H E X A G O N S

My creative brain is currently on overdrive and it is all totally self indulgent...

At long last a builder is booked and in April work will start to transform our dated house into a beautiful home.

I have waited over 2 years, not allowing myself to spend a penny on any improvements (not even a lick of white paint to cover the peeling wallpaper or to paint floorboards and enable the removal of orange lino or brown swirly carpet). 

But, over the last few months, I have finally allowed myself to start planning and dreaming.

So far I've sourced floor tiles for the utility, kitchen area, bathroom and en-suite. 

I'm going for a hexagonal theme inspired by this beautiful Italian apartment:

This is so clever. The humble hexagon is used in different colour and pattern combinations to achieve flow and variation.

Here are the floors in reality, as featured in my favourite digital magazine dezeen 

(architecture and design):

Hexagonal tiles create honeycomb-patterned floors inside this nineteenth century Italian house refurbished by architects Grooppo. I love the warmth of the ochre against the grey; also how the black painted skirting is carried and around the doors. This provides a framework for the floor itself and also for the plate gallery wall. The black is picked up in the chair backs and legs creating a gloriously unified and cohesive scheme.

Groopo renovated just one of the house's three storeys, adding reclaimed and antique furniture to the objects already owned by the family. The change of patterning in the flooring dynamically leads along the hallway in stages towards this bedroom, where the warmth of this antique wardrobe dominates the room.  Notice too how the black door surrounds provide a series of frames along the length of the hallway.

Simple but clever.

The change to blue against white freshens 

the look in this room; 

again carried through to the chair legs and back.

The six-sided porcelain floor tiles are laid in different colours and patterns in seven of the eight rooms, while the kitchen features a chequerboard of black and white square tiles.

Door frames and skirting boards are painted black throughout so that they stand out against the white walls.

The flooring in this room above (in the foreground) is my favourite and therefore my template. 

I plan to use a combination of grey, white, off-white and black hexagons to create a random flower pattern, which shifts in colourways between each area (Kitchen zone in the kitchen/dining/living area; Utility, Bathroom and En-suite). The hexagons may also migrate up the wall to form the splashback to my range cooker. 

The details aren't finalised yet but watch this space.

I'm considering painting the skirtings to frame the floor in each room, though possibly not black.

I may opt instead for a framing tile such as the one on the left.

I'm waiting for the samples and then the fun will begin!

until next time...

I'm totally hooked on geometrics.