Interior design for hotels and homes. How the style principles used for the Lyzzick Hall refurbishment can work for your home too.

“Most people look to refresh their homes room by room. Keeping that feeling of continuity and flow when you restyle a home or a hotel is important.”

History

Lyzzick Hall owner David Lake has worked with Liz Weightman, manager at John Young Keswick for two decades, refreshing and restyling elements of the hotel each year to meet the changing needs and experiences demanded by today’s guests.

The hotel has 25 bedrooms – all of which are on a planned refurbishment programme to keep them up to date. Alongside updating furniture and window dressings, Liz also incorporates a range of lamps, mirrors, pictures, and accessories.

In previous refurbishments, Liz and the team created new looks for two areas that were once lounges and are now dedicated to dining areas that make the most of the views. It was important to keep the spaces light and bright, so lots of mirrors and lamps were used and the window dressings made the most of the vistas.

Commenting on his years working with Liz, David Lake said “Liz knows where I want to take the hotel to meet the needs of the next generation of visitors. She knows how I think and for this year’s refurbishment, backed me up on the bold choice of colour. She provides a balanced view and pushes me too, which is ideal.

“Her interior design skills mean she knows what is going to work in terms of fabrics and furnishings and she was very close to the mark when sharing her initial thoughts. Liz is very intuitive about what we want and what will work. We chatted and then I let her work with the fabrics, furnishings, and furniture manufacturers to deliver the project in time for opening.”

The Brief:

A fresh, more modern, and up to date feel for our new lounge and orangery reconfiguration that also needs to encourage a real flow through the hotel.

The 2023 transformation has been one of the larger projects which involved three elements:

1. Changing what was once the main restaurant into a new lounge with a modern moody new look. Creating a contemporary look, and making it feel luxurious and cosy, but still retaining that intimate feeling.
2. Enhance the orangery as a third dining area, using a modern, clean look, making the most of the vistas, and ensuring it sits comfortably alongside existing décor of the adjoining dining areas.
3. Updating four of the bedrooms and two suites upstairs.

Liz said “We worked to create a modern retreat that will appeal to the younger visitors who now come and stay the hotel.  It was also important to use as many British manufacturers as possible.”

Transforming a restaurant into a modern, intimate lounge

This was a major and exciting change for the hotel and David was very clear he wanted to embrace a moody modern look and feel, but still one that would resonate with his regular, very loyal guests.

“By day the views from the lounge are the main attraction, by evening, the décor becomes much more important. Now complete, the new look is dark and moody and builds on the theme of luxury and contemporary styling with bespoke upholstery curtains and blinds.”

It is a large lounge, so the trick was to ensure it still felt very private. Positioning the furniture helped achieve this. We specially commissioned  new sofas and chairs that were designed for the room. They were covered in a rich and luxurious, yet hard wearing velvet fabric that has a 3D quality. The design is very textural, evoking the look of fine feathers or fur, with a sumptuous silky feel.

The starting point in the lounge was David’s choice of paint for the walls and bravely, the ceilings too.  The colour was Farrow & Ball’s Hopper Head which is a classic charcoal colour inspired by the iron containers used to catch rainwater at the top of a downpipe. For the alcoves,  Liz selected Linwood Lumen wallpaper which incorporates whispers of wisteria in aspects of gold and duck egg that have also been used as accent colours across the furnishings.

Fabrics for curtains and cushions are inspired by the elegant imagery displayed in the Chinoiserie decorative arts. The Kai Aravalli range combines stunning mountain views with delicately embroidered,  and with innovative applications to create the stunning woven patterns with drama and depth. The finishing touches include shimmering highlights of metallic tones which filter through on tonally matching earthy colours and contrasting gold cushions.

Lighting the lounge

Liz said “With such dark colours on the walls, the lighting in the lounge becomes even more crucial to creating the effect we wanted. Over the years, we have introduced many occasional lamps, but more were needed to create the dramatic atmosphere and modern-day feel. The addition of grand mirrors also makes a real statement.

“We often get visitors to the shop who have stayed or dined at Lyzzick Hall. They look to translate elements of the Lyzzick style into something that would work for their homes too. That’s especially the case when looking at mirrors, lamps, and furnishings.

 If you want to find out more about how Liz can help you develop your look at home, call the shop on 017687 74848 or email  furnishings@nulljohnyoungkeswick.co.uk

Chairs old and new

We chose smooth velvets from the Warwick Lovely III range to cover the new British-made occasional chairs. At the same time, we wanted to make use of existing chairs so we made new seat cushions for the wing chairs and recovered their antique chairs in ‘Crown Imperial’, a woven wool design by William Morris

“We often get visitors to the shop who have stayed or dined at Lyzzick Hall. They look to translate elements of the Lyzzick style into something that would work for their homes too. That’s especially the case when looking at mirrors, lamps, and furnishings.

 If you want to find out more about how Liz can help you develop your look at home, call the shop on 017687 74848 or email  furnishings@nulljohnyoungkeswick.co.uk

Creating a cohesive look

“It’s important that the whole look is cohesive. The attention to detail is important – including the transition from one room to another. Alongside the Kai Aravalli range in the lounge, we have also included geometric patterned curtains from the Sanderson range.  We carried the fabric through into the orangery blinds, helping to subtly connect the two spaces.”  

Attention to detail

The bar to lounge: separation with a statement

We wanted to separate the bar and lounge with a statement that sets the tone for the rest of the ground floor. A slatted wooden partition was built, underlit for dramatic effect and heralding the way into the new look lounge and dining areas.

New dining experience in the Orangery

There are now three dedicated and connected dining areas that have equally spectacular views whichever you choose. There is now plenty of space for 65 diners to sit comfortably and enjoy the panoramic vista.

Each dining area has a look of its own and David tells us he has customers who request their favourite room, but we think it is hard to choose.

The orangery has clean and simple lines furnished with simple and elegant elm topped tables that face the views, with windows framed by blinds highlighting the same geometric fabric that features in the lounge.

Liz said, “Many people associate Sanderson fabrics with floral design, but they also have a range of geometric and more stylised lines which we thought would work well in the orangery dining area and perpetuate the more modern theme.”

Zoffany inspired dining

The central dining area features a marble fireplace and has a rich flock effect Zoffany wallpaper. When restyling the room Liz chose to use blinds instead of curtains to maximise the view and to highlight the sash windows.

Morris & Co inspired dining

Liz chose a William Morris flocked wallpaper ‘Strawberry Thief’ from their Pure collection for the furthest dining room.  This range has a much more contemporary pallette of silver, taupe and greys with a subtle crystal finish that brings it right up to date, yet stays true to Morris’ artisan aesthetic.

With the addition of lamps and mirrors the luxury look is complete – it’s a grand house and Liz knew it had to be dressed to impress!

Bedrooms – designed for modern visitors with comfort in mind

The annual bedroom review gives us a chance to review what needs to be updated: beds, bed heads, furniture, and furnishings. Where possible, furniture is reused, be that in a different space or in another of the bedrooms.

Liz “Working with David for so many years means I understand what he likes, and how the hotel works too. This year that was even more important because what was a restaurant area has been reconfigured to create a twist on country, bringing a more contemporary look and feel without losing the cosy charm of a country house hotel. David trusts me to deliver the right look and feel on time and on budget. He has put a lot of trust in our team for many years, and we are grateful for that. It’s also nice to be able to go back as a customer, sit back, relax, and feel proud of what we have achieved together.”