All Dressed Up, Revival of the Mega Wardrobe

A coveted statement space and inner sanctum, the dressing room has become an essential element of any high-end interior.

It’s a place to pull together the perfect outfit, whether you’re heading to training, to drinks, or to the airport. Thoughtful design and premium materials mean you can keep suits, shirts and shoes in immaculate condition while securing valuables like watches, jewellery and cufflinks in custom-built safes.

But this most intimate of rooms is no longer restricted to sartorial pursuits, as a growing demand for his-and-hers dressing rooms indicates. This newly shared space is now being designed for comfort and pleasure as well as practicality – many dressing rooms incorporate seating, entertainment and even a dry bar or coffee machine. Add the latest tech-enhanced features like heated drawers and sub-zero drinks stations, and you’ll soon have yourself a space you’ll never want to leave.

We caught up with Oliver Deadman, Head of Design at Clive Christian Furniture, to discuss designing your first dressing room and wardrobe, trends he’s seeing in the space and what can be expected from brand’s upcoming London Townhouse launch:

“It’s all about comfort in the dressing room: integrated seating, dry bars, entertainment systems, is also something we’re seeing of late. These spaces are being designed to spend time in, and they are evolving into entertaining spaces – much as we saw the kitchen evolve all those years ago.” - Oliver Deadman, Head of Design.

Let’s start at the beginning, what is the best wood type to use in wardrobe design?

Speaking historically, the best timber to use for clothes storage is cedar, particularly cedar of Lebanon, which has fantastic antifungal and pesticide qualities. This means you can safely store your winter cashmere without the threat of moths. We have recently produced a lined subterrain clothes store for a London client, which was lined in cedar of Lebanon. A particularly nice project, this was a prized gem for the gentleman owner who is a very proud Lebanese patriot. The raw material cannot legally be cut down, which makes it very precious – the tree must fall naturally.

Design wise, what’s the first step?

Understand usage. As with all our client work, dressing spaces are extremely personal. How do you want to use it? Who do you want to be in the space with? At what times of day? All these factors hugely affect the flow and specification.

What are the trends you’re seeing now?

Collectors – whether sunglasses, hats, watches, shoes, or handbags –a huge number of our clients are collectors and we’re integrating more ways of displaying, protecting, and preserving their finds. Whether it be designing moveable shelves that can change and stagger in height depending on the size of an item or low-iron presentation glass. We are serially integrating custom-built safes.

Comfort in the dressing room: integrated seating, dry bars, entertainment systems, is also something we’re seeing of late. These spaces are being designed to spend time in, and they are evolving into entertaining spaces – much as we saw the kitchen evolve all those years ago.

What new tech have you been integrating?

We have seen an influx in dedicated decorative security. A fine example of this is the Buben & Zörweg safe which is to feature in the new Clive Christian Furniture Townhouse, housing watch winders, jewel pads and currency drawers all behind the finest quilted leather and German steel. In LA we recently specified a safe product, which lives discreetly behind a push-to-open, mechanically operated full-length mirror. On a smaller scale we have a fast-drop integrated drawer safe, which allows clients to drop keys, daily jewellery, wallets, passports, etc. – operated by fingerprint recognition.

Appliances are becoming more present as spaces become more entertainment-led. We’re integrating beverage centres (Sub-Zero), Kaelo bottle systems within islands and even warming drawers used to preheat your linens and bathrobes.

Is there any advice you'd give someone around the internal cabinetry design?

As with most modern approaches to room layout, functional aspects are neatly hidden to preserve clean-cut decorative outer linework. Drawer separation, cable management for beauty appliances, pullout/up/down storage (for increased accessibility) – even dual-sided cabinets. Interior options are about balance, increasing functionality and workflow – without detracting from the desired aesthetic.

There's a large dressing room going into the new London townhouse. Can you tell us a little about this? What specialist features have you included?

The room plays a trick on the eye – a large central opening appears to cast a reflection of the cabinetry from left to right. Each space (hers and his in this instance) features a fitted tall run of metro deco inlay furniture with a central dressing island. Hers is frosted maple, while his is black walnut to create a fantastic yin yang effect. Hers concentrates on decorative storage for shoes, bags and long flowing garments (through fluted glass), while his has a beautiful central feature of the Buben & Zörweg leather-appointed safe.

“Appliances are becoming more present as spaces become more entertainment-led. We’re integrating beverage centres (Sub-Zero), Kaelo bottle systems within islands and even warming drawers used to preheat your linens and bathrobes.” - Oliver Deadman, Head of Design

Do you find yourself designing any specialist design details in the dressing rooms – marquetry or other features?

The dressing room lends itself very well to personalisation. This is ever present in the fashion industry – we naturally adopt terminology like ‘tailored pieces’, ‘bespoke design’, ‘client monogram’ – we could quite easily be discussing a suit, when in reality it is about the space it is housed within. Why wouldn’t you want to adopt the same character and level of detail? A previous conversation I had when discussing a client brief likened the cabinetry in question to a Paul Smith suit: business on the outside, party on the inside! Cabinetry can be customised with bold leather, exotic veneers and glass work to pack a discreet statement.

What feature would you have in your own dressing room?

I think the integration of creature comforts within the space is fantastic, bringing the feel of a hotel stay to the everyday. A dry bar for the evenings, coffee facilities for the mornings, all set just off an adjoining wet room – with soft music and a comfy chair arrangement… blissful.

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Project of the Week: SBID Awards Finalists 2019

This week's instalment of the #SBIDinspire interior design series features a truly magnificent residential design for a home befitting of its prime location in Wentworth; one of the UK’s premier private estates. This 6 bedroom, 7 bathroom detached house offers inspiration and excitement at every turn. Having worked extensively with the client over the last twelve years on multiple overseas properties and a limited edition Oyster yacht, Hill House Interiors were the natural choice to transform the home, using inspiring fabrics, innovative textures and complementary tones to seamlessly integrate the 3,000 sqft extension into the rest of the home.

SBID Awards: Residential Design Over £1M finalist sponsored by THG Paris

Company: Hill House Interiors

Project: Private Estate, Wentworth

Location: Surrey, United Kingdom

What was the client's brief? 

Hill House Interiors were commissioned to design the interior scheme for this prestigious property in 2006, since which, they have further worked with the owners on their stunning villa in Zagleta and limited edition Oyster yacht. It was, therefore, sheer delight to be contacted again to revisit the client’s Wentworth home to devise the scheme for a vast refurbishment and 3000 sqft extension of the already sizeable 9000 sqft home.

Initially born from the desire for a much larger, walk in closet and dressing area for the master suite, the clients swiftly realised their dream of considerably larger entertainment spaces to include on the wishlist; a stunning new dual aspect fireplace, feature bar, and sumptuous cinema room.

What inspired the interior design of the project? 

Hill House drew inspiration for this remarkable space from the Art Déco era – that fascinating period in history when bold geometry, artistic mirrors and exquisitely rich materials started to be incorporated into private homes.

What was your team’s highlight of the project?

The hallway is the first thing guests see when they enter a home, so it is always a key feature and starting point of any scheme. This transitory spot was the perfect place to sweep guests off their feet and was utilised to add elegant décor details that helped to elevate the overall ambience of the home.

Upon entering, guests are met with a stunning Jerusalem crema grey marble staircase with glass balustrade and leather handrail. This installation is a beautiful contrast to the bespoke, hand sculpted artwork – a single bonsai tree – spanning the 20ft wall. Specially finished in a shimmering hand-applied pearlescent coat, subtle, soft recessed lighting enhances the incredibly intricate detail of this favoured far eastern tree. The sublimely elegant hand-blown floating crystal leaf chandelier that presides over the space - apart from making a stunning sculptural visual centrepiece - creates a beautiful light and shadow play across its surrounding surfaces, enhancing the space further.

Why did you enter the SBID Awards?

The SBID Awards are highly respected within the design industry, and every year it’s incredibly inspiring to see such a wide variety of skills and styles represented across the various categories, showing the amount of diversity within the interior design industry.

The projects that take home an SBID accolade are truly the best in the business, and the awards evening is an event we look forward to every year. We continue to be delighted to take part in the SBID International Design Awards, and are keeping our fingers crossed for 2020!

Questions answered by Jenny Weiss, Co-founder of Hill House Interiors

If you missed last week's Project of the Week featuring luxurious, golden age glamour for the Hilton Imperial Hotel Dubrovnik, click here to see more.

We hope you feel inspired by this week's Residential design! Let us know what inspired you #SBIDinspire

SBID Awards 2019 | Residential Design Over £1M finalist sponsored by THG Paris