Sister Snog

Hey Good-Lookin! What you got cookin?
The kitchen is the heart of a home. A place of delicious aromas. Stews. Soups. Sunday lunches. Freshly baked bread. Time for family, friends and parties. Fanny made a career out of hers in the 60s. In the 70s Tom and Barbara shared a bottle of nettle wine or something stronger if Margo and Jerry popped round. The Golden Girls hung out in there during the 80s. Mr Lewie never ventured out of it.  And today Nigella and Jamie invite you into theirs.

Kitchens speak volumes
The kitchen is the number one improvement that prospective buyers look for. So it's worth investing in yours. Particulary if you feel like you’ve stepped into a time machine when you walk in to make a cuppa. If it’s time for a complete kitchen make over here’s Part I of Top-Tips on how you can achieve a trendy cooking space and still be able to cook.

Floor show
Good flooring can make or break a kitchen as well as setting the tone for the whole room. It needs to cope with knocks, spills, scratches and stains. Killer heels. Welly boots. Dirty paws. Flood or fire. Well, you’re spoilt for choice. Vinyl. Linoleum. Porcelain. Natural stone. Rubber. Cork. Even bamboo!

Hard-working-worktops
Worktops are one of the most visible elements in a kitchen. So why shouldn't they be as stylish as your wardrobe as well as hard-wearing and hard-working. Choosing the right worktop will take into account design, budget and maintenance. Traditionally the choice was between laminate for the cheap and cheerful, wooden for the rustic country kitchen or granite for a great look that lasts. Now there's quartz as a modern alternative. Looks good and is is super scratch resistant, stain resistant and wear resistant. Hmm! There's a thought.

Put your kitchen in the spotlight
Lighting is key. Be clever. Be creative using a combination of accent, task, decorative and ambient lighting to enhance the overall appearance of the kitchen. Use plinth lights. Incorporate stylish pendants over an island.  Or a chandelier for real dramatic effect.

Fantasy Island
Space permitting, incorporate an island into your kitchen. Mobile or static, it’s guaranteed to add a stylish focal point with a multitude of uses.  From storage and food prep to relaxed dining. Entertaining en masse or drinks a deux with a friend.

The sociable kitchen
Kitchens are not just for cooking. They're the hub of the home. A sociable place for family and friends. For invitations and celebrations. Think about adding a breakfast bar to a work surface or soft seating area for sitting, sipping or snoozing.

Samantha Morgan
Head of Design
Concept Interiors
www.concept-interior.co.uk
Follow Samantha on Twitter @smorganconcept

Take a pair of toe tappers. Hot red. Ebony black leather. With a sheen that’s glacé. Like a Maraschino cherry. Liquorice laces. Good enough to eat. A cheeky pair of toe tappers. Irresistible.

As fashion follows art and interior design typically follows fashion, here’s how a pair of shoes might walk into a crash pad or club and inspire the interior decor.


A toe tappers crash pad
There's something rather Bugsy Malone about these shoes. So, we're thinking bachelor crash pad with an air of minimalism and an eye for the practical. Space is at a premium in crash pads so everything needs to be easily at hand.  Minus the clutter. Voilà. Built-in ‘storage walls’. Full height. Wall-to-wall giant sliding doors that conceal all manner of things. Kitchen units. Bathrooms. Wardrobes. Even a home office. Not to mention the compulsory sound and vision gadget-tastic-paraphernalia.

Crash pads may be compact but the trick is to make full use of the vertical height of the rooms. Use Poliform. Black leather sliding doors from the Bangkok range. Perfect. Those liquorice laces become a rug. Made of woven recycled bicycle inner tubes.

A splash of red. A touch of the oriental. The result? A statement piece for storage. Come home. Sit back. Crash out. And watch Raise The Red Lantern.

Toe tappers in the club
Roll out a red carpet of light as the toe tappers create a bold statement on the dance floor and inspire the interior of a hot and happening Mayfair club.

A black stallion greets members in the lobby, while the A-listers are ushered through black velvet curtains to the VIP area where acoustic berries adorn the walls, floating lights bob to the sound of Bollinger bubbles being poured into Swarovski crystal flutes while guests recline and relax on red patent leather chairs and giant poufs!