Designs on the perfect home

Oct 4 2007 by Debbie Johnson, Liverpool Daily Post

Debbie Johnson visits an apartment in the heart of the city

JULIE VALENTINE has no excuses when it comes to having a good-looking home – she runs an interior design service for one of the city’s coolest stores, Utility.

The 30-year-old regularly visits people’s homes, all across Merseyside and the UK, to discuss their needs with them, and helps source furniture from the Bold Street based business. She also works on contracts for architects, bars and restaurants, such as the Radisson Hotel and Urban Splash.

So, with that kind of build-up, does she think her own home measures up?

“The problem is,” she says, “when you work in the line I do, you see so many beautiful things all the time and it’s easy to want them all! Utility always focuses on the cutting edge of design, really fresh and funky stuff, so I fall in love with things on a regular basis.

“But you have to be realistic – I’ve only been here in this apartment for two years, it’s not quite time to throw everything away just yet!”

Home is a two-bedroomed flat in the Saunders Building, on the lower part of Duke Street. Enjoying a corner position and two balconies, the sense of space and light were key to first attracting her to the apartment.

She says: “When I came to view it I fell in love with it straight away, and offered the asking price before the estate agent had even got the particulars out! I just knew it fitted my lifestyle.”

At the time, Julie had recently moved back to Liverpool after a spell in Manchester, and is still clearly relieved at being home.

“I’m so happy to be back in Liverpool,” she says, “and of course this is a great time to be here.”

Julie puts some of her design tips into practice in her own home. She says: “One thing I always advise clients is to keep the immovables – the walls, the larger items of furniture – neutral, and use accessories to add colour and personality. That way you can change your mind and get a new look inexpensively and as often as you like.”

Her open-plan lounge, kitchen and dining area has white walls and sprung maple flooring, together with putty-coloured partition blinds at the windows and a grey sofa. All the furniture, unsurprisingly, comes from Utility.

She has added the colour she talks of through a black dining table, and dining chairs with duck egg blue backs, some beautiful mauve and blue striped glass vases, and a stunning black and white fabric by Finnish company Marimekko, which she stretched on to a wooden frame and used as a wall hanging.

She says: “I love the open-plan design; it’s a very sociable flat, great for having people round for a drink or dinner, very relaxed while you cook and chat.”

Julie also relaxes by playing the piano, which she learned up to Grade Eight while she was at school: “It’s very soothing and emotional,” she says.

The main bedroom is again painted in white, with textured white bed linens, but with feature partition blinds all across one wall.

There is another large Marimekko wall hanging, and some glassware individually designed and made for her by a friend in Manchester.

She also has a side table by Vitra Eames.

The bathroom is white and cherry wood, with blue tiled floors and a floating recessed sink designed by Philippe Starck.

Julie says: “It is the perfect place for me. I have loved it since day one.

“It is five minutes from work and right by the Grosvenor development, so a really up-and- coming part of town. It couldn’t suit me better.”

FOR more information on Utility furniture, gifts and services, go to www.utilitydesign.co.uk

* DO YOU live in an apartment in Liverpool city centre?

Are you proud of how your home looks, and would love to share it with Style City readers?

If so, email us with your details to debbiemjohnson@hotmail.com and we will feature it on these very pages.