Cassie's Interior Design Masters Journal - Student Halls - Episode 4

It is a bit of a strange feeling watching the shows back but it has been lovely to finally get to talk about the whole experience. I am writing this a couple of days before Episode 4 is due to air and I swear the weeks are going so quickly at the minute!

This week is student halls. I lived in halls for a year as a student in Southampton and the flats and rooms were pretty grim. I remember how often things would get broke, things would get stood on, jumped off, wet, leaned on or even set on fire. This may have just been my uni experience but from everything I remember, halls have to go through a lot.

My room at Uni was smaller than what we had to work with in Leicester so it felt quite palatial. I took this design very seriously as a possible design for future student rooms. As well as this I was very aware that they need to be a blank canvas for indivudals to put their own stamp on.

First thing that I thought should be an important starting point was to make sure every material was as sustainable as it could be. In the real world a student halls room would be rolled out thousands of times so it seemed vital that as much of the materials used, came from either a recycled or sustainable source. I’m sure this is totally possible within a budget and on a large scale. So much is consumed and replaced within halls as long as you can get the strength and reliability needed I think it should be the standard going forward in hall design and not just a consideration.

BEFORE

AFTER

I usually work with a lot of antiques and try to opt for higher quality items when furnishing interiors always with the Vivienne Westwood Mantra in my head “Buy less, choose well” I realise this is a mantra that could hinder me on my styling in a show like this as I knew I would never have all the little nick nacks to finish it all but I tried my best to stick to this and sometimes I think I would have done a better job if i did deviate from this a bit for the show, but I wouldn’t in real life. So I did struggle with that balance.

I didn’t want to inflict too much of a personal style into the room and hoped it would sit nicely as a backdrop for more personal possessions. I actually think my design and ideas for this were really good and with a few more hours would have looked a lot better, but frankly I ran out of time.

I was aware that in halls you wouldn’t have hanging lights or anything too protruding as the likely hood would be they would get knocked off. Wallpaper seemed a total no no as it would get picked at and would forever being replaced. So as much as halls are normally Magnolia. I thought keeping it simple and white would be a realistic option and would be a great backdrop for some of the details. I chose to raise the bed to give extra storage below, mainly for a suitcase’s as you always seem to be back and forward to home for a few weeks at a time. Also you wouldn’t be able to screw anything into the walls so putting pictures up etc is a no go. I put a small ledge around the top of the bed so pictures could be leaned up against the wall allowing it to feel more personal instantly. I chose to tile the wall the behind the bed to give the room some interest and colour and should be durable enough to withlast a few student years. All the timber used for making the framing for the bed was reclaimed from the amazing Bristol Wood Recycling Project. On a large scale project Im not sure entirely how this would work but Im sure its not impossible. All the sheet material to meet fire regs has to be treated. I wanted to use the bare ply and sealed it with waterproof lacquer to protect it. Unfortunately some of the the ply had turned yellow on the process of treating which everyone was in the same boat with. Again in the real world you may send it back, or look for alternatives, but we really didn’t have time for that. I decided there wasn’t much I could do with out painting it all out white which I woulnt’t have time for so just hoped it wouldn’t be that noticeable. It was.

I didn’t have time to fully finish the bed, change the doors on the wardrobe or to get Will the builder to put up the cork board. so many things were a bit off centre or wonky. Like I said it needed a few more hours but overall if I had that time I think the design could have worked quite well as a student room and be a blank canvas for someone to move in.

The cork floor was what I was most pleased with. Cork is not only sustainable it is extremely hard wearing and an insulator too. I remember the itchy carpet floors in my halls and as someone that loves to be barefoot it was impossible to do this in halls as it all felt so grimy. The cork can be cleaned and srubbed and with a heavy lacquer finish would be sealed from any moisture. All the bedding and cushions were organic and from sustainable sources and the desk top was bamboo which is also a sustainable product.

A lot of my time and budget went on the electrics. The plastic plug sockets on the wall was something I really didn’t want to keep. It is something that feels very institutional to me, almost gives the room a feel of a hospital and felt the steel conduit as well as being super tough would give a touch of a design thought to this aspect of the room. A lot of time is likely to be spent at that desk so it is important it works. All the lighting was waterproof and made for bathrooms ( remembering water balloons making it into our flat once)

The Kitchen

This was a team effort between myself, Ju and Frank. I think it was a successful space as we were very realistic about how the space will be used and what we could achieve within the budget and time.

This was very much a collaborative effort. It was my idea to paint only a few of the cupboard doors as doing them all would have taken too much decorator time. We worked around the existing sofas and brought the orange into our scheme. The existing cupboards also worked well with the existing chairs and details such as spraying their legs black really helped to tie it all together. Ju chose the colours and suggested changing the handles and this made all the difference. Frank suggested the flooring, which looked great, and I spent ages trying to find someone who could fit it within our budget. We looked at changing surfaces, tiles etc. But again we had £500 to do the kitchen so it was all not realistic.

I was really happy with how the kitchen came together in the end.

There is always a lot more fun times than there looks, from dinners and drinks together. We all had the most fantastic experience together. There was a lot of different opinions while working but lots of shared laughter too. Above is a few behind the scenes photos. It was sad this week to say goodbye to the super talented and equally lovely, kind and funny Jerome. Thanks also Jerome for sorting out the dramas of all the creases in my dress!