Clarke & Whiteman

Progress at the Visitor’s Centre one of our home projects looking good and opening shortly!

Love this trip down memory lane! Another inspiring space....bringing life to the most neglected surface in the bedroom!!
Spires Art Malin Electrical Linwood Fabrics & Wallpapers

Looking back at some of our favourite posts from this year!

Designersguild Ulster Carpets Tifco Hotel Group Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport Matthew Williamson Abbey Upholsterers

Love these flashback memories!!

As part of our works in historic buildings, we restored this Georgian house in County Donegal to its former glory, but with a 21st century twist
Rockhill House Estate Matthew Williamson VisForm Villeroy & Boch

Exciting developments at Walled City Brewery- generating new and drink experiences through the Experience Development Programme with TourismNi. Delighted for the team there and the city as a whole, especially after the horrendous year experienced by the hospitality industry.
Onwards and upwards for the team there and hoping to start works on site in early 2021!!🤞🏻🤞🏻

The Copeland Islands in view....

Back to beautiful Donaghadee ... framing those views to the Mull of Kintyre, the Isle of Man and the Copeland islands ... the heat is on - literally and metaphorically! At the site now concentrating on finishing out the inside ... and the weather came up trumps again...

Warren Road residence ...
Views to the haven that has been Donaghadee lighthouse and harbour since at least the 17th century, coming on well... zinc roof and external works almost completed with internal fitout progressing well.. In the words of Charles Dickens, it always seems to be ‘one of those days when the sun shines hot and wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light and winter in the cold’ when we visit this site!

“Colour is a power which directly influences the soul” Wassily Kandinsky
‘Boutique rooms decorated in a palette of soft corals, gold and misty grey tones offset with walnut cabinetry. Brass detailing and graphic accents all add to a sense of welcoming luxury’ Arthaus Hotel Dublin
‘Our artwork..features works inspired by the Bauhaus teacher Wassily Kandinsky, often hailed as the pioneer of abstract art’
Donegal Tile Centre Designers Guild Malin Electrical Ulster Carpet Mills Nugent & Gibney Ltd Spires Art Panaz Fabrics & Wallcoverings Astro Lighting Tifco Hotel Group

''...bringing future design into its design sensibility''
A palette for a kitchen project ... taking soft tone and textures of tan and duck egg blue then crowning the hard floor and wall finishes with this extravagant, elegant and incredibly detailed wallpaper by KIT MILES - Ultraviolet Garden.. loving the intricacies and rainbow of tones in the detail...
Marazzi Ceramiche Equipe Ceramica Erne Tiles

Looking forward to working up this Visitors Centre for an exciting new distillery project ...
Shop local and support small businesses!

Lighting up ...
Installing new driveway lights Astro Lighting ... these slimline Napier LED bollards perch perfectly on the concrete kerbs. Quietly lighting the ground and row of cherry trees, they manage to prevent glare to oncoming traffic whilst emphasising, albeit subtly, the line of the driveway... win win really !!

Malin Electrical

‘Pill Cocktail’ nearly complete!! Loving the new step in the beautiful Pill Cocktail 30 by india mahdavi for Bisazza Erne Tiles - Like her interiors, this design oozes elegance, fluidity and is certainly timeless.
Polychromatic tiles in muted tones married with jade and baby blue blends the beautiful strength of this geometric pattern in simple squares and circles to complete a long awaited front doorstep... Mum's words ringing in my ears... ‘the best things in life are worth waiting for’.. Autumnal skies and reflections completing the look earlier this morning. ...

Working with this beautiful Suzani.
Distinctive, intricate embroidered patterns in rich colours are common to the ‘Suzani’ hailing from Uzbekistan ... Here they were traditionally prepared by the brides family as a wedding gift to take with the newly married couple into their life together; the motifs represent joy, fertility, long life, good health and prosperity. The designs are symbols from the ancient Persian concept of the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Life.
In every suzani (Persian for ‘needle’) there is always a deliberate fault or unfinished area - a reminder that no one is without mistakes - akin to the Japanese belief in wabi-sabi.
Looking forward to designing a master bedroom scheme around this very beautiful piece..

‘Modern meets Vintage’ - Repurposing an iconic Singer Sewing Company machine base to create a new vanity for this powder room and mixing with an ultra modern NEVE Rubinetterietterie tap and a Arezzo Design grey basin.. Add in the Jumble Corten tiles from for some subtle pattern and Bianco Antico granite by Cosentino

‘An uneven road is not the easiest but the most beautiful..’ in the words of the artist Babs Decruyenaere ... whose very moving pieces of stone sculpture and photography resonate with the beautiful painterly images by Fran the Artist
Reminds me of my own stone collection, gathered up from walks and wandering over the years...
And reminding us that this time too will pass ...

Anything looked at closely becomes wonderful... A. R. Ammons
The works of Sayaka Ganz, Artist and Peggy Lee have many comparisons and both are on our radar for ongoing projects - see the beauty in the detail..
These running horses emanate such a fabulous sense of movement and life in three dimensions - whilst the painted Black Ash II by Peggy Lee also exhibits movement and complexity when you look at the detail.
Scale and complexity is something we strive to use in our work - ever learning from pieces like these. Saatchi Art

Blackpool ... wow 🤩
Sample has arrived from the wonderful Blackpop - their fabrics, wallpapers and homewares ‘punk up the rich tapestry of the past to create opulent, richly figured patterns.’
Can’t wait to get this ‘Paradise’ fabric up in my hall !

Dyslexia Week!

Something close to my own heart ... Empowering our children to understand that their learning differences are not a 'disability' has become a challenge we have taken up recently. In doing so, we need to make our schools more friendly towards dyslexic children as a whole with some easy changes that could be made without cost or disruption to anyone else.. some of our most creative and entrepreneurial business people struggled throughout school ... perhaps the turning point for me was when my son was told by his friends he was ‘stupid’ because he couldn’t read ......

“Great things are done by a series of little things” - Vincent Van Gogh.

New kitchen floor taking shape.... Adding a decorative touch to our kitchen project!! Marazzi Erne Tiles

Pill Cocktail ... for my front door step! Loving these arrivals for my front step - finally getting things finished around the house! And by one of my favourite inspirational architects and designer, india mahdavi. In conjunction with Bisazza, the Italian tile manufacturer, the design is both playful and eclectic, using simple squares and semi-circles to stretch the pattern into an eye catching melody of colour, form and innovative pattern. Erne Tiles

Inspiration for the day... love the strength of form and colour in the paper cutouts by Henri Matisse. Keeping this in mind for a new restaurant project... Happy Friday everyone!

Looking forward to dressing this new showroom !!
Some of my favourite tiles in the new displays are simply stunning.

1.... 100,101
Fresh ideas for a new restaurant project - mixing lemons with blush tones and dark neutrals to produce a soft yet established palette. Loving the 'grisaille' cloud effect above the lemon banquette seat taking the viewer into a dreamy skyscape of pencil coloured lines. This was something which Piero Fornasetti, the epic 20th century Italian designer and artist returned to time and again.
Cole & Son Wallpaper

Opened 2 years ago today !!
Congratulations to The Treehouse Bar & Restaurant - M**f, County Donegal. A wonderful Client who trusted us to design the interior without the need for any computer generated images - a leap of faith indeed. Great teamwork was a huge asset in the form of all Contractors and a very beautiful building designed by O'Connor Burke Architecture.

Malin Electrical
Deirdre Mcclorey
Nugent & Gibney Ltd

Panaz Fabrics & Wallcoverings
Irwin Tiles & Hardwood Floors
Spires Art Equipe Cerámicas

Delighted to be moving into our new Belfast office on the Dublin Road this week and to be the first company to do so!
‘Hubflow’ begins a new era for our company, an exciting and dynamic working environment to be part of for the future.
Also, we will be launching our new website and addresses very soon... watch this space 😉 HubFlow Spires Art Erne Tiles Malin Electrical Ulster Carpets Nugent & Gibney Ltd Rathgael Blinds and Curtains Fran the Artist Tektura Wallcoverings Abbey Upholsterers Linwood Fabrics & Wallpapers Designersguild Panaz Fabrics & Wallcoverings VisForm Deirdre Mcclorey Irwin Tiles & Hardwood Floors

‘The Art of Unexpected Style'
Design icon or design maven? Both to me! was one of the first Interior Designers who rocked my world ... Her book 'Modern Glamour: The Art of Unexpected Style' is saturated with colour, style and savvy design. She has a way of mixing both old and new, scale and texture, which completely enthralls me still when I have the chance to flick through its well-read text.
Inspiring this little bijou bridal suite at a local hotel, we have chosen this punchy black and white scheme with touches of lemon yellow, much like the cover of Kelly's 2004 book - mixing strong graphics, scale and a neutral palette with happy splash of yellow.

Yellow in the Detail...
“I always put in one controversial item. It makes people talk” - Dorothy Draper & Co.
O'Connor Burke Architecture
Malin Electrical
Deirdre Mcclorey
The Treehouse Bar & Restaurant - M**f
Nugent & Gibney Ltd

Panaz Fabrics & Wallcoverings
Irwin Tiles & Hardwood Floors

The Crow's Nest
''...crows have very strong family links and they are monogamous. Because of this, in ancient Egypt they were symbols of faithful love, and the Greeks related them to Hera, the goddess of marriage and war.''
Faena Aleph
Looking back to the fabulous backlit artwork we commissioned from the talented Deirdre Mcclorey for the The Treehouse Bar & Restaurant - M**f in M**f, County Donegal. Lining the ceilings and walls with cherry wood to frame the forest views created a cosy and inviting space to dine.

O'Connor Burke Architecture
Malin Electrical
Nugent & Gibney Ltd
&little
Panaz Fabrics & Wallcoverings
Irwin Tiles & Hardwood Floors

More WIP!
Making use of a narrow little space with great light at the end of this ground floor area ... a new hotel ground floor in central Dublin