Interior inspiration for modern living

On the blog today, Emma of ByEmmaJaneInteriors and Michael owner of Pegg Furniture, share their insights into giving your home a fresh look this spring, and how smart design and furniture choices can help you get the most out of your home to adapt to your lifestyle. >>

by Emma Finneron, ByEmmaJaneInteriors 

There are always trends in interior design and as multi award winning Interior Design company we follow these trends closely.  Social patterns change and our homes become the soul of our lives.  Now more than ever we are utilising homes for our free time, working time, studying, exercising and relaxing.  Trends move towards practical thinking on how we can make any spare space work for us in the best possible way.to accommodate all these uses.  So, as we move to the future let’s take a quick look at how we can make this social pattern work in our homes with just a few simple changes and present a mood board to bring these ideas, colours and concepts to life.

Mood board inspiration includes;

throws and scented candles to create atmosphere from Hilly Jo and Littlemore Candle Company, Pegg Furniture office space saving ideas, colourful bathroom accents including soaps from Gaia Botanics, a May & Co 1970s desk, a Payne & Son bronze sitting hare by David Meredith, bespoke shelving and furniture by Steven Andrews Bespoke, Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and accessories from Indigo, crochet plant pots from Pixie’s Magic Hook, home accessories from Objects of Use, Oxonbox goodies and the Indie Oxford city map print.

Spare space in a corner

If you have a room with space in a corner this can be transformed into a chill out zone or working zone.  Either an armchair, oversized beanbags or an oversized office chair where you would also sit and read a book. You could even put a small desk or large side table in the space.  Shelving and storage can be added to tidy away at the end of the day.  Its also very easy to separate an open space like this with a screen if you want to be hidden away from the rest of the room.

Under stairs

Space under stairs can be transformed into a small office space with a neatly fitting desk, shelves and a small chair that can slide under the desk after use. Alternatively, you can use as clever storage space for computers, books and stationery as part of an office if you are using the kitchen or dining table as a desk.

Splitting a room

Dining rooms, lounges or even a large bedroom can be split into two spaces. Using a screen to separate will give that real feel of two different spaces. If the room is large, you can even put shelving units between the two spaces and utilise the separation with storage. If it is a large bedroom even a slim wardrobe in the middle of the room would work. You can even paint or wallpaper one part of the room to partition it.

Spare bedroom

If you have a spare bedroom this can be transformed into multi-functional space to create an all in one room. Sofa beds with desks, bookcases and vanity tables used to create a room where you can work, relax, read, or get ready.  This can then be transformed into a bedroom for when people come and visit.  Keeping a neutral look on the walls in a busy space will make it feel bright and big, and colours can be introduced using accessories in the room such as cushions, throws and artwork.

Ground floor room

Ground floor rooms can be utilised as playrooms, chill out dens and offices by being furnished with a desk area, shelving, toy storage. TVs or screens are installed for watching films with oversized bean bags, pillows, and throws to accessorise. Colours can be introduced on feature walls to make the space more vibrant.

If you don’t have a spare ground floor room make the dining area an additional space for working or studying by adding new storage and shelves to tidy away computers and stationery at the end of the day.

With these practical ideas and decision making for your home, we can then think about how furniture plays its part.  Adaptable, multi functional, light, easy to move, Pegg Furniture does exactly that..

by Michael Buick, Pegg Furniture

Lockdown has shown the benefits of an adaptable home, and of course furniture is key to this.

I expect the reason I took two decades to find my vocation in furniture design is that I didn’t really like furniture! After moving home fifteen times in as many years I was done with the awkward-to-move, the ugly and the easily broken. So when I retrained at Oxford’s wonderful Rycotewood Furniture Centre I set out to create objects that I would want in my small Oxford house. But how to make them easy to build, easy to take apart (for moving or storing), and made to last – all from natural materials?

The answer: pegs. Pegged joinery is one of the oldest techniques, allowing communities such as the early pioneers in the USA to make solid furniture they could take on the road – Go West! I’ve developed a contemporary take on this tried and tested technique, and launched Pegg Furniture, with the goal of creating a whole range held together with pegged joints.

All the designs follow my three golden rules of adaptable furniture, which are being: easy to move, because if you can’t move it then you’re stuck with it (back-breaking sofas that won’t fit through doors!); easy to take apart (and store), so you are free to use or not use your furniture as your needs change; and multi-purpose, because fewer things with more functions means more space. Think creatively about multiple uses. One example is Pegg Stool. Perhaps it is misnamed, being as much an elegant occasional table, to rest your book or laptop on, as a strong seat. The removable legs allow you to swap heights and switch from dining seat to desk chair, plant rest, or child’s seat.

The design I’m most proud of is Pegg Desk, perfected over two years and recently launched. Within minutes the legs can be unpegged and stored neatly inside the desktop, compact enough to slide under the bed or behind the sofa. Build it on Monday, then take it down on Friday and reclaim your spare bedroom for your first post-pandemic guests.

One of my highlights of lockdown was the moment when my partner Nadia said she needed a desk (she was studying for a nursing qualification), and I was able to dig out a Pegg Desk prototype from its hiding place under my own desk and set it up in our bedroom.  Within fifteen minutes Nadia had a new work-station – desk, stool, shelves and table lamp, all from the Pegg range.  We were both happy.  And it encouraged me to keep going through a difficult year by showing that the concept behind Pegg really works.

This spring is an exciting one for Pegg, as a whole new set of designs are launched, and maker’s markets open again – if you’d like to keep up to date with the design action (and get a chance to win some Pegg) then sign up to the email newsletter at peggfurniture.com.