White children’s furniture on flickr

Creating a coastal style interior involves incorporating natual colours to capture the beauty of the coast, and creating an inviting, comfortable space.

A popular choice is to use a blue and white colour scheme to resemble the summer sky, the sea and the breaking waves. As an alternative, you could also decorate the room so that it highlights rather than imitates the coastal scene by downplaying interior colours and using a predominantly white colour scheme so that the eye is drawn to the view outside the window; be it a coastal or coutryside scene.

Whitewash your room and add white painted floorboards. Keep the whole look fresh and clean by using only white furniture such as a coastal style wardrobe, chest of drawers and white painted bedframe.

Add accent colours of blue or coral via cushions, lamps and beddings. Choose fabrics with monochrome stripes to enhance the coastal feel – Ian Mankin offer a great selection of striped fabrics. Large overstuffed cushions and pilliows will add a feel of homely comfort.

White Bedroom Furniture

When furnishing a bedroom it is important to choose the right size furniture for the room. At New England Lifestyle we are confident that we are able to offer a choice of sizes in the key pieces of bedroom furniture to ensure that you are able to find the pieces that are right for your room.

When it comes to choosing a wardrobe one of the most important considerations is whether your preferred wardrobe can actually be carried into the room – something that many of us overlook! If access is difficult, but you are looking for a large wardrobe, the Manhattan Double Wardrobe with Drawers is the ideal choice. Clever constructed in four parts to enable access into almost any room, this large white wardrobe is put together in situ by our skilled delivery team in just minutes.If your bedroom is in the eaves and height is limited, but you long for hanging space, the Maine Wardrobe is a small white wardrobe designed just for you.

If you have a long blank wall and you are looking for drawer storage, then our large white multidrawer units are a great choice. With a total of seven substantial storage drawers, they really do hold a lot of clothes!!!! If you do not have the width for such a unit but are still look for drawer space, then our white tall chests are what you are looking for.

Find your perfect bedside table from our choice of ten variations. If you have the space, finish the room with a dressing table and/or a mirror. We have a choice of four dressing tables varying from 121cm wide to just 94cm, and a selection of large and small white mirrors to match. Alternatively, why not choose a white full length mirror, which can be either wall mounted or simply leant against the wall?

What does your bedside table say about you?!

Bedside tables come in an array of designs, sizes and shapes. Whether you opt for a standard white bedside table with simply a drawer and open area below, or a bedside table with nothing but drawers, a bedside table can end up being a very personal piece of furniture.

What do you keep on your bedside table? Is your bedside always a place of complete organisation, clean, crisp and uncluttered, or does it transform from its orderly daytime appearance to becoming a resting place for the day’s accessories overnight?

I would like to think my bedside table is a fairly organised affair, with just a small table lamp, alarm clock and coaster on it at most times. In the shelves below there are always a couple of books, maybe a magazine or two and the odd page that has been ripped out and is still waiting to find a new home. Overnight my bracelet and glasses sit on the top, but in general it is a place I like to keep clutter free.

On the other side of the bed, my partner has a bedside cabinet which always seems to be the home for various objects that can only be described as “things”! He has a small table lamp, always a book or two and a small tin overflowing with coppers. Car keys, house keys, his mobile phone and wallett make a frequent appearance. Sometimes a pocket knife or two will be left there, along with a collection of scraps of paper with scribbled notes. The drawer is a true “man drawer” holding a vast array of things that one day will surely come in handy. In the cupboard below are, amongst other things, a collection of envelopes of seeds.

I wonder what this all says about us?!!

Go on, tell us… what do you have on your bedside table?!

How can you make the most of your children’s bedroom? Try zoning your scheme into three separate areas to create an organised, practical and stylish room.

Zone 1: The Sleeping Area

Create a tranquil sleeping area to encourage a restful night. Add some bright comfy cushions so the area can be used as a place to lounge with friends.

Zone 2: The Study Area

A dedicated homework area provides a place for focus and concentration, and stops books and folders from spreading throughout the house. A large table desk such as the Maine Desk provides a substantial work space, and choose a pretty pinboard above for timetables, notes and invitations. Opt for a tall bookcase such as the New Hampshire Bookcase to store folders, books and school work.

Zone 3: The Dressing Area

For all girls, an area devoted entirely to glamour is a must. Combine a console table with a wall mounted mirror to maximise space.  Consider using a Maine Toy Box as a stool / storage box, or using baskets under the console table to hold the excess clutter. Add pretty hooks or a Wooden Pegrail to hold jewellery, belts and scarves.

The great thing about having white furniture is that it is very easy to change the style of a room by adding or taking away bits of colour. My son’s bedroom has blue and white stripey curtains and a navy and white rug with a ship on it in on his white painted floorboards. He now has his sister’s old Maine Sleigh Bed, and underneath, wicker baskets full of his favourite toys. A Maine Tall Chest houses his clothes and is home to his TV and an old hand me down Gameboy. He has now decided that he would like to have a work area, and has chosen the Maine Console Table as a desk with a Newport White Dining Chair – all covered in an array of pens and papers! Above he has a Manhattan Mirror. By the side of his bed he chose a toy box instead of a bedside table, with a lamp and his new alarm clock.

My daughters bedroom, again with the backdrop of white painted walls and white painted floorboards could not be more different. With pink gingham curtains and an array of pink and pale blue cushions on her bed, she has now moved into a large double bed and she chose a Manhattan Headboard, and Manhattan Bedside Tables for either side of her bed. For her work station she chose the Manhattan Console Table with a Newport White Chair, along with the Maine Bookcase to store all her books and DVDs on. She also has a Manhattan Double Wardrobe with Drawers for all her clothes, and Manhattan Chest of Drawers with her TV on.

A lot of Mums and Dads who come into the showroom worry about having white furniture in their children’s bedrooms. In fact, because of the clean lines and the appearance of space that is created by using white,  you tend to encourage your children to keep their rooms tidier; if the room is full of colour it somehow ends up more untidy. From our point of view we think it is a great advantage to have a clean crisp white bedroom interior with just the odd splash of colour to suit your child, and the colour can easily be changed as they grow and their tastes change and develop.

Most of my children’s friends who come over to play seem to be very envious of the look of their fun bedrooms!

And so I decided to draw my first piece of furniture. In my design I created a bedside table with just one drawer and an open shelf below. I have always really liked the effect of tongue and groove as it gives a real seaside feel to furniture, so I designed the bedside table with a tongue and grooved top and sides. This piece is now known as the Manhattan Bedside Table – and over the next few weeks the range slowly evolved with the Chest of Drawers, Wardrobe and Blanket Box.

A year or so later, New England Lifestyle was born as a company. I had a dream one night that I was standing in a very large warehouse, full of furniture as far as I could see. This vision gave me the idea that we should always keep our furniture in stock for delivery as quickly as possible, as most of the furniture companies I visited in the beginning had a 6-14 week lead time.

Since then, I have found that many of my designs have come through necessity. When my children were born, so was the Maine Range beginning with the Sleigh Bed, child’s size wardrobe (known as the Maine Wardrobe), Maine Bedside Table, the tall white chest of drawers and white bookcase.

It is great fun and very rewarding to see my drawings brought to life in the 120 or so items – both furniture and accessories – we now sell.

Environ Country Homes are an award-winning company that specialises in producing homes for discerning buyers, respecting traditional values in the process to create real communities tht are a pleasure to live in. The development near West Malling in Kent certainly seems to fit the bill, being a self-contained peaceful hamlet located on the edge of the new community of Kingshill, bordered by a country park.

The attention to detail of the Oaks Hamlet houses stand them apart from the rest. The homes are designed to be functional, to have space that flows but also to be flexible allowing for the different activities and requirements of today’s lifestyle.

Environ have selected items from both the Maine and Manhattan ranges of bedroom furniture to compliment their exquisite design schemes, whilst our coffee tables, side tables and white desk can be found in the living area.

White Furniture specialists New England Lifestyle are pleased to be working in association with Environ Country Homes to offer direct ordering of furniture via their Sales Office on the Oaks Hamlet development.