Building Blox: Week 30 – How to design an interior layout (3/3) – Upstairs

What we did:

• Stairs installed;
• Interior design – upstairs;
• Bathroom design and fitting.

After taking you through the general design a couple of weeks back and kitchen design last week, this week we head up the open and light staircase to the 2 bedrooms and bathroom and look at the interior design upstairs.

Back in week 19 I showed you the design for the staircase. Now completed, I can reveal the finished product!

My mini Guggenheim

I’m hugely proud of the staircase which has plenty of light from the 2 huge Velux windows which beautifully frame the light which pours in from above. Although the whole area looks big, I designed the staircase and landing to be fairly tight in order to maximise the rooms’ floorspace. As you can see I also continued the grey and white contemporary theme.
One of the biggest compliments I got for the building was from an architect who said this ceiling reminded him of the Guggenheim in Bilbao by Frank Gehry which is actually one of my favourite buildings!

Designing upstairs

As with the rest of the house, the general design principle here was flexibility, simplicity and bringing in as much natural light as possible. I kept the same white walls and grey woodwork throughout. The walls were also stuffed with extra insulation for extra sound proofing.

Open and spacious bedrooms

Back in week 9 I took you through how the roof was constructed, giving a vaulted ceiling. Now the rooms were decorated, you can really appreciate the different angles and sharp lines this has created!

Design flair in the bathroom!

One of the first lessons for developers is not to put your own design stamp on a building! But well, I thought I deserved to indulge myself a little, so used the same deep blue Metro tiles to create something special around the bath and sink. Pairing these with white grouting can look great, but can be a bit too loud, so I went for light grey instead.

FYI, the water in the tub isn’t left over from someone’s soak, but filling the tub with water ensures it settles into place better, reducing the chance of cracks between tiles

With the vaulted ceilings paired with an open, contemporary design, I thought the properties now had a more premium feel, so put in some higher spec fittings including some pretty fancy taps and an L-shaped bath which gives you more space under the shower head. This was actually a change from the more ‘mid-tier’ spec I had planned for, so the upgrade has taken me over budget, but importantly, I believe made the project more profitable.

And I’ll end with what you may have now come to know is one of my favourite views from the bathtub!