Here at Kia Designs we believe an interior design internship should be practical. What’s the point of an internship where all you do is fetch coffee? An internship should be a learning experience where you contribute and the work you do is useful. An internship should be engaging, educational, and most importantly an internship should pay […]
Interior Design can be a tough industry to get into. Recently we were asked by an Interior Design Graduate about whether they should start up their own business having had little-to-no luck in being able to break into the industry for the past 2 years. This is the advice that we gave: Do you have […]
Being an interior designer can be a very funny thing. You can often get pigeonholed into areas where you might not want to be. We have been extremely lucky to be able to have clients who can look past the most recent project we have done to the sheer breadth of the work we have […]
We took a trip to Belfast to visit some potential new kitchen suppliers based in Northern Ireland. You might be wondering, why decide to spend money on travel and a trip to visit companies we have never worked with before? We’ve written before about travelling to visit trade shows, and we find trips like these […]
Whether you’re right at the beginning of your project, hovering somewhere in the middle or coming desperately close to the end, everyone wants their opinions heard. It’s natural to want to be involved with the design and completion of your new home, and we encourage it. Being involved in the design stage and contributing your […]
Let’s take a look behind the curtain at the brief for our Waterloo new build. The aim was to furnish and decorate a newly built two bedroom apartment in the heart of Blackfriars. The property has spectacular views and we aimed to make the most of the quirky angles and vistas. The decor would be […]
We often get asked what kinds of projects we take on and what types of homes. In all honesty, it is a range. We take on projects from new builds, where we will be working off plans, to house builds where we will be working with the architects to get the plans right. Then there […]
Making bespoke furniture for projects is exciting. It’s great being able to offer a client a special product that is individual to them and fits their home perfectly. It is also admittedly a little stressful, as all the information provided to the maker needs to be exactly right. There is a lot of planning which […]
We completed a London home for a Saudi family (check it out in our portfolio here!) who loved it so much that they wanted us to create a similar look in their Riyadh property. The design uses a combination of locally sourced products, known suppliers operating in the Middle East and trusted suppliers here in […]
Last month, we at Kia Designs celebrated 10 years by launching a new avenue for our business. For the last 10 years Kia Designs has been focused the residential interior, bringing beautiful, intelligent design into the homes of our clients. When our office space stopped working for us, we went back to the drawing board […]
For our design team, it’s not uncommon for clients to judge a design before it’s finished. It’s natural to want to see the work you’ve paid for progress into your dream home. In this way, designing or redesigning your home is not unlike a spring cleaning: you have to make a mess before you have […]
New build properties can be extremely devoid of character. Because they haven’t been lived in already, it can be difficult to envision a comfortable life in one. Our clients for this particular new build redesign were desperate to have something that was relaxed and calm whilst making the most of the space. We had the […]
Instant hot water taps are great. They are well designed, water efficient, and you can easily fill your mug for a nice cup of tea without needing to fuss with a kettle. Although they may not be suitable in every project that we do, generally we highly recommend clients have them installed in their new […]
When it comes to the nitty gritty, hands-on electrical, plumbing and building works of your project, it’s essential that you seek the professional experience of contractors. If you decide to dive into doing works on your home without a designer (We’ve written a blog post on reasons to hire an interior designer, if you’re still […]
Living in a digital age, you sometimes find that when you order things online (part of our procurement process), they don’t always match what you think you bought. Our office shelves and drawers are filled to the brim with samples from suppliers to help avoid this problem, yet colour variation is a difficult one to […]
Awarded by the community of over 40 million monthly users, annual BOH badge highlights home renovation & design professionals with Top ratings and most popular home designs LONDON, England, January 29, 2019 – Kia Designs of London has won “Best Of Customer Service” on Houzz®, the leading platform for home renovation and design. The […]
Towards the end of last year, we made one of the hardest and biggest decisions we have had to make in regards to the business. We left our office space at WeWork and moved into a 2 year leased office. It wasn’t an easy decision to make. We had been at WeWork for 3 years […]
Here’s a little sneak peek into one of our projects. This one has now come to a close and we wrote another post for this project when it was just getting started. With this large, beautiful property, it’s tricky to narrow our focus down and only talk about one aspect. There are so many exciting […]
Art is usually a personal thing. Many people like to express or display their taste through their art collection. Other people like to have a visual keepsake of a memorable holiday or happy occasion. In some larger design schemes, most commonly in hotels, art is often brought in to enhance or compliment a feature piece […]
London has a history of being seen as a grey and dreary place, and sometimes city life lives up to that stereotype. This is part of why having house plants is such an effective way to brighten up an urban home. Natural greenery can open up a space and make it easier to breathe (maybe […]