STEP BY STEP: Procurement
Step by Step documents the projects that I’m juggling alongside setting up my interior design business, Kate Kerin Interiors. My clients Joanna and Pam have kindly agreed to being the subject of this blog, and I thank them for sharing their projects with our readers.
Petersham Project – bathroom reno
As we wait for the Body Corporate decision, Joanna has been interstate for work and I’ve been quietly humming along in the background. Stephen Hughes from Modern Edge Renovations, our preferred builder, has provided me with a couple of names of satisfied clients and I have chatted with them. It’s clear to me that his team is cohesive and organised, and good at what they do. Stephen runs a number of concurrent projects, so he won’t be on site 100% of the time. I’m planning on being there daily, to ensure the design elements of the project are exactly how Joanna and I have envisaged them. She will be moving out for the duration of the project, so her main job now is to find alternative accommodation somewhere local.
I ask Stephen to do a check-measure of the bathroom space, which is a bit tricky with lots of nooks and crannies. I’m very pleased that his measurements are within a few millimetres of my own – this boosts my confidence! He is full of helpful suggestions and respectful of the work that Joanna and I have already put into the design elements. I think we’ll be a good team.
Joanna and I are in the final throes of choosing tapware and other FFE (Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment) items. We will be ordering them through The Blue Space, which offers great prices and customer service. We’ve agreed to wait until the Body Corporate approval is received before placing most of the orders, just in case. We aren’t expecting any issues, but you never know! The exception to this is the tiles, which were going to be snapped up by someone else if we didn’t order early and the custom vanity and mirror, which have a longer lead-time due to their specialised nature.
With a bit of luck, in my next blog post Joanna’s renovation will be approved and on track for construction!
Greenwich project – Seniors’ Resort refresh
Pam and I plan to spend the day shopping for furniture – armchairs, dining chairs, side tables and some pieces for the entry foyer which is a tricky space to furnish. Pam’s key goal is to modernise the brighten the look of her north shore apartment – a lot of the existing furniture is dark in colour and quite masculine. I suggest that a warm rust colour, offset with olive green, will sit nicely beside the existing fabric sofas with their neutral, geometric pattern. I also propose to inject some brass elements to modernise and soften the look of the space. Pam loves the idea of this colour combination and we start our day together.
We head back to the Moore Park SupaCentre, where we successfully sourced the furniture for Pam’s lovely sunroom reading nook. Pam has identified that she wants to replace three armchairs in the open plan living area; two black leather recliners and a tub chair with a bright pattern. She also wants to replace her six black leather dining chairs – but as identified in my most recent blog post, we need to be careful of utilising wood elements as the dining table and other pieces are a distinctive yellow-toned wood that will be difficult to match.
Although there is a world of choice on the internet, Pam prefers to be able to touch and sit on items before committing to purchase. She is 80, and comfort is as much a factor as aesthetic, and she moves her dining furniture around regularly in order to make space for a card table when her friends come to play bridge. The dining chairs therefore need to be relatively light, but it’s impossible to really know how portable they are without actually seeing them in-store. My research has narrowed down the field of retailers that are likely to be appropriate, so we head straight to King Furniture and Nick Scali.
The dining chairs in King Furniture are too heavy for Pam to move with ease, so we decide to move on. Just as we’re leaving the store, I catch a glimpse of some lovely Cassia counter stools. Pam hadn’t originally identified this item as something she needed, but her bar stools are also in black leather and are a bit dated. King’s wide choice of leather means we can order an olive green seat, with very dark wood legs which will match the dark stained floors. The leather is gorgeously soft, and our very helpful showroom consultant Toni guides us to the Bongo High Ottoman with tray-top, which can also be customised with the same leather and dark wood look. Pam orders three counter stools and two Bongos, and we are told there will be about an 8-week lead time on the order.
We move on to Nick Scali, where the dining chairs are much lighter to move around. There are two leather colours that each might work with Pam’s décor and the store manager Tommy kindly agrees to allow us to borrow one of each to take home and view in situ. This means we can also compare the light-wood legs (which we had promised to avoid!) to see if it is close to the colour of the dining table. Luckily, it works! Pam selects the lighter of the two leathers, a chair called Gooppa. She has also chosen a comfortable, small swivel armchair called Cobble, in a rusty coloured tweed finish fabric called Tomato (sounds awful but it’s actually delightful!) This chair is designed so the arms are stable and at a good height for older-aged visitors who may need to support themselves as they stand up. Many downsizers and people transitioning to retirement need this style of furniture, so Pam orders three of the armchairs as well as six of the dining chairs.
Not content with success in the chair department, we decide to push our luck and after lunch we move onto side tables. We visit Contents International Design, where there are some lovely pieces that feature brass elements. Here we identify some gorgeous side tables with brass inlay on a dark slate top, elegant and modern. Pam is also keeping an eye out for a long, low table to place in front of a Japanese screen in her foyer, and we see a coffee table that is truly a work of art. It’s very different to Pam’s usual aesthetic and she decides to think about it for a while.
Tired but feeling very pleased with ourselves, we head back to Pam’s Greenwich apartment. This has been such a successful outing, partly due to the research I carried out prior to the trip but also due to the open-minded approach Pam brought with her. We’ve purchased armchairs, dining chairs, side tables, bar stools and ottomans – not bad for a day’s work!
Kate Kerin Interiors specialises in working with residential clients in Sydney, particularly older people who are downsizing or live independently in lifestyle resorts. Contact Kate for an initial consultation to talk about your project.
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