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Embrace Your Space | Design By Adele

Adele describes her home as ‘hotel boutique chic’ which it most certainly is. She wants guests to feel like they’ve just walked into a luxury hotel and that is definitely the vibe we got. Adele’s turn of the century Leeds home doesn’t disappoint, the elegance and style are second to none. All you have to do is look at how she’s hung our Lapal Ceiling Lights to know she’s got style. Adele’s dream job is to be a property investor, she wants people to want to buy a Design by Adele home and all anyone has to do is move in and they’ve got their dream home. Her favourite part of a renovation is when the whole house is complete chaos and carnage and she’s living off microwave meals that are cooked in the living room so, it seems she is made for renovations.


Adele bought her first house when she was 22. It was a renovation project that ended up doubling the market value which is what sparked an interest in renovating houses. Since then she has lived in or renovated 8 houses. Adele moved into her current renovation project in September 2018 and it’s been full steam ahead ever since. She describes that house – before she moved in as though ‘the 70’s had thrown up all over it’ – there were brown paisley style carpets, aertex on the walls, a brown galley kitchen, cerise in the living room and lots of clashing curtains and carpets and walls – it really couldn’t be any more different now.

decoration: underline;">Check out Adele's instagram here.

 Lighting

‘Lighting is essential to creating the aesthetic that you’re after. In terms of the kitchen, there’s three different types of lighting you can have in the kitchen and it all creates different moods. Light can really reflect your mood, on an evening when I want to settle down, I’ll have the fire on and use the subtle lights and it just a creates a really cosy atmosphere. Light is essential for creating for the finishing touches that you’re after.’

 Advice

“I don’t think anyone is ever prepared for how stressful a renovation can be. So, if you can, prepare yourself in your head for THE most stress that you will ever have in your life. Have a budget and stick to it. It’s so easy to get carried away but if you are renovating your house to sell it, stick to your budget. If it’s your forever house that it’s okay to invest that money. Have lots of gin in the house because you’ll need it for days when you think you’re losing your mind.”

 Living room

Before Adele started renovating her lounge, she was living in it, it was her kitchen, office and lounge, it contained her fridge, a tea and coffee station and her sofa under 12 dust sheets. She says it gave her a lot of time to decide what she wanted to do with it. She knew she wanted to make something special out of the alcoves and that lighting would achieve that. The first thing she did was to take everything out of the room so that she was left with a blank canvas. She then plastered the whole room including the ceiling which has been wallpapered! The wallpaper ended up inspiring the colour scheme for the living room, she loved the tones of it, and it completed the lights that she had in mind. After that, all the ideas started coming together.

Trades

“Trades people are really important, if you can’t communicate with your trades then it’s not going to go well. Make sure they know exactly what you want from them. Try and get recommendations from people if you can, then you know what you can expect. Try and get three quotes from the trades that come round and chose the one that has the best work from what you’ve seen, at the best price. Trades people can be notoriously difficult., they’re known in the industry for ever turning up. My trades never turn up on time. If they say they’re going to be here at 8, I always add on an hour and half because they always turn up an hour later. I make them lots of tea and coffee and try and be nice to them but always let them know that you’re the boss. You have to be strong in your stance with them but if there’s a mutual respect there then it should work.”

Kitchen

Adele’s favourite room and biggest renovation project has been her kitchen. Before, it was a dull and dated galley kitchen that needing bringing into 2019. The layout of the kitchen felt uninviting and cold with the front opening straight into the kitchen that you had to walk through before getting to lounge or dining room. Many people would see this kitchen as a hinderance but not Adele, she saw it as an opportunity. All the cupboards, work surfaces, flooring and even a wall which separated the kitchen and back reception room were ripped out. That allowed Adele to extend the kitchen to create some all-important cupboard space and a central island. The finished look is a gorgeous, elegant space read for eating and entertaining.

 Bathroom

Adele describes her bathroom as a slice of luxury, a little spa heaven. She has installed a TV above the bath and her favourite thing to do is to sit in the bath, watch TV with a glass of champagne – so extra. Her bathroom was also the part of her renovation that caused her the most aggravation (if you’ve been following our renovation blogs, you’ll see a trend here). When renovating a bathroom, there’s a certain process that needs to be followed. First you need to get you plasterer in, then get your plumber in, then the tiler, the get the plumber back in. Adele’s tiler had tiled over a pipe that the plumber needed access to. To solve it, they had to take measurements of where the outside pipe was then use then to measure inside to figure out where the hole was. If it went wrong, Adele would have been left with a hole in her tiles where she didn’t need one. It did all work out in the end though.