A short list of the materials, ratios and small fixes I’m thinking about as the studio steps into a new quarter — written as much for me as for the trades I work with.
1. The 60 / 30 / 10 rule, but for materials
The colour version is well-trodden — 60% dominant, 30% secondary, 10% accent. The same proportions hold for materials, and most rooms that feel “off” have broken this rule. A kitchen that’s 50% timber, 50% stone is fighting itself. Push the timber to a clear hero (cabinetry), let the stone be the helper (bench), and reserve a single counterpoint (brass tap, black tap, painted plaster). It’s quieter, and it ages better.
2. Reeded glass, but used sparingly
Reeded is everywhere right now. Which means by 2028 it’ll feel as dated as frosted-with-flowers did by 2010 — unless you commit to it as a deliberate detail rather than a vibe. My rule: one reeded element per visual zone, sized so it reads as texture rather than filter. Pantry doors, yes. Whole-room screens, no.
3. Spec the closer, not the opener
Clients fall in love with handles. Clients live with hinges. The Häfele soft-close hinge, the Blum runner, the brass European-throw deadlock — the bits that close — are where the budget should land before the splashback. A drawer that whispers shut on year five is the difference between a kitchen and a beautiful kitchen.
4. One sustainable substitution per project
Going fully off-grid sustainable on every brief is a one-way ticket to scope creep. Going zero is lazy. The discipline is: pick one substitution per project that the client wouldn’t have chosen alone. Plywood with a low-formaldehyde core. Stone offcuts from a local fabricator’s bin. Lighting on plate switches that can be re-wired in twenty years. Small, defensible, real.
More notes from the studio next month — including a long one about island bench depths, which is the hill I will die on.