Growing momentum in the housing market has sparked renewed optimism about house prices this spring. Not only have the highest new seller asking prices been recorded in May 2013 but there’s also a dramatic increase in home searches on websites such as Rightmove, and surveyors quoted as saying they are ‘…flat out carrying out mortgage valuations…”

Compared to this time last year, sales are also happening quicker, and the average time a house is on the market is now 80 days – compared to 90 days this time last year. It seems realistic to expect, therefore, that the number of house transactions should increase throughout 2013.

Is your home ‘sale-ready’?
If you’ve been thinking about selling your house, whether you’re looking to trade up, down size or re-locate, it could be a good time to start getting your property ready for market. But to secure the best possible price for your home, start by taking a step back and looking through the eyes of your buying audience.

All about space
Making rooms look as big as possible can require simple de-cluttering – or it could be time to re-think the layout. Clearing away ornaments, streamlining accessories and a general tidy up can emphasise a feeling of space. But ensuring there’s ample storage can allow you to maximise the square footage effortlessly.

Built in furniture and fitted wardrobes are a great way to incorporate storage at the same time adding style to a room. Professionally designed fitted bedroom furniture can give your relaxing haven an airy feel. Clever home study furniture can ensure your gadgets and paperwork are kept out of sight, giving your room the illusion of spaciousness.

As fitted furniture specialists, Strachan, is a great place to find inspiration. Our designers will be able to advise you on creating useful storage that not only has a place for everything, but looks fantastic. Every design consultation is free and without obligation, so you really have nothing to lose (and the possibility of a quick sale to gain!).

Take ‘you’ out of your home
Style is a very personal thing. You may love your bedroom furniture but exchanging it for timeless oak finish built-in wardrobes can broaden the appeal and bring light into the room.

Selling your home is no time to show off your strong fashion sense, either. Ultra modern may be your idea of perfection but could alienate a buyer. Think classic neutral wallpaper, light painted woodwork, simple styling details and interior colour schemes that blend seamlessly into your property.

Ramp up the ‘wow factor’
You may want to shy away from spending money on a property you’re about to sell, but investing in great quality bespoke fitted furniture could give your home the edge – adding value and increasing the ‘wow factor’ with a few carefully chosen luxury touches.

A walk in wardrobe could be a great way to turn a box room into a selling feature. Or how about a state-of-the-art home study? Perhaps a dressing room could make your home irresistible to potential buyers? Talk to Strachan’s designers and see how they could help make your property a must-have purchase.

One room, two uses
If space is at a premium in your property, what better way to persuade your potential buyers to choose your home than showing them the secret to flexible living?

A spare bedroom that doubles as an office is the most obvious choice. If you incorporate a fold down bed into a spare room, your buyers will see how quickly and easily they can transform their workspace into a stylish and comfortable guest room.

Strachan are the UK’s market leader in creating bespoke ‘Convert-A-Rooms’ – studies by day, bedrooms by night with wall beds that hide discreetly away leaving you with professional looking study furniture for a hard working home office. Why not request our no-obligation design consultation to give your property a distinctive twist that buyers could find hard to resist?

Make your property move with a little help from Strachan
With a more buoyant housing market, it could be a great time to think about selling your home. Built-in furniture is a fantastic way to organise your rooms, enhance the feeling of space and add luxury touches, and Strachan are perfectly placed to help you get the best possible price for your home.

Creating lasting pieces of high-end furniture and brilliantly designed storage, Strachan’s highly-skilled craftsmen will install your fitted furniture absolutely free. So why not take advantage of a free design consultation and discover how you could make the best investment to help your property sell?

To arrange a FREE design consultation without obligation, call Strachan FREE on 0800 0138 139.

*Data from The Rightmove House Price Index, 20th May 2013

How special does your bedroom furniture make you feel each morning?
How do you feel when you wake up and open your eyes? Does your bedroom furniture and décor make you want to bounce out of bed, excited about choosing an outfit for the day ahead? We think your home should make every day feel special, whether you’re heading out for a day at the office or a day at the races. And with this in mind, we’d like to introduce you to Ultimo, a new exclusive contemporary dressing room and walk in wardrobe range that would make the most demanding of celebrities feel like royalty.

Our Ultimo dressing Room is an exquisite vision in its Aura finish, and our Walk in Wardrobe is pure luxury in a Pearl finish. Ultra modern and perfect for a contemporary home, we feel the sleek and opulent Ultimo will certainly make every day feel extra special. But just how do you choose between dressing rooms and walk in wardrobes?

First of all, it’s a matter of space. If you have a spare room that isn’t necessarily adjacent to your bedroom, then an elegant dressing room could be for you. This means all your dressing and grooming can take place away from your bedroom, so that your partner is not disturbed if you start your day at different times. With more space your dressing room furniture can include a dressing table and seating to make it more luxurious. If you have a box room close to your bedroom, then you may feel a walk in wardrobe is better for you. Being close by, you can then take your outfit back to your bedroom to finish dressing.

Made to fit you
When considering ideas for your dressing room or walk in wardrobe, you need to think about your lifestyle. Do you have dinner suits and evening gowns that you prefer to hang full length? Do you prefer your shirts to be hung up or folded neatly? Do you have more formal wear than casual clothes? How many pairs of shoes or boots do you own? Do you have lots of items you’d like to store out of the way? Your designer will take these into account when creating the design of your room.

Of course, when you commission a bespoke furniture maker like Strachan you can be sure that it will fit like a glove and be tailored to suit your lifestyle.

Clever design details make all the difference
If you need double hanging space, we can provide single height rails that can be pulled down to make them easier to reach. And for your bags and accessories… we’ll treat each one with the utmost respect and can provide glass topped compartments to keep them clean and on display. We can also include elegantly gliding trays and racks for even the most outstanding shoe collection. And to make sure you’re looking your best, our concealed full length mirror takes up no space whatsoever, yet pulls out easily for one final check before you leave the house.

Having a dressing room or walk in wardrobe made exclusively for you by Strachan could be one of the best decisions you’ll make. Not just because it will make every day feel truly special, but because it could even increase the value of your home.

To find out more without any obligation, we are happy to arrange a FREE design consultation for you. Please call us FREE on 0800 212 367.

There is nothing that gets the hearts of homeowners fluttering more than having their own elegant dressing room or walk in wardrobe. But what’s the difference?
Is it all down to how much you want to spend, or simply what you want to call it? When you start to look at what is available, you soon see there’s a real difference.

Walk into a walk-in wardrobe
A walk-in wardrobe is no more a dressing room than an en-suite is a bathroom. Unlike a dedicated dressing room, a walk-in wardrobe is often a smaller or box room adjoining the bedroom or an area of the bedroom that may be partitioned off specifically with fitted wardrobes in mind.
Walk in wardrobes like fitted wardrobes can be fitted floor to ceiling to maximises every inch of space, right down to overhead storage for out of season outfits.

Dream of a dressing room
If you have more space available, you may want to indulge yourself with a fully fitted dressing room. Imagine floor to ceiling wardrobes with full length and double hanging rails, and a whole host of storage options designed to match your lifestyle. Dressing rooms can be as opulent and as practical as you want and can include storage islands with padded seating and built in dressing tables with mirrors. Professionally fitted, your dressing room design should provide everything you desire to get dressed and groomed for the day ahead. You can even build in storage for an ironing board so that you can take care of your clothes in one space. His and her dressing rooms are becoming more popular as more and more of us strive to keep the bedroom as a place to relax.

Planning your space
Before you call the designers in, here are a few tips to consider:
• Do you have space to include seating or a bespoke storage island? If not, walk in wardrobes may suit you better.
• If you haven’t worn an outfit for a year or two, give it to charity. There’s no point paying for storage for items you don’t need.
• Separate your clothes into different areas of your life as this can help you think about the number of compartments you may need in your fitted wardrobes.
• Look at how much of your clothing needs to be hung full length, which items can be hung folded and how many clothes you have that can be stored in drawers.
• Don’t forget about your jewellery, belts, ties, accessories and footwear. They will need accommodating too.

More and more people are making radical changes to their homes to improve their lifestyles. And with so many exciting options available you’ll be surprised at the difference a walk in wardrobe or dressing room will make to you and your partner.

Furniture industry experts predicted a return to natural finishes, elegance and traditional values for 2013. Proof of this can now be seen throughout the high street, with an array of products on display across interiors specialists and retailers.

Wood grain finishes never go out of style and there is always a market for good quality contemporary and classic furniture that expresses your personality and reflects your lifestyle. You want your home to be your personal sanctuary, somewhere you love to return to and exceptional design forms the basis for this.

In today’s economic climate, any new piece of furniture has to earn its keep. Bespoke fitted furniture has the longevity to do just that, and is a great way of creating a room that flows, maximising space and utilising any awkward nooks and crannies or sloping ceilings. Furniture makers that build hand crafted fitted furniture using traditional manufacturing methods encompass a level of detail in their work that ensures their furniture will last for decades.

Make the trends work for you
If you’re looking for fitted furniture that’s well-made and also on trend, choose timeless natural wood finishes. Rich dark hues of a walnut finish can create an uber stylish sleek look, or a warm and inviting ambience depending how you accessorise. If you want homely appeal, add lots of texture and colour. If you prefer a clean modern look, keep the accessories to a minimum and stay within a neutral colour palette.

It’s amazing how the same piece of furniture can be the centre of two very different styles. Buying quality fitted furniture enables you to update that look without the expense of new furniture or sacrificing the finish.

Love your lounge
Your lounge should be somewhere where you can shut out the world and unwind. Surround yourself with colours and textures that soothe. Turn down the lighting and put on your favourite music. Keep the feeling tranquil with natural materials, perhaps a leather sofa or linen window panels. Bring your personality into the room by blending inherited mementos with brand new elements such as fitted lounge furniture. There is nothing is more welcoming than a room filled with oak or walnut furniture. Mixing these perennial favourites with up to the minute high gloss or matt surfaces will satisfy the most contemporary tastes in interiors.

Keeping up with interior trends
Furniture trends used to change with the decades, but in the 21st Century things are far more dynamic. This is great news for the consumer, as choice increases. But it can become a challenge to keep a room on trend without buying new furniture every year. So just how do you do it?

The answer is surprisingly simple. For each room, you need to create a neutral base of the items you don’t want to replace too often, such as carpets, fitted wardrobes, fitted lounge furniture or a built in home study. Pick classic wood finishes such as oak or walnut and blend with neutral tones for walls. These finishes and tones are always on trend and work in every room. Now choose a look you love, such as jewel-tone colours or chunky fabric textures and use these for soft furnishings or a feature wall.

Then, when you fancy a refresh, just repaint your feature wall and change your accessories to create a brand new room without over spending or replacing everything.

Media mentions of return to recession and deficit budgets don’t seem to be going away any time soon, so making your cash go further by investing in products that last seems to be the sensible option for everyone.

As the clocks move forward and the air fills with the scent of fresh growth, it’s time to spring clean your wardrobe from unworn clutter, and commit a little time to arranging your clothes for the warmer weather. A good clear will highlight any costume gaps for the ensuing season, a perfect excuse for a shopping trip!

Good fitted wardrobe storage makes all the difference when organising your clothes, shoes, bags and accessories and if you have sufficient room, a walk-in wardrobe or dressing room is the ultimate space to enjoy coordinating and selecting those designer items.

Here’s 10 handy tips to help organise your fitted wardrobe space for Spring

1. Set up separate ‘activity zones’ in your wardrobe for work, relaxing and stepping out on the town.

2. Alternatively, arrange clothes by color and hang on matching hangers for a stunning coordinated look.

3. Use the upper sections of your fitted wardrobe or top boxes to store your out of season items. Layer delicate fabrics with tissue and gently fold into drawers to keep in top condition.

4. Maximise storage at waist height, for smaller items like jewelry, watches or accessories that you want to be able to choose between quickly.

5. Keep shoes visible and accessible to match to your outfits. The finest fitted wardrobes have clever slide out drawers designed specifically to arrange footwear for easy viewing and selection.

6. Glass fronted drawers are a clever way to keep track of your folded items, and work well in fitted wardrobes, walk in wardrobes and dressing rooms alike.

7. A two-tiered rail system is a great way to double hanging space in a wardrobe if your clothes need to stay crease-free from being folded. The best way to use double-tiered wardrobe rails is to hang shirts and jackets on top and trousers on the bottom.

8. If considering bespoke wardrobes, ensure shelves can be set to suit your height, eliminating hard to reach areas that you will never use.

9. If time is tight when getting dressed, arrange clothes into ready to wear outfits – perfect for those extra minutes in bed or quality time with the family before work.

10. If you’re lucky enough to have the space for a walk-in wardrobe or dressing room, use good quality wooden or padded hangers to maintain the shape of your clothes.

Whatever your room size, a fitted wardrobe solution can create floor space, organisation and even luxury living to your bedroom, so it’s worthwhile considering speaking to a design expert to understand what can be created.

Strachan Furniture Makers have all the skills to help you realise your dream fitted bedroom, and are committed to making and installing furniture of the very highest standard and offer free design, planning and fitting.

To arrange a FREE design consultation without obligation, call Strachan FREE on 0800 0138 139.

Each year colour experts, Pantone, release predictions for the colour trends for the year ahead in their View Home + Interiors 2013 Trend Forecast. The forecast is aimed at designers who use the predictions to introduce into their work throughout the year. Pantone has identified nine colour palettes for 2013. See how you can work some of the latest colour trends in your home…

Go for full on Glamour
Glamour is all about recalling the Art Deco era. It takes the classically elegant dining room colours as a base and adds in individuality with bright teals, reds and glossy black and white, almost as if it’s wanting to shock. Temper it with beige and cream to bring harmony to your scheme.

Surface treatments give a sensory experience
Textures come to the fore, mixing slubs with silky smooth surfaces, high gloss with wood grain. It’s a natural palette balanced harmoniously with a truly modern, sleek finish.

Live your life Out of the Ordinary
Let your creative juices flow and mix textures and shapes to please yourself. Matt colours mixed with wood finishes and curved doors are out of the ordinary, especially in interiors. They look sensational and contemporary in any room.

Sojourn to the library
Focus on a more natural palette, mixing vibrant woodgrains with moss greens. Imagine inspirational formal gardens, structured with a soft engaging touch – perfect to energise a library, dining room or fitted home office as these also blend beautifully with any wood finish you can imagine.

Colour can bring a room to life and is a great way to express your personality. Don’t shy away, follow your instincts and create a truly unique home.

The kitchen? The bathroom? Spare a thought for your hallway. It has so many jobs to do. It’s the coat and shoe store, keeper of keys, location for electricity meters and fuse boxes and, most importantly, the first room in your home that family and friends see. So, how do you make sure your hallway lives up to the rigours of modern life, whilst providing a warm welcome to visitors?

No matter how awkward the space, it’s never wasted
Built in furniture is perfect for making the most of narrow or awkward spaces. A reduced depth, made to measure cupboard with shoe racks, shelves and hanging space hides away coats, bags and footwear and can be made to fit the space you have available. Concealing the electric meter within a built-in cupboard gives your hallway a balance of practicality and elegance. And whilst it’s possible to buy standard furniture, the narrow dimensions of hallways makes made to measure fitted furniture a better option, both in terms of craftsmanship and versatility.

Look around your own hallway. Do you have a dado rail or a picture rail? Is the electric metre in an awkward spot? Are coats bulging off hooks and shoes spilling over the floor? Building in fitted furniture easily takes care of all these problems. Being built in, it works around integral features of your house such as dado rail so you don’t have to. And you don’t need to use narrow cupboards just to conceal things like meters or alarm pads, you can extend them to provide much needed storage for all those little things that can find a home in your hall.

Keep your keys safe, keep your family safe
There’s also security to think about. Do you like to keep your house and car keys near the front door, so they are easy to find when you’re in a rush? This is something well known to thieves and there have been instances of thieves using a pole to hook keys on and draw them out of the letterbox. A fitted cupboard by the door solves this problem instantly. It can be custom made to feature individual spaces for each member of the family to stow away their own keys, keeping them close to hand and safe and secure at the same time.

Once you start to consider how useful reduced depth fitted furniture can be, you can see other possibilities around your home. Alcoves in your living room are transformed into elegant storage and display areas, the empty space on the landing can be turned into a stunning linen store; even the space under the stairs could become a stylish home study area.

Made to measure, by us, for you
Our expert designers have all the skills to help you make the most of any awkward or narrow space you have. We work closely with you to ensure that your fitted furniture functions beautifully whilst looks stunning and because it’s bespoke to you, fits your space perfectly. What’s more, as you would expect from Strachan, highest quality materials, superb craftsmanship and exquisite attention to detail always comes as standard.

To arrange a FREE design consultation without obligation, call us FREE on 0800 0138 139.

At Strachan we are delighted to present our new additions to our collections for 2013.

We’ve blended innovative design with craftsmanship and quality to create our new fitted furniture of distinction for your bedroom, home office, lounge or home study.

Let us tell you a little about the influential themes for our 2013 furniture designs.

Furniture Trends for 2013
Harmony and balance will come to the fore, with all rooms having a definite flow. Space, light and calm are created by natural surfaces combining with softer, neutral colours like sand and stone. Choose painted finishes for these colors with white to allow the texture and touch of nature materials like wood, travertine and linen to take the forefront.

British credentials have taken on more importance. Excellent value for money is key and consumers are prepared to pay for good quality craftsmanship partnered by innovation. Versatility is important in contemporary design that works in a modern or traditional setting. This is how we have always created our fitted furniture.

Fitted Furniture Hand-made by Strachan, Created For You
We enjoy an excellent reputation for creating exquisitely crafted bespoke furniture, designed to blend into a modern or traditional setting. We won’t put our name to a piece of furniture unless it is of the highest quality. Good interior design is not noticeable. Good interior design is a room that is comfortable, delivers what it promises, yet demands nothing from you. It works and flows and that’s exactly what Strachan’s built in fitted furniture can do for your home.

Back to Nature – The Natural Warmth of a Wood Finish
Much of the beauty of our bespoke furniture comes from the elegance of the wood finishes we offer. It creates such refinement in any setting and why we have chosen Oak and Walnut as the finishes of choice for our new collections for 2013.

NEW for 2013 – Verona in Sumptuous, Rich Uno Walnut Finish
Cast your eyes around a room fitted in our new Uno Walnut finish and you’ll soon appreciate the sumptuous light created by it’s rich warm colours. Ultra smooth, with an exquisite finish and beautifully crafted in a timeless shaker style, it’s perfect for built in fitted furniture, whichever room you choose.

New Verona Bedroom Furniture in Uno Walnut
Our Verona bespoke fitted bedroom furniture can offer all the fitted wardrobes you need, complemented by a beautifully made dressing table, chest of drawers, all in the decadent rich tones of a walnut finish.

New Verona Fitted Home Study Furniture in Uno Walnut
Select walnut for your home study to create the most elegant of surroundings, plus our fitted furniture provides so much storage space, your home study or home office will remain stylish, professional and a warm inviting space in which to work.

New Verona Fitted Lounge in Uno Walnut
This warm, tasteful fitted lounge furniture blends storage space with display areas to create a truly refined and luxurious living space.

NEW for 2013 – Optima in Contemporary Oak Veneer
Oak is often the wood of choice for modern and contemporary interiors, and with it’s natural grain patterns and subtle warm tones, Optima oak veneer fitted furniture adds a fresh and sophisticated ambience in which ever room you select to install it.

New Optima Oak Fitted Bedroom Furniture
Opposites certainly attract with Optima’s linear look and sweeping curves, and is perfectly complemented by the warm tones its oak wood veneer.

New Optima Oak Home Study Furniture
Generous storage space, sensual curved profiles, Optima is an ultra modern home study or home office. The smooth wood grain of Oak lends a calmness to the room, whilst the clean lines keep it professional looking.

New Oak Veneer Optima Lounge Furniture
Deep curves, clean lines and the calming oak wood grain of Optima brings a serene calmness to your lounge. Having built in fitted furniture allows the room to flow, giving you space to relax, read or watch TV, surrounded by what you choose to have on display.

Made to measure, by us, for you
Our design team has all the skills to help you make the most of any room you have. We work closely with you to ensure that your fitted furniture works beautifully and looks stunning and because it’s bespoke to you, fits your space perfectly. What’s more, as you would expect from Strachan, top quality materials, superb craftsmanship and exquisite attention to detail always comes as standard.

To arrange a FREE design consultation without obligation, call us FREE on 0800 0138 139.

CONSIDER RECLAIMING ROOMS FROM TEENS THAT HAVE LEFT THE NEST
If your house has remained very quiet since September and you’re finding that you’re still the one who decides what’s on the TV, then there’s a very likely explanation: the kids have truly left, so now you can reclaim their room and transform it into a functional space for you and for them when they’re home for the holidays (and Christmas is just around the corner!)

We can design a sumptuous guest bedroom for you
It’s amazing just how many options you have. You may want to just give the room a makeover and restyle with fitted bedroom furniture to create a sophisticated guest bedroom. Once you’ve chosen this route, you need to consider the storage options, such as minimal storage space for guests or fully fitted wardrobes, which can also take the family’s out of season outfits. The fun part is in choosing the style and finish. Do you prefer cool and contemporary or warm and traditional? Whatever your style, you can be assured of the highest quality materials and workmanship when you engage Strachan to create your fitted bedroom furniture.

One room – two functions
To make the most of your precious space, you may wish to consider a guest bedroom that turns into a home study. Your expert Strachan designer can design a room to incorporate comfortable fold-down bed, fitted bedroom furniture and practical, yet elegant home office furniture. There’s space for your PC, your filing, printer and phone that all slides neatly away behind beautiful doors when your work is done. In fact, the bed is folded back into its wardrobe housing; the room hardly looks like a bedroom at all. And it only takes 20 seconds to turn a study into a bedroom and back again. It’s a wonderful way to really make the most of the space you have.

Your own spacious walk in wardrobe
Of course, there’s no reason why you can’t treat yourself and give the room over to becoming your own dressing room. Walk in wardrobes can give you acres of space to hang everything from ball gowns to blouses. At Strachan Furniture Makers, we can adapt the wardrobe compartments so that you can organise your clothes and accessories however you wish. Having a dressing room frees up an area in your bedroom for a couple of accent chairs and an occasional table to create a small reading and relaxation space.

Strachan Furniture Makers – a name you can rely on
As you can see, the possibilities are endless. It may only be one room in your home, but it can add so much more to your life. As bespoke fitted furniture makers, we know instinctively how to make the very best of whatever space you have available. We work with you to create a room you will treasure, crafted from the highest quality materials and created with an attention to detail that is unsurpassed.

For a FREE design consultation without obligation, call us FREE on 0800 0138 139.