I used to assume that furniture would just appear when you bought a home, or you would bring your old furniture with you when you moved.  But for those who have just bought a holiday home, a weekend stopover apartment or making a completely fresh start, most people only think about furnishing it when handed the keys to their new and empty property.

When I suggest wallpaper to a customer, they sometimes grimace as they reminisce of orange wallpaper in the living room of their grandmother’s house.  Thankfully wallpaper has come a long way since those days, there is an unbelievable range to choose from and it’s one of the first things our designers select when designing one of our furniture packages. Whether it’s the Paul Smith sock look, or something with a more classical feel, we have something that will suit everybody’s taste.

Another misconception is that it will be time-consuming. It can be, but the trick is to find somewhere that does everything in the one place.  It can take days to find the right curtains for your property, and then you have to try and match everything with that.  For our packages, one of our designers will help you pick the colours and fabrics for everything, and then our tailors will custom make it in a couple of days.  Simple!

Lastly, it doesn’t have to be expensive. Going out and buying every item individually may cost the same, but then there is the added hassle of delivery and installation.  Every package we create is custom made not only to the customer’s taste and style, but also their budget.

We aren’t kidding when we say that we take the hassle out of furnishing your home.  So if you don’t have the time, know-how or desire to do it yourself, then give us a call.

We received hundreds of applications from fans of interior design to win a place on our third workshop, the theme of which was Shabby Chic.  The showroom was specially decorated to reflect this style as you can tell from the photos below.

It was great to meet so many lovely ladies from different places and professions.  The ten participants came from backgrounds in architecture, human resources, teaching and house maids, although we all shared a passion for interior design.

Maude and I were really impressed by the excitement and concentration of all the participants that morning.  The workshop covered some general discussions of interior design and decorating, before moving onto Shabby Chic. We looked at the origins and history of this style and gave them some ideas on how to bring this look into their homes.

After this, the participants were challenged to implement all this information they had learned from the theory session by creating mood boards.  They had to think about space planning, furniture arrangements and embellishing their rooms with colourful fabrics and wallpapers.  Here are some examples of their moodboards:

After an inspirational morning of discussion and design, everyone enjoyed a delicious lunch and left with an exclusive Inside Out goodie bag full of gorgeous gifts.

What I particularly like about Shabby Chic are the lovely soft furnitunings where you can use soft and fluffy fabrics, shears, prints and patterns that are combined to create a wonderful and romantic atmosphere.

I’ve had so much positive feedback from the workshop and we’re already starting to prepare for our next one.  This workshop will be on Colouring in Interior Design and will be held on Saturday 19th May.

I can’t wait to meet more fans of Zen Interiors and to colour your day with our tips!

This is especially true for sofas, as most people consider them the most important piece of furniture in the home.  As for me, there is nothing that  I’d rather do more after a long stressful day than relax on my beautiful L-shaped sofa with a book and my favourite television program.

The best way to choose the right sofa is to give yourself plenty of time. You can’t rush the process of inspecting the quality, style and comfort of the different sofas. Whether you like to sink into it or prefer the firmer feel, you have to sit on the sofa for quite a while to make sure that it’s comfortable.  Another tip before buying a sofa is to get the actual measurements and mark it out with tape on the floor.  This way you can see if there is still enough space to move around or if it’s too small.

We have recently received a new collection of ultra-comfortable sofas which are available in a wide range of shapes, sizes, colors and fabrics.   In addition to this we have also brought in sofa-beds as we often use for our furniture retail in the Mall of the Emirates and furniture packages.  They are perfect for extra seating and sleeping space when those extra guests arrive.

So in case you are looking for a sofa, please visit our Zen Interiors retail space at Home Design, Mall of the Emirates and check it out for yourself. There is also a part sale on at the moment so see you there!

This particular client had just purchased a three bedroom apartment in the trendy area of DIFC, Dubai, and already exhausted by the process of house hunting, he had little energy or desire to begin the monumental task of furnishing it.

When I began explain the furniture option to him, he simply pointed at a couple of photographs of our previous projects and said “I like this, do something similar with natural colours”.  We had barely enough time to select wallpaper before he had to leave to catch a flight home, only to return upon completion of our project.

It was only after we had agreed on the quote that I eventually got to visit the property. It is quite a strange feeling to walk around an empty apartment, knowing that in a matter of days it will be filled with several people and dozens of boxes, and the finished product would transform the empty space into a holiday home.

So, all that is left now is to hand the completed Limestone House project over to my client. This takes me back to the first point, that we meet all sort of people. During a handover, some people will be absolutely ecstatic and unable to control their sheer joy and gratefulness. This is the response I pray for every time, but most of the time people just walk around with a big grin on their face, amazed that the tiny piece of fabric they selected two weeks previous now covers their custom made sofa.

After two agonizing minutes of walking around the apartment in complete silence with his hands behind his back, he turned to me and said that we did an excellent job.  Sometimes less is more, even when it comes to compliments!