Contemporary, But Make it Luxe: Elevating Functional Interior Design

So much of our lives are now displayed on social media. With the rise of influencers with impossibly beautiful homes and picture-perfect decor, it's natural to feel like you're never going to keep up with contemporary styling when you have bike racks, dog bowls and muddy wellies cluttering up your interior!

There is little doubt that practicalities are king, and choosing chalky white fabrics or high maintenance decor isn't a realistic prospect for many families or homeowners with pets.

However, making your home feel fresh and modern is possible without spending a fortune or needing to fence off specific rooms for special occasions!

Here the Andrew Lee interiors team has collected some of our favourite tips to ensure your home feels stylish and cool but remains functional and usable for any busy family.

The Style vs Substance Challenge

Our team combines artists, makers and curators, all with vast experiences in interior design and artistry disciplines - and we all have real homes behind the scenes!

We appreciate that design can't be only about appearance, and so select products we feel offer the opportunity to elevate the style of your property without making everyday home life difficult.

Functionality is a crucial factor in your furnishings and decor, so we seek out craftspeople and artists who blend usability and sustainable, low-maintenance materials into each product.

Let's run through our shortlist of the best Andrew Lee product collections and how they have been carefully designed to offer the ultimate combination of usability and luxury living.

Crafty Dining Designs

We'll start in the kitchen - a room that needs to work hard and perhaps the place we see wear and tear accumulate the fastest.

Kitchen decor can be challenging, as you require:

• Pieces that look great, tie in with your personality and make your kitchen or dining space an excellent entertainment area or dining space.
• Practicalities and furnishings that won't become easily damaged by high heat, smoke or steam.
• Easy-clean items, with the certainty of spills and mishaps that happen in even the most organised cooking areas!

Some of our most popular kitchen decor ranges include:

Chic Placement Settings: hosting a dinner party, morning breakfast, or regular Sunday lunch can feel high pressure, but again the ideal is a dining set that looks cool, starts conversations, and won't break the bank.

The Andrew Lee placements range is vast, with something ideal for every taste.

Take a look at the Art Deco placemat products to make a luxe dining statement or the tactile Marble Placements for beautiful dining sets that will immediately upgrade your table setting.

Each pattern comes in a set of six, with wipe-clean surfaces and high-end print technology to ensure the vibrant colours and outstanding finishes will remain in excellent condition for mealtimes to come.

You can also match your Coaster Sets to your placements for a uniform, organised look, or be bold and choose clashing designs or coordinated mix and match formats.

As a final touch, you can ensure your kitchen looks classy and unique with designer artwork Kitchen Towels to make utility areas and sinks appear original! Our ranges are machine washable and made from 100% cotton for a super-soft finish and bright design finishes.

Style Solutions for Hallways

Next up, we'll visit the hallway - an area of the home that needs to be practical and yet is often the first impression a guest will get.

There is no end of storage demands for hallways, from coats to boots, skateboards to dog leads and places where we can quickly grab our keys or wallet.

Often, these demands mean a hallway is overlooked, but it is a place you want to feel inviting and comfortable, as the first part of your home you step into.

Here are some easy ways you can add a hint of luxury and calm to busy hallway areas:

• Add Reclaimed Wood Prints for a subtle yet eye-catching art statement. Wooden materials are natural and sustainable and a versatile option that will fit in with a wide range of colour schemes or wallpaper designs.
• Position a Luxury Mirror at the end of the hallway to make it appear much larger, or opt for funky Mirror Art pieces to inject some style kudos.
• Replace your hallway lampshade with a contemporary Lighting piece that will instantly make the area feel more luxurious and add a focal point.

To ensure each of our pieces is as convenient and maintenance-free as possible, all Andrew Lee wood prints come ready to hang, and you'll find a wall-mounting kit complete with all mirrors and mirror art.

Wooden art pieces are waterproof and hand-painted for a long-lasting, quality finish. Each mirror we select can be hung landscape or portrait to adapt to your hallway layout, and mirror art is easy to clean and water-resistant, so suitable for use in other rooms, including kitchens and bathrooms.

Inspiration for Small Rooms

Finally, we'll think about those smaller rooms in our homes that are so often overlooked - but it’s always possible to make a space feel luxurious, even if you have limited floor space!

A Canvas Print is an excellent way to spice up the decor in a home office, box room, study or even utility area that you'd like to feel more inviting.

The tactile, direct print to canvas finish is intriguing and draws the eye, and we offer canvass in a wide range of sizes.

From tiny 20 x 15 cm pieces ready to hang through to large statement canvases of 127 x 91 cm, each Andrew Lee canvas art product is stretched around gallery style deep wooden frames. These give an instant touch of class and fashion while being highly affordable.

Art pieces of smaller sizes are also a great way to refresh downstairs cloakrooms and WCs - rooms that you know guests are likely to visit and want to feel a little more polished!

There are no limitations on how you can incorporate functional fashion into your home with a bit of imagination and creativity - and we hope these ideas have given you some accessible suggestions for ways to add a little style!

For more product ideas and to visit the complete Andrew Lee home furnishings ranges, please visit our catalogue online.