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RESTYLE & REFRESH Who are Willox Interiors? We are an Interior Design Company based in Amersham and we work with clients on projects that range from redesigning their entire home décor to helping others with choosing paint and wallpaper for a single room.
Knowing that you are looking for a restyle of a room is great, knowing where to start can sometimes be quite daunting. We speak to Interior Designer Sasha Willox (Willox Interiors in Amersham) who explains how the process works, and how they can help you to achieve your dream look for your home.
How do you help your clients? There is often quite a difference between the way that we would like to live and the way that we actually do. For us it’s all about understanding our clients dreams and making them a reality within the realms of functionality. A client may have seen a gorgeous image of a house with cream carpets throughout but if she has 3 boys and a dog it’s about finding ways of creating that style whilst still allowing her family to enjoy the space. What seems to be your most popular type of project at the moment? Extensions, extensions, extensions. A lot of our clients are deciding to stay where they are rather than move and incur the cost of stamp duty, solicitor’s fees, moving costs etc and so they decide to put that money into their current properties by enlarging them. Before we even start thinking about how to create a gorgeous space for them we look at the functionality of the house - seeing how it flows. We try to help clients look at how they use their homes and to make the most of each room. Some rooms might only be used for a handful of days a year so we look to see if there might be a better way for their potential to be maximised. What is your ethos? Our homes are often a reflection of our lives and the trick is being able to create a space that allows for a fab new sofa, gorgeous wallpaper and dazzling new mirror but at the same time allows for the kid’s drawings that they’ve brought home from school or some tribal souvenir that you got on your honeymoon. My role as an Interior Designer is to bring all
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these things together and that is why I believe it’s so important to get to know your clients and to listen to the way they use their homes as well as their aspirations and dreams. How do you start a project? Initially we like to get together with a prospective client over a cup of coffee (or glass of wine) and just have a chat about what works or doesn’t work for them in their home, what rooms they want to change, how they and their family use the house, what thoughts they’ve had on design etc. We then go away and come back with a proposal. This will include initial rough design thoughts together with an estimation on how many hours we think the project will take, time lines and a fee proposal. And what would you say is a must in a room? For me its colour and texture. Now I’m not saying that you should paint all walls orange and lime green but the idea is to create a mellow background with pops of colour here and there. You might have to wear a grey suit every day to work but you’ll probably put on a bright scarf or a bit of jewellery to jazz it up and to reflect your personality. We need to do the same with rooms. Now I’m a big fan of grey but it’s important to incorporate a shot of colour on a cushion, or in a painting to bring depth and interest into the room. Equally textures need to be balanced. Mix deep and soft fabrics with crisper, sharper textures. Rooms should work on a range of our senses. Is there anything that you would put into Room 101? Ooh I do have a couple of things but I think top of the list is cushions on a sofa or bed that aren’t full. Nothing looks sadder than a limp saggy cushion. The inside really needs to be feather so that you can plump it up and get air into it. You just can’t do that with polyester. www.willoxinteriors.com