Wooden walls and other uses for old planks

I have written before about how much I love the Retrouvius approach to decor. 

The salvage-focused company has two halves: a shop, selling well chosen, rescued furniture and lighting, storage accessories and more, while their architectural interior design arm, puts their talent for reusing old things to practical use. They are particularly good with wood.



Their latest design project was a Swiss mountain chalet. You can see it above and below. Those kitchen walls – a creative twist on the traditional use of parquet flooring, wire brushed to buff them to their prime – look spectacular. And I love the contrast with the paler, smoother panelling on the near wall to the left of the image.

The glass-fronted old shop display cabinet is an idea I recently saw in a beautiful flat around the corner from where I live. There, the owner had taken pretty much the entire interior of a former pharmacy, and turned it into a kitchen. The glass displays (tall and narrow, in this case) became wall-panels with room for storing well-arranged things. The counter, where the till would once have sat, had had a cavity cut-out to house the oven, and a hob built into the top. The history of the internal architecture gave the room a wonderful, warm feel. And you can get a sniff of how it looked from the island above.

Here's a closer look at that dining area, lit by the cosy glow of an over-table lamp.

And here's a closer look at what they've done with the parquet, this time in the bedroom. It gives just the right whiff of Alpine rustic retreat without being a cliche. And the indented shelving nook is nice and keeps the walls clear. All the better for unhindered wood admiration.

The image below is from a different Retrouvius-designed property but, again, it makes excellent use of beautiful, old wooden planks. Here they've used some to make sliding cupboard doors to conceal the practical drawers inside a kitchen unit. The spark of a nice idea for a kitchen revamp – without ripping out all the old and replacing everything.

Love the palette of colours in those floor tiles too.

Some nice old green, blue and wood things. All together.

I've written about this spectacular secondhand and architectural salvage shop before. And a new Retrouvius stock list is always a cause for visual celebration.

And this lot features a favourite colour palette (green, blue and wood), so I am now mentally refurnishing my house.

And as my home is about to change quite a bit, because my boyfriend is moving in, I'm in the mood for switching things around. But I guess I need to let go of the decorating reins a little and let things in the house merge naturally. Which – you might be surprised to hear, I know he doesn't believe me – I am excited about (but any tips welcome!). Brilliantly, he has excellent taste (you might remember the world's best stool that he found). But we'll see how the excitement pans out in practice. Maybe I could just forward him this post... could I?

Above: the sofa with the cushions and that soft, pale chest of drawers are so beautiful together they could be a painting. Green on green and dusty pink. Mmm. And I love how the sleek chrome throws in a curveball.

Italian chrome aluminium pendant,£175+vat; two seater sofa re-upholstered in ex snooker table baise, £1,750+vat; Tweed & Kirsten Hecktermann cushions. Limited run (two of each design available), £95+vat each; large pink framed mirror, £195+vat 

Above: storage porn. I like how battered these cupboards look, and I especially like them lined up like this as wall storage. That is a good tip. Wall-mounting anything generally gives it a swishier vibe I reckon.

Iroko bedside tables, waxed and restored with lovely dovetail joinery, £145+vat each;
Italian bevel-edged mirror in painted frame, £75+vat; bespoke dining table with steel legs and a patinated solid iroko top salvaged from schools; pair of tubular framed stacking chairs, £75 +vat for the pair

Above: green with blue – don't they look luscious together? And these are excellently unusual shades of green.

1950s turquoise Italian sideboard with three cupboards, numerous storage compartments and glass top, £1750+vat; curved back 1950s Italian sofa in original upholstery, £895+vat; set of 8 Danish armchairs with original blue leather upholstery, £195+vat each; small glass funnel light with green flex and all electrical parts ready for installation, £65+vat

Above: how fantastic is that stone wall? I'm about to catch up with the first episode of Mad Men series 6, and this is just how I imagine the show's take on late sixties style will be. I hope so, anyway.

Black anglepoise lamp, newly rewired,£295+vat; green enamel factory shades. All newly rewired and supplied with flex, £85+vat each; oval shaped coffee table with chamfered edge and spider leg design, £395+vat 

So as not to depress anyone (myself chiefly) I haven't listed every item in these pictures. If you're feeling flush, you can always check the Retrouvius website. 

Wooden panelling: another Retrouvius refit

An interior made from salvaged materials – especially lots of beautiful wood – was one of the most popular posts here in recent months. 

The team behind the design of the place were Retrouvius, whose work and architectural salvage and furniture shop I really love. They've just completed another interior design project, this one still all about reclaimed and reused materials, but far slicker in style. What do you think?

This five-storey house is in swishy Primrose Hill, north London, and Retrouvius say that the place was in such a state when work began that "at one point on opening the front door one could see all the way up to the sky and across all four floors to the basement."

All images: www.retrouvius.com 

Although this is obviously a very high-end property, the use of reclaimed materials is something any project can employ. If it's something you are doing or thinking of doing, you might be interested to read about the fashion designers Antoni & Alison, who painstakingly did up their own old house/studio by reusing materials, and share their insider tips for finding treasures and key materials over in this post.

Love the detail above right, where tiling extends into the painted floor-boards. And what beautiful, calming, summery colours. The floor is wire-brushed wood oak strip, "very light-allowing" explain Retrouvius.

The kitchen really highlights the beautiful contrast between sleek, clean-lined design and the use of battered old materials. I think it really softens a space that, with all new materials, could have been clinical and lacking in character.

This incredible parquet flooring and panelling is panga panga . Look at how they have had the strips arranged – though parquet is a traditional, classic style, the unconventional patterns here give it an interesting quirk. 

"All three bedroom floors wanted a relaxed summer bare-foot feel with painted pine boards," explain Retrouvius. "And from the initial client meeting the design team aspired to completely re-orientate the spatial flow of the home - maximising its relationship to the rear and the incredible mature wooded view." (Which you can see out of the window, above.)

You can compare it with the other – very different – Retrouvius project in this previous post. Find out about commissioning Retrouvius for a design project, or nose around their gorgeous online shop at www.retrouvius.com

The joy of reclaimed wood

If you know the shop and design company, Retrouvius, which specialises in architectural salvage and secondhand furniture with soul, you'll know what inventive and brilliant style its founders, Maria Speake and Adam Hills have. 

I have been meaning to post a about their debut book, which came out late last year, since I fell for one of the homes featured in it. Maria and Adam designed this beautiful, warm flat with its own garden cabin for a client. Believe it or not, the location is a traffic-heavy part of north London.

The interior of the cabin, above, uses just three main materials: Derbyshire fossil limestone, hardwood flooring taken from a school, and tongue-and-groove panelling that was originally painted three different colours, and which you can see cladding the beautiful bedroom wall above. Here it is mixed with floorboards to break up the palette.

The wall shelves on the left, also above, are old church pews seats set on cast iron brackets.

The cabin doors were originally chapel partitions from Herefordshire, and you can still see the original paintwork. The front of the cabin was designed around them, and rather than double glaze them for insulation, heavy curtains hang behind them inside, in patchwork.

I think it is this kitchen, in the main flat, that I am most in love with. It looks like a very homely relaxed space, the kind of kitchen that becomes the room where everyone always is.

This look is achieved by the soft  colours: the plaster-pink tiling (hand-made Zellige tiles from Morocco with natural colour inconsistency) and the faded apple wall, and also by the warmth in the furnishings' history. The battered, non-matching chairs look so welcoming, and isn't that giant wall-fixed lamp a great alternative to the more traditional kitchen table light fitting suspended from ceiling? I now want to move my kitchen table to a wall so I can shamelessly copy this.

A rug in a kitchen can be high-maintenance if you have a relationship with your hoover like I do (there's something very satisfying about sweeping a kitchen floor...). But I keep seeing really excellent kitchen carpets and wondering if I could live with one. The colours in this one zing up the otherwise faded palette and stop it from being insipid.

If you have the wall space, this sort of shallow shelving – here, made from a old bible rests that had originally been set into the backs of church pews, stacked on top of each other – makes for a moveable art gallery, as well as a key holder.

There is a hanging cupboard concealed behind this wooden panel. The  limestone isn't in perfect condition – you can see some big scratches at the top – but that just makes it all the more interesting to look at, as with everything else here, don't you think?

Regular readers may know I am partial to rather a lot of wood panelling. Did you see this post about this interior made entirely from wood that I am a bit obsessed with? Or this one with parquet flooring on the walls? I could go on...

But in the meantime, check out Maria and Adam's book, pictured left, from which the lovely images above are taken. It is called 'Reclaiming Style' and is £19.99, published by Ryland Peters & Small www.rylandpeters.com