of sweet smelling flowers with the back drop of the European Green Capital will keep our Smarts Quarter residents feeling fresh and fruity all year round.

For those of you who don’t know, Bristol is very proud to be the UK’s first cycling city and the ‘Green Capital’ for 2015! With a growing status as the most bike-friendly destination, we feel that our eco-friendly garden will blend in incredibly well. This Green City is plastered with bike routes, open spaces and eco-friendly campaigns – we are sure our home owners will have plenty to do on top of enjoying our specially designed eco garden!

The garden is set to be situated centrally in the grounds of Smarts Quarter so all of our residents will have access to it. It is strategically structured so the landscape will attract beautiful bugs, bees and butterflies as well as being visually pleasing to everyone in Smarts Quarter.

Feeling inspired by what will soon be a beautiful natural space for the Smarts Quarter residents to enjoy, we wanted to share with you our plans for the garden as well as see if we can inspire you to make an eco-friendly garden of your own.

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Smarts Quarter Sells Out!

Smarts Quarter Luxury Apartments All SoldWe are pleased to announce that all 13 luxury Smarts Quarter apartments are now SOLD!

It feels like just yesterday we first broke ground on our opening development as Green Spinnaker. How time has flown! We are on the brink of completion, with just interior fixings to finish, ready to welcome the brand new owners who will move in later this year.

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