I’ve been so excited to share this project with you all and now is the time! It’s the first opportunity I’ve carried out work in an office space and I took the bull by the horns and threw myself into this one.

I was invited by one of the Directors to visit their workspace and we got along instantly. I worked alongside the Managing Director and Office Manager to pick their kitchen, mens and ladies toilets, wall colours, flooring and reception areas to suit a relaxed and inviting style. The project was huge but not one I didn’t want to take on. During the consultation stages, we discussed various inspirations and they had a very clear vision that they wanted to achieve. The style they wanted were of Soho House with influences from Mad About The House.

The building in Leicester city centre was built (we think) around the early 20th century and exposed brick internally really resonated the industrious history of Leicester’s mainframe. Combined with the inspirations discussed, I went to work and created them the perfect spaces to give the whole team a feeling of comfort at work.

As this project is so big, I’ve divided it into 2 parts. In this part I’m going to talk about the kitchen and ladies toilets, with part 2 focussing on the men's toilets, reception areas and the flooring.

THE KITCHEN

This was a combination I loved working on. Taking natural effect colours and combining them with strong, sustainable products for the staff of 20+ to use. The base colour of slate grey for the doors was something that complimented the space perfectly, combined with an antique effect handle to mirror the industrious space. With the huge widows inviting light in from every direction, this space could take the darkest of colour combinations.

For the work surfaces the Calcutta marble effect laminate worktop was selected. This was picked as the colour combination was exactly what the clients were looking for and the material of laminate worked perfectly for the 20+ strong team due to its durability and stain resistance.

For the breakfast bar, a husky solid oak was ideal. Complimenting all the colours in the space and making a statement of a breakfast area. The team could spend their lunchtimes here discussing everything from what they did over the weekend to the strategy for their next project.

THE LADIES

There were many options discussed here but the final form was something that stuck with us all. Utilising a pair of singer sewing machines, these were modified to suit sit-on basins which the finished effect outweighed our expectations massively. Complemented with porthole mirrors from John Lewis and Industville Orlando cage lights they couldn’t be happier with the finished product.

The walls in here were so much fun to see coming together, combining the Studio Green and Calamine from Farrow & Ball worked seamlessly and offered a slight feminism to the space without being adolescent about it. A splashback in this space was definitely required and using a classic metro tile in a brick effect worked effortlessly. When working on interiors, it's the little finishing touches that make the biggest impact so a pencil border tile facilitated this.

In here and the mens, one huge feature was the cubicle doors. A suggestion from the supplier was to use standard doors however, after some discussions myself and the client agreed, reclaimed doors were the way forward. They sourced these themselves and below, you can see an image of both rooms with these (you can see the full finished mens toilets in part 2)

The flooring here needed to be a statement yet subtle. We kept it very light, simple and understated by using the Harvey Maria Neisha Crosland Parquet Stone to offer softness in colour against the strong green. This LVT flooring is fantastic in any space, from heavy wearing traffic areas like this office space to the home, I recommend it all the time.

Be sure to check back to see part two where I’ll be talking about the rest of the project.