LWE Interiors: Creating a Rustic and Coastal Holiday Cottage

This week’s instalment of the Project of the Week series features a rustic and coastal holiday cottage design by 2024 SBID Awards Finalist, LWE Interiors.

LWE Interiors were asked to redesign an old cottage that had stood neglected for several years at the end of a street in Llandudno wales. The client wanted to use this old cottage as a holiday home for weekends away for family and friends. The budget was very strict and included a full refurbishment of the ground floor and bedrooms. They used salvage wood to create rustic elements as well as uncovering an original old wall which they transformed into a design feature, bringing in a holiday vibe and fresh new look.

What was the client’s brief?

The clients brief on this project was to give the home a modern rustic feel adding subtle coastal accents as the property is walking distance to the beach, the old cottage was bought at auction with the intention to transform into a holiday home for family and friends.

What inspired the design of the project?

The cottage was very dilapidated and required everything internally taking out / rebuilding, the budget for the interiors was strict due to the building works the cottage needed, whilst the contractors stripped the building back to the bare bones we discovered an original wall over meter thick made in the traditional method of stone, rubble and mortar. I decided to keep this feature and build on the rustic elements as there were no original features in the cottage even before the strip out took place, then adding modern fittings against rustic elements, to give a modern feel but still incorporating the traditional building feature we found.

What was the toughest hurdle your team overcame during the project?

The budget was the toughest hurdle, the construction team also had issues at times with the building itself which chewed into the budget, threatening to reduce the interior budget further. Fortunately I found a great kitchen company who made the kitchen and installed the units and a local quartz / stone constitute supplier who installed the worktops at a great price. We were also resourceful with the interior design, we couldn’t move the meters or the boiler as it would have cost too much and they were so unsightly in the lounge area, so I designed a cupboard to house them with a log effect design which blends in with the rustic feel, blending away the unsightly meters from the lounge area.

What was your team’s highlight of the project?

The highlight of the project aside from discovering the original feature wall, was when the client asked to add an en-suite to the master bedroom, to close off an area of the bedroom would make the bedroom feel claustrophobic so I suggested we keep the en-suite open as a feature to the bedroom, which the client loved the idea so we added an open en-suite, a little cheeky but a great talking point, the toilet we found a small cubbyhole area which was perfect to hide the toilet in, then used a sliding barn door-for privacy.

Why did you enter the SBID Awards?

I entered the SBID Awards as this is a prestigious international awards for interior designers, architects and suppliers in the property industry. It’s an award that gives credit as a notable designer to the finalists and winners.

What has being an Award Finalist meant to you and your business?

We have added our finalist badge with pride to our website and we launched social media posts on all platforms celebrating and advertising our achievement which in turn created a lot of recognition and interest. It gives myself and my company credit and acknowledgment as an award winning and award finalist interior design practice with a leading international award which has brought us more attention when clients are looking for an interior designer for their project.

Questions answered by Lorraine Warwick-Ellis, Founder of LWE Interiors.