Ron Jones House (part two)

Since exhibiting my window and wallpaper designs together earlier in the year, I have wanted to work on a project where I could decorate all the surfaces of a room. The IT room/lounge at Ron Jones House in Bristol turned out to be that project.

Linoleum Striato - Water Colour                                                                                    Left hand side of the room

This slightly daring linoleum, "Water Colour" , found its perfect home as the centre piece for the new room. The colour is light but also rich, invigorating and in tune with our colour range. I used its streaks as the background for my wallpaper designs, and didn't mind that once it arrived in the middle of my room layout (below) the original floor design - suitably altered - was banished to the left hand half of the ceiling.

Net for my final model of the room

Before and After, left hand side

The IT room/lounge was two rooms that have become one, so part of my task was to link the two halves while giving each its own feel. The left hand side is the IT side, and although the new wall colour is neutral the glow from the ceiling blues the colour in that half. In the right hand side, the wallpaper wraps around the seating area with the richest gold colour continuing along the wall behind the new sofa and across to the open door. 

Before and After, right hand side

The development of the design from my original repeating three colour motif to the version used on the windows and walls here was mostly achieved by stripping parts of the pattern away and allowing other parts to float around. I also wanted to make my original inspiration (from the plant in the sunlight) more visible, so I added fine lines as radiating suns, stars on the ceiling and vertical plants on the walls and window vinyls.

Details from the right hand side - window and wall designs.

Ron Jones House (part one)

I have just completed my project for Ron Jones House, a property run by Elim Housing to provide supported accommodation for adults in Stokes Croft, Bristol. Working with staff and residents we have transformed the communal lounge/IT room with colour and pattern on the floor, walls, windows and ceiling. Part Two will describe the general scheme, this post is about the pattern I designed for use across all the different materials in the room.

I wanted to design a repeating motif simplified from aspects of the place that I particularly liked - sunlight catching a plant in one of the nice old windows and a circles with stripes pattern on the gates (both shown above).

How the pattern developed - linking windows circles, sunlight & leaves in different formations.

Detail of the final design showing one repeat                     Floor design, to be laid in the centre of the room with a wide border

The existing carpet was particularly grotty, so the plan was to replace it with a patterned floor cut from 3 colours of linoleum laid in the centre of the room with the design growing in density towards the two windows. However, budgetary constraints intervened and in the end the new floor was laid with a simple but lovely linoleum and my pattern moved to the ceiling, walls and windows. You can see the layout of the room and the options we considered in the photo of just some of the models I made of the space below.

It was only when I printed the pattern out full size and placed it on the floor that I remembered what my initial inspiration must have been and dug out my photos from last year's trip to Ostia, the harbour city of Ancient Rome, and to Hadrian's Villa nearby. At both sites current excavations are revealing more buildings, many with black and white mosaic floors based on circles.  Some of the most lovely patterns are the simple ones revealed in patches through concrete or grass.

Roman mosaics from Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli and Ostia Antica