Have you ever wanted a taster of interior design?
Maybe you're thinking of going into the interior design industry or are planning changes to your own home and would like a few top tips. Or perhaps you have a flair for design and would like just a bit more knowledge to decorate the homes of your friends and family?
We teach an informal First Steps In Interior Design course, in conjunction with Oaklands College, and the next 6 week course is being held at Welwyn Garden City campus in May09.
You'll gain a basic knowledge of all the main areas such as:
- Colour Theory & Psychology
- Design Inspiration & Style
- Mood Board
- Space Planning
- Furniture Layout
- Flooring options
- Lighting options
- Wall treatments
- Window treatments
- Styling techniques
It's a great leisure course where we incorporate our industry knowledge with hands on experience and a lot of fun.
If you're interested in finding out more about the course or booking a place then please contact the Direct Enrolement line on 01727 737373.
Sunday, 15 March 2009
Design Museum
If you have an interest in fashion or design, I totally recommend visiting the London Design Museum (http://www.designmuseum.org/).
It was a great day out and totally inspiring. On our visit we saw creative fashion pieces displayed in a multitude of formats, eg: videos of amazing runway shows. light enhanced fashion, structured fashion plus frilly and flouncy fashion.
There were also interesting pieces on architectural design and modern innovations such as a bike with a water reservoir!
Go now and see what you can find.
Friday, 13 March 2009
Toastmasters - Is Fantasy In Your Wardrobe?
For Toastmasters' speech number 5 the focus was on clear, simple, vivid and forceful words that add excitement to the presentation.
When I first thought of a topic for this speech, I decided upon Decluttering as it's greatly misunderstood however, after reading the speech requirements, I thought that the dialogue would be too technical and not fluid enough for the speech.
After mulling the topic over with my 10 year old daughter, who gave me sugggestions of previous pets - yes, I've had budgies and dogs and cats but we've also had exotic birds, ferret and more recently chickens - I was none the wiser on what to choose and my speech date was looming.
On the Sunday we decided to take a trip into London, particularly to the Design Museum. On the way there I read the Style magazine from the Sunday Times newspaper and it had an article on fashion that was really interesting saying, "Fashion is about self-expression, fantasy and identity." It made me realise that this is how I've felt all my life - I love glamour, sparkle and drama. After seeing an image consultant last year I realised that I'm a true Winter and should embrase my extravagence.
The design museum was really great and my daughter and I had a truly wonderful day out - such inspirational fashion. In the 'technical lab' there was a PC with a blog about fashion today and how we're returning to war mentality with thrifty fashion habits, eg: clothes swapping and vintage shopping. I've always loved the word vintage because it strangely gives a snobbery to secondhand clothes.
After this inspiring trip I then read up on the latest fashon trends as interior design generally coincides with fashion and I like to keep my knowledge current.
Having digested all of this information I decided to put a speech together on fashion.
By this time however my time was running out and the speech was looming in less than two days - aaaaagggghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It seemed to take me ages to structure the speech and each time it wasn't quite right - one itteration was too formal and the next too impersonal but finally I ended up with this - I hope it stirs you to think differently about what you wear and how you wear it:
IS FANTASY IN YOUR WARDROBE?
As an interior designer I follow fashion trends because one generally follows the other. At the moment there are four main fashion trends. Do you know what they are?
1) 1980's (Think shoulder pads or leggings and long T-shirt)
2) Colour (In the shops you'll find 'Buy Me' colours like fuscia pink and canary yellow. They're vivid colours that shout from the shelves so that they're more obvious and in your face during a recession)
3) Bad Taste (This is a clever mix of clashing colurs or styles. As you can imagine it's easy to get it wrong - this is stylish bad taste and not bad taste slob!)
4) English Eccentric (You take traditional patterns and materials such as floral, tweed and tartan and give them a bit of a boost)
So that you understand each trend, I'm going to share with you some of the more exotic and vivid creations that I've worn over the years.
First the 1980's:
I first got interested in fashion when I was about 17 and at college. I met someone who used to pay so much attention to detail in what she wore. She was a real fashionista and her glamour certainly rubbed off on me.
It was about this time that I started making and designing my own clothes. One particular outfit that I made was an oblong top - just 4 squares of material, two at the front and two at the back, in block colours of turquoise and black. It was the height of fashion and to show you how good it was, the fashionista asked me to make her one. Replication is appreciation!
The next trend is Colour & Bad Taste:
When I went to university my love and confidence for experimenting with fashion really took off.
At home one holiday, my mother asked my sister and me to go into town to run an errrand. I loved embarassing my sister because she was so conservative and it was such fun! I poped upstairs to carefully choose my outfit - would it be red? no! what about blue? no! it must be yellow then? yes :-)
Imagine if you would men's Long Johns dyed canary yellow! Of course I'd sewn up the front and added a pair of braces to hold them up. Over this I wore an oversized white t-shirt and then a sloppy joe jumper - a woolen creation, made by my mother, that had gone all saggy and baggy. To finish the outfit off I wore some white boots and yellow nail varnish. At the time I used to paint my nails every night to match my outfit of the next day! When I think back now it was such a bind and so time consuming, but fantastic fun!!
Well, my sister went ballistic, "Mum, she looks like a banana. I'm not going into town with a walking piece of fruit!". She did and it was such fun - for me!
The last trend is English Eccentric:
My outfit tonight is a floral pink coat that's jazzed up with fishnets and a strange pair of green wedge shoes. It's just a little bit odd!
For me though English Eccentric isn't just a fashion trend, it's more about the state of my mind!
The next time you open your wardrobe I'd like you to look for the fantasy and fun so that you feel fantastic and look fabulous darling.
Here's the evaluation I received:
"Use more descriptive words as this is the focus of speech number 5. Interesting subject, great structure, no notes and wonderful advice!"
I totally agree with this evaluation as I did lose sight of the speech focus with all of the changes I made to the topic itself. In the end I focused my remaining time on making the speech flow and having a solid structure. I lost sight of the actual words - a great lesson to learn.
Here are some of the general comments:
"You draw your audience in."
"As fluent and entertaining as ever. In some ways more vocally restrained than usual."
"Wonderful pictures. Very clear speech but you could have brought your title in earlier and link it together."
"Very interesting - never thought about the credit crunch aspect."
"Good structure, great use of stage and gestures. Varied voice tone and humour. Made this speech entertaining and enjoyable. To improve, believe you are great."
"Fantastic speech! That was really entertaining and fun."
"Great speech, good speed, humour and vocal variety. You are a confident speaker and really engage the audience. Would like to hear you speak on a subject that takes you out of your comfort zone as there is little to recommend!"
"Try to relax and breath - your delivery will be smoother."
"Very accomplished. Very well done."
"I love the outfit! I really enjoyed your talk and I liked how you put the four stages of your talk on the board."
When I first thought of a topic for this speech, I decided upon Decluttering as it's greatly misunderstood however, after reading the speech requirements, I thought that the dialogue would be too technical and not fluid enough for the speech.
After mulling the topic over with my 10 year old daughter, who gave me sugggestions of previous pets - yes, I've had budgies and dogs and cats but we've also had exotic birds, ferret and more recently chickens - I was none the wiser on what to choose and my speech date was looming.
On the Sunday we decided to take a trip into London, particularly to the Design Museum. On the way there I read the Style magazine from the Sunday Times newspaper and it had an article on fashion that was really interesting saying, "Fashion is about self-expression, fantasy and identity." It made me realise that this is how I've felt all my life - I love glamour, sparkle and drama. After seeing an image consultant last year I realised that I'm a true Winter and should embrase my extravagence.
The design museum was really great and my daughter and I had a truly wonderful day out - such inspirational fashion. In the 'technical lab' there was a PC with a blog about fashion today and how we're returning to war mentality with thrifty fashion habits, eg: clothes swapping and vintage shopping. I've always loved the word vintage because it strangely gives a snobbery to secondhand clothes.
After this inspiring trip I then read up on the latest fashon trends as interior design generally coincides with fashion and I like to keep my knowledge current.
Having digested all of this information I decided to put a speech together on fashion.
By this time however my time was running out and the speech was looming in less than two days - aaaaagggghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It seemed to take me ages to structure the speech and each time it wasn't quite right - one itteration was too formal and the next too impersonal but finally I ended up with this - I hope it stirs you to think differently about what you wear and how you wear it:
IS FANTASY IN YOUR WARDROBE?
As an interior designer I follow fashion trends because one generally follows the other. At the moment there are four main fashion trends. Do you know what they are?
1) 1980's (Think shoulder pads or leggings and long T-shirt)
2) Colour (In the shops you'll find 'Buy Me' colours like fuscia pink and canary yellow. They're vivid colours that shout from the shelves so that they're more obvious and in your face during a recession)
3) Bad Taste (This is a clever mix of clashing colurs or styles. As you can imagine it's easy to get it wrong - this is stylish bad taste and not bad taste slob!)
4) English Eccentric (You take traditional patterns and materials such as floral, tweed and tartan and give them a bit of a boost)
So that you understand each trend, I'm going to share with you some of the more exotic and vivid creations that I've worn over the years.
First the 1980's:
I first got interested in fashion when I was about 17 and at college. I met someone who used to pay so much attention to detail in what she wore. She was a real fashionista and her glamour certainly rubbed off on me.
It was about this time that I started making and designing my own clothes. One particular outfit that I made was an oblong top - just 4 squares of material, two at the front and two at the back, in block colours of turquoise and black. It was the height of fashion and to show you how good it was, the fashionista asked me to make her one. Replication is appreciation!
The next trend is Colour & Bad Taste:
When I went to university my love and confidence for experimenting with fashion really took off.
At home one holiday, my mother asked my sister and me to go into town to run an errrand. I loved embarassing my sister because she was so conservative and it was such fun! I poped upstairs to carefully choose my outfit - would it be red? no! what about blue? no! it must be yellow then? yes :-)
Imagine if you would men's Long Johns dyed canary yellow! Of course I'd sewn up the front and added a pair of braces to hold them up. Over this I wore an oversized white t-shirt and then a sloppy joe jumper - a woolen creation, made by my mother, that had gone all saggy and baggy. To finish the outfit off I wore some white boots and yellow nail varnish. At the time I used to paint my nails every night to match my outfit of the next day! When I think back now it was such a bind and so time consuming, but fantastic fun!!
Well, my sister went ballistic, "Mum, she looks like a banana. I'm not going into town with a walking piece of fruit!". She did and it was such fun - for me!
The last trend is English Eccentric:
My outfit tonight is a floral pink coat that's jazzed up with fishnets and a strange pair of green wedge shoes. It's just a little bit odd!
For me though English Eccentric isn't just a fashion trend, it's more about the state of my mind!
The next time you open your wardrobe I'd like you to look for the fantasy and fun so that you feel fantastic and look fabulous darling.
Here's the evaluation I received:
"Use more descriptive words as this is the focus of speech number 5. Interesting subject, great structure, no notes and wonderful advice!"
I totally agree with this evaluation as I did lose sight of the speech focus with all of the changes I made to the topic itself. In the end I focused my remaining time on making the speech flow and having a solid structure. I lost sight of the actual words - a great lesson to learn.
Here are some of the general comments:
"You draw your audience in."
"As fluent and entertaining as ever. In some ways more vocally restrained than usual."
"Wonderful pictures. Very clear speech but you could have brought your title in earlier and link it together."
"Very interesting - never thought about the credit crunch aspect."
"Good structure, great use of stage and gestures. Varied voice tone and humour. Made this speech entertaining and enjoyable. To improve, believe you are great."
"Fantastic speech! That was really entertaining and fun."
"Great speech, good speed, humour and vocal variety. You are a confident speaker and really engage the audience. Would like to hear you speak on a subject that takes you out of your comfort zone as there is little to recommend!"
"Try to relax and breath - your delivery will be smoother."
"Very accomplished. Very well done."
"I love the outfit! I really enjoyed your talk and I liked how you put the four stages of your talk on the board."
Wednesday, 21 January 2009
Toastmasters - Twas The Night Before Christmas
This is my Speech 3 for Toastmasters. The general purpose is to get to the point!
TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
Hopefully none of you have been burgled…at Christmas time…. On Christmas eve… like me and my family!
I’m sure you can appreciate what a totally devastating and traumatic experience it was… but today I’m going to tell you how it turned out to be one of the best Christmases.
Of course it all happened one Christmas eve many years ago now.
I’d travelled up to Lancashire to be with my family. The previous year the traffic was terrible and I arrived late so my family left me and went out for a meal so I was ‘Billy No Mates’ in the house, Home Alone!. But, this year I’d made it, I was there, I was ready, we went out and had an absolutely fantastic time.
We came back to TOTAL DEVASTATION.
In the corner, a Christmas tree laden with spingly, spangly, sparkly lights, tree ornaments that we’d had since childhood – a pipe cleaner Father Christmas that looks more like a gnome high on . I see the burglars didn’t steal that treasure. Amongst the decorations, tiny tree ers totally wrecked, not from the burglars, but because my sister Samantha couldn’t wait until Xmas.
And underneath the tree was a HUGE void – an expanse of nothingness – not even a gift tag that’d fallen off the presents as the burglars made their escape.
Some of the presents were very special to me as I’d spent hours embroidering pictures for my sisters. Even today I scour the charity shops hoping to come across them.
With 5 emotional s in the house, of course we all burst out crying so my father left the room, phoned the police and put the kettle on. You just can’t beat a good brew!
Eventually the police arrived. In walked a tiny tot of a policewoman, with her little black notebook and even smaller pencil. Her job was to record all of the presents that had been stolen.
Now, here’s the magic part…not only did we say what we’d bought but we also said why we’d bought it and what that person meant to us.
Well, the floodgates opened:
- Did you really buy that for me?
- I would d it!
- Thank you soooooooooooooooo much.
- It’s just what I would have wanted!
Even today, as I stand before you, I can still feel all of their adorable love and affection. It wraps around and nurtures me every time I think of it.
And that’s why it was one of the best Christmases – that year, it really was the thought that counts!
Again, I had some very lovely and supporting comments:
- That was a very transporting speech.
- As warm and as expressive as ever. Your movements are ever so graceful: you look like a dancer.
- Making a connection in such a short space of time is wonderful.
- Very poignant, personal topic delivered with feeling and good humour.
- Thank you for transporting us into the bossom of your family. I was taken by surprise when you stopped and felt as if you were too loved by the policewoman. Awesome.
- You have good mudulation of your voice, you look confident and have stage presence.
- Take deep breaths if you feel nerves or emotional. You know the ending was a little weak...you will do even better next time.
I do know the ending was weak because I had to cut it short rather abruptly as I was far too emotional...even after all these years.
After the speech I was physically shaking, felt sick, had terrible stomach cramps and diarrhoea for the remainder of the night - all I know are symptoms of stress from the speech.
This talk was a little too close to home but I'm glad that I did it because the comments were truly supportive and showed that my message of 'valuing your family especially in the toughest of times' was totally heartfelt by all.
TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
Hopefully none of you have been burgled…at Christmas time…. On Christmas eve… like me and my family!
I’m sure you can appreciate what a totally devastating and traumatic experience it was… but today I’m going to tell you how it turned out to be one of the best Christmases.
Of course it all happened one Christmas eve many years ago now.
I’d travelled up to Lancashire to be with my family. The previous year the traffic was terrible and I arrived late so my family left me and went out for a meal so I was ‘Billy No Mates’ in the house, Home Alone!. But, this year I’d made it, I was there, I was ready, we went out and had an absolutely fantastic time.
We came back to TOTAL DEVASTATION.
In the corner, a Christmas tree laden with spingly, spangly, sparkly lights, tree ornaments that we’d had since childhood – a pipe cleaner Father Christmas that looks more like a gnome high on . I see the burglars didn’t steal that treasure. Amongst the decorations, tiny tree ers totally wrecked, not from the burglars, but because my sister Samantha couldn’t wait until Xmas.
And underneath the tree was a HUGE void – an expanse of nothingness – not even a gift tag that’d fallen off the presents as the burglars made their escape.
Some of the presents were very special to me as I’d spent hours embroidering pictures for my sisters. Even today I scour the charity shops hoping to come across them.
With 5 emotional s in the house, of course we all burst out crying so my father left the room, phoned the police and put the kettle on. You just can’t beat a good brew!
Eventually the police arrived. In walked a tiny tot of a policewoman, with her little black notebook and even smaller pencil. Her job was to record all of the presents that had been stolen.
Now, here’s the magic part…not only did we say what we’d bought but we also said why we’d bought it and what that person meant to us.
Well, the floodgates opened:
- Did you really buy that for me?
- I would d it!
- Thank you soooooooooooooooo much.
- It’s just what I would have wanted!
Even today, as I stand before you, I can still feel all of their adorable love and affection. It wraps around and nurtures me every time I think of it.
And that’s why it was one of the best Christmases – that year, it really was the thought that counts!
Again, I had some very lovely and supporting comments:
- That was a very transporting speech.
- As warm and as expressive as ever. Your movements are ever so graceful: you look like a dancer.
- Making a connection in such a short space of time is wonderful.
- Very poignant, personal topic delivered with feeling and good humour.
- Thank you for transporting us into the bossom of your family. I was taken by surprise when you stopped and felt as if you were too loved by the policewoman. Awesome.
- You have good mudulation of your voice, you look confident and have stage presence.
- Take deep breaths if you feel nerves or emotional. You know the ending was a little weak...you will do even better next time.
I do know the ending was weak because I had to cut it short rather abruptly as I was far too emotional...even after all these years.
After the speech I was physically shaking, felt sick, had terrible stomach cramps and diarrhoea for the remainder of the night - all I know are symptoms of stress from the speech.
This talk was a little too close to home but I'm glad that I did it because the comments were truly supportive and showed that my message of 'valuing your family especially in the toughest of times' was totally heartfelt by all.
Wednesday, 17 December 2008
Marrakech, Morocco
Earlier in 2008, my family and I went to Marrakech in Morocco for my husband's birthday and I thought I'd share the architecture and interiors with you.
Here are some snaps of the local architecture as we travelled around:
The mosque in particular was stunning and bellowed the daily chant, through loundspeakers, twice a day.
As we travelled about, I found it interesting to see so much of the local red brick around as I'd previously expected houses and buildings to be painted on the outside, like this window that we saw at the Yves Saint Laurent garden - a beautiful place if you like Cacti.
Here are some snaps of the local interiors. This was our Riad, Farawakay, that we'd booked for our stay and it was a fantastic spot in the heart of Marrakech with a cook, guide and manager on hand to cater for our every need:
On the roof terrace, the owners had created a tent that was fantastic for keeping the sun off the children whilst I lazed about in the afternoon trying to join my freckles together for an 'english tan' !
Finally, I'd like to show you the metalwork and pottery that was locally made in the souks (Moroccan markets) so, if you do take a trip there - great destination for a long weekend - remember to bring an extra large suitcase.
Even now the children talk about nearly being run over by a donkey in the cobbled streets, the wonderfully interesting food, the glorious sunshine in March and our game of tag around the plunge pool to try to keep warm in the icy water.
A truly wonderful experience.
NEWSLETTER 3Q08
THE ISSUE
Christina Georgalla and Gwendoline Alderton, of GA Interiors (http://www.ga-interiors.co.uk/), are two highly motivated professional experts in the property arena today. Their combined strengths, ie: Christina’s show-home flare and Gwendoline’s interior design expertise, make GA Interiors a truly rounded company that’s able to offer its residential and corporate clients total piece of mind and professionalism.
Not only has their work been recognised in national house magazines this year, but also it’s now being aired on national television. You can read more about this below.
Christina Georgalla trained with celebrity House Dr, Ann Maurice and represented the network as a consultant in the South-West. More recently, she has moved to the Hertfordshire area, to be near her family, after great success styling Show-homes in the Bristol area.
She has worked with many household names in the world of development and is already making a mark in and around the London area.
Her commercial experience also includes Laura Ashley, whereby she has styled and designed homes to die for.
Other unique projects have ranged from designing city centre restaurants and bars and, more recently, a boutique hotel in the Hertford area that is a project due to start next year…so watch this space.
Her dedication to the world of interiors has also given rise to specialist seminars, for Bristol City College and Brislington College, to promote the creative industry with aspiring designers in the making. More recently, she will be working with Oaklands College in St. Albans and Borehamwood to create a course suitable for people trying to break into the industry.
Gwendoline Alderton is a professionally qualified Interior Designer as well as being trained by the celebrity TV ‘House Doctor’, Ann Maurice (http://www.housedoctor.co.uk/).
She represents Ann, as a consultant, at ‘House Doctor’ events such as the Ideal Home Show and, more recently, at a credit crunch event for a local estate agent.
Her work is recognised and published in national house magazines Real Homes (Jan08) and House Beautiful (Feb08). A recent makeover of a property for sale was a great success and is due to be aired soon on national television … see below for the exciting details.
Previous commercial experience includes styling for Marks & Spencer where Gwendoline perfected the art of visual merchandising. This is obvious in her work that is always gorgeous and stylish as well as being practical and impactive.
With 16 years project management experience under her belt, Gwendoline is no stranger to completing projects on time and to budget, especially in the current economic climate.
In October 2008 an estate agent, based in Bishop's Stortford, approached GA Interiors to makeover their client’s 7-bed ‘Old Telephone Exchange’ home for sale.
This was a great success and both the homeowner and estate agent were mightily impressed with the cost effective but stunning changes.
When it went on the market, the property caused a stir with buyers whom showed much interest and have been back for second viewing.
On top of this, the property is scheduled to be aired on ITV1 "No Place Like Home" early 2009.
The TV programme was filming an ex-patriot couple viewing homes within the local area. This property was highly recommended by the estate agent after its successful makeover.
The ex-pat couple certainly enjoyed the home as they came back for a second viewing. It will be interesting for us to review their opinions of GA Interiors’ styling as they did ask the homeowner if she had an interior designer!
Though neither Christina nor Gwendoline are on the television themselves, it’s still very exciting to see their work being aired on national television.
For further details on this property for sale, in a beautiful english village, please contact Mullucks Wells at Bishop's Stortford (http://www.mullucks.co.uk/)
AUTUMN TRENDS FOR 2008
Autumn sees the return of femininity in all of its lovely shades and tones, from soft baby doll pink through to berry red and sumptuous deep plumb. It’s time and these very nurturing colours will help us through the current economic downturn.
For one of the bedrooms in the ‘Old Telephone Exchange’, GA Interiors took their inspiration for the guest suite from this season’s colours and selected sugar pink to compliment the already black and white bathroom.
Using an existing black and white picture of Marilyn Monroe, they expanded on the ‘Hollywood ’ style to create a truly gorgeous and sumptuous suite of rooms.
As well as combining this season’s colour with the classic black and white, you could also think about mixing them with grey for a great contemporary look or, chocolate for a more neutral colour scheme.
DEVELOPERS' DILEMA
Here’s an Americanism for you: VIEWHOME.
At the moment many developers are unsure how much or, more precisely, how little to style a property for sale.
For many months, in the current economic downturn, properties have not been selling ‘off plan’ so some form of showhome has been required to create an interest in the buyers.
The new Americanism is, as some of you may expect, where the property is styled somewhere in the middle between bare bones (just carpets and curtains) and full blown show flat (now far too costly and risky an option for many developers).
From an interior design point of view, it’s where we use our expertise and skills to create areas of interest in the property using very few products, eg: maybe a single chair in a room dressed with an open book or cushions on the floor to denote a seating area.
The pockets of interest, or vignettes, give the buyer a very loose indication of colour and perspective. More importantly, they take away the stark element from many unfurnished new properties.
Such minimal styling can trigger a buyer’s interest and desire in a property. If carried our professionally, it can work extremely well and obviously suits a restricted budget.
PREPARE FOR THE NEW YEAR
We trust that we’ve filled you with lots of ideas and inspiration for the next couple of months.
Our aim is to bring you frequent suggestions and hot tips to help your business survive, and hopefully grow, in this current economic climate.
As well as cementing new links with estate agents and developers over the coming months, GA Interiors will also be focusing on expanding into Hotel styling. Our high-end glamorous and sumptuous styling enables us to move easily into this market sector where the emphasis is on luxury and pleasure.
We hope that the Christmas season will bring you both pleasure and prosperity and, as always, we’re keen to forge new relationships and also hear your own personal viewpoint on the economic situation.
Gwendoline & Christina
GA INTERIORS
(DECLUTTERED - DESIGNED - DELIGHTED)
Christina Georgalla and Gwendoline Alderton, of GA Interiors (http://www.ga-interiors.co.uk/), are two highly motivated professional experts in the property arena today. Their combined strengths, ie: Christina’s show-home flare and Gwendoline’s interior design expertise, make GA Interiors a truly rounded company that’s able to offer its residential and corporate clients total piece of mind and professionalism.
Not only has their work been recognised in national house magazines this year, but also it’s now being aired on national television. You can read more about this below.
You’ll also find below further information on the s and their work but, more importantly, you’ll can pick up gems of information on the current economic climate and interior design trends.
Enjoy,
Gwendoline & Christina
Gwendoline & Christina
(GA INTERIORS)
CHRISTINA GEORGALLA
Christina Georgalla trained with celebrity House Dr, Ann Maurice and represented the network as a consultant in the South-West. More recently, she has moved to the Hertfordshire area, to be near her family, after great success styling Show-homes in the Bristol area.She has worked with many household names in the world of development and is already making a mark in and around the London area.
Her commercial experience also includes Laura Ashley, whereby she has styled and designed homes to die for.
Other unique projects have ranged from designing city centre restaurants and bars and, more recently, a boutique hotel in the Hertford area that is a project due to start next year…so watch this space.
Her dedication to the world of interiors has also given rise to specialist seminars, for Bristol City College and Brislington College, to promote the creative industry with aspiring designers in the making. More recently, she will be working with Oaklands College in St. Albans and Borehamwood to create a course suitable for people trying to break into the industry.
GWENDOLINE ALDERTON
Gwendoline Alderton is a professionally qualified Interior Designer as well as being trained by the celebrity TV ‘House Doctor’, Ann Maurice (http://www.housedoctor.co.uk/).She represents Ann, as a consultant, at ‘House Doctor’ events such as the Ideal Home Show and, more recently, at a credit crunch event for a local estate agent.
Her work is recognised and published in national house magazines Real Homes (Jan08) and House Beautiful (Feb08). A recent makeover of a property for sale was a great success and is due to be aired soon on national television … see below for the exciting details.
Previous commercial experience includes styling for Marks & Spencer where Gwendoline perfected the art of visual merchandising. This is obvious in her work that is always gorgeous and stylish as well as being practical and impactive.
With 16 years project management experience under her belt, Gwendoline is no stranger to completing projects on time and to budget, especially in the current economic climate.
SEE OUR WORK ON TV - NO PLACE LIKE HOME
In October 2008 an estate agent, based in Bishop's Stortford, approached GA Interiors to makeover their client’s 7-bed ‘Old Telephone Exchange’ home for sale.
This was a great success and both the homeowner and estate agent were mightily impressed with the cost effective but stunning changes.
When it went on the market, the property caused a stir with buyers whom showed much interest and have been back for second viewing.
On top of this, the property is scheduled to be aired on ITV1 "No Place Like Home" early 2009.
The TV programme was filming an ex-patriot couple viewing homes within the local area. This property was highly recommended by the estate agent after its successful makeover.
The ex-pat couple certainly enjoyed the home as they came back for a second viewing. It will be interesting for us to review their opinions of GA Interiors’ styling as they did ask the homeowner if she had an interior designer!
Though neither Christina nor Gwendoline are on the television themselves, it’s still very exciting to see their work being aired on national television.
For further details on this property for sale, in a beautiful english village, please contact Mullucks Wells at Bishop's Stortford (http://www.mullucks.co.uk/)
AUTUMN TRENDS FOR 2008
Autumn sees the return of femininity in all of its lovely shades and tones, from soft baby doll pink through to berry red and sumptuous deep plumb. It’s time and these very nurturing colours will help us through the current economic downturn.
For one of the bedrooms in the ‘Old Telephone Exchange’, GA Interiors took their inspiration for the guest suite from this season’s colours and selected sugar pink to compliment the already black and white bathroom.
Using an existing black and white picture of Marilyn Monroe, they expanded on the ‘Hollywood ’ style to create a truly gorgeous and sumptuous suite of rooms.
As well as combining this season’s colour with the classic black and white, you could also think about mixing them with grey for a great contemporary look or, chocolate for a more neutral colour scheme.
DEVELOPERS' DILEMA
Here’s an Americanism for you: VIEWHOME.
At the moment many developers are unsure how much or, more precisely, how little to style a property for sale.
For many months, in the current economic downturn, properties have not been selling ‘off plan’ so some form of showhome has been required to create an interest in the buyers.
The new Americanism is, as some of you may expect, where the property is styled somewhere in the middle between bare bones (just carpets and curtains) and full blown show flat (now far too costly and risky an option for many developers).
From an interior design point of view, it’s where we use our expertise and skills to create areas of interest in the property using very few products, eg: maybe a single chair in a room dressed with an open book or cushions on the floor to denote a seating area.
The pockets of interest, or vignettes, give the buyer a very loose indication of colour and perspective. More importantly, they take away the stark element from many unfurnished new properties.
Such minimal styling can trigger a buyer’s interest and desire in a property. If carried our professionally, it can work extremely well and obviously suits a restricted budget.
PREPARE FOR THE NEW YEAR
We trust that we’ve filled you with lots of ideas and inspiration for the next couple of months.
Our aim is to bring you frequent suggestions and hot tips to help your business survive, and hopefully grow, in this current economic climate.
As well as cementing new links with estate agents and developers over the coming months, GA Interiors will also be focusing on expanding into Hotel styling. Our high-end glamorous and sumptuous styling enables us to move easily into this market sector where the emphasis is on luxury and pleasure.
We hope that the Christmas season will bring you both pleasure and prosperity and, as always, we’re keen to forge new relationships and also hear your own personal viewpoint on the economic situation.
Gwendoline & Christina
GA INTERIORS
(DECLUTTERED - DESIGNED - DELIGHTED)
Top Tips To Help Sell Your Property
We were approached by a local estate agent, Abbey Estates, to write an article for their corporate blog.
http://www.abbeyestates.co.uk
The article was entitled "Top Tips To Help Sell Your Property" and focused on pulling together all of our knowledge and research to present our top 5 tips in the current economic climate:
1) Know your buyer - buyers want 'the dream' as well as the house
2) Give each room a clear identity - sort out that junk room
3) Keep it real - style your home to look homely
4) Entice buyers in - make sure any outside space looks great
5) Space sells - clear out what you don't need or don't want
If you'd like to read more about each top tip then just follow this link to Abbey Estates' blog:
http://www.abbeyestates.co.uk
http://www.abbeyestates.co.uk
The article was entitled "Top Tips To Help Sell Your Property" and focused on pulling together all of our knowledge and research to present our top 5 tips in the current economic climate:
1) Know your buyer - buyers want 'the dream' as well as the house
2) Give each room a clear identity - sort out that junk room
3) Keep it real - style your home to look homely
4) Entice buyers in - make sure any outside space looks great
5) Space sells - clear out what you don't need or don't want
If you'd like to read more about each top tip then just follow this link to Abbey Estates' blog:
http://www.abbeyestates.co.uk
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