Altrincham is ten minutes from the showroom, and it is the town whose housing stock varies most across the shortest distance: Victorian and Edwardian villas around the Devisdale and Hale Road, terraces closer to the centre, and a good deal of newer development around the Stamford Quarter and the old goods yard.
That range means the work varies too. A tall Victorian villa usually needs its proportions worked with rather than against: high ceilings want full-height curtains and lighting planned in layers rather than a single pendant, and original features are worth restoring where they survive. Newer apartments have the opposite problem: regular rooms with no character to build on, where the scheme has to supply it.
Because Altrincham is the closest sizeable town to the showroom, it is the one people most often visit from on the way to something else: dropping in with a photograph, looking at two fabrics, coming back a week later with a paint chip. Projects here frequently start as one room and grow from there.
The showroom is at York House, Vicarage Lane, Bowdon WA14 3BA, open Monday to Saturday 9am to 5pm. More about the showroom.
Period villas and new apartments
In a tall Victorian or Edwardian room the proportions are the asset, and the job is to use them: full-height curtains hung close to the cornice rather than to the window frame, lighting at more than one level, and furniture with enough presence not to look marooned.
A new apartment has the opposite problem. The rooms are regular and there is no architecture to work with, so the character has to be introduced: texture on the walls, a rug that defines a seating area, joinery that gives a flat wall some depth. Both are interesting, and they are not the same job.
Ten minutes from the showroom
Altrincham is the town people most often call in from on the way to something else. Dropping in with a photograph, looking at two fabrics against each other, coming back a week later with a measurement: that is how a lot of Altrincham projects begin, and it is a better start than a formal consultation.
It also means samples do not need posting and a decision does not have to wait for a delivery. See the showroom.
Questions we get asked
Do we need an appointment?
No. It is a retail showroom and you are welcome to walk in, Monday to Saturday, 9am to 5pm.
Can you help with just curtains?
Yes, and it is one of the most common starting points. See curtains and blinds.
Do you work on apartments as well as houses?
Yes. Newer apartments often need more design input rather than less, because there is less architecture to build on.