ufurnish.com Co-Founder, Deirdre Mc Gettrick, sat down for a question and answer interview with the Founder of French Bedroom Georgia Metcalfe, to learn more about the business and gain her insight on all things interior design and home furnishing.
Q1. You’ve developed a fantastic business with French Bedroom. Can you provide us with an overview?
French Bedroom's signature style is all about combining beautifully made pieces of French furniture with eye-catching and contemporary lighting and accessories, to create inspiring interiors that are classic but playful, on-trend but timeless, and luxurious but carefree. Loved by press, royalty and celebrities alike, the furniture collections are elegant and feminine – with quality at the core.
We work with a really wide range of customers from first time home buyers to celebrities and hotels. Our personalised service is designed to help people achieve their home interior and furnishing goals no matter what their circumstance is. We’ve even done a little bit of work for members of the Royal Family! Our products are found online and we offer a phone service to customers who are looking for more detail and support as part of our service.
Q2. You have so many beautiful designs and products. Can you share with me the inspiration for the business?
My Dad was an architect and my Mum was a Designer, so I always had interior design and home furnishing in my DNA. After many years of working for companies across different areas of interior design and furnishing, I decided to take the plunge and start French Bedroom. I founded the business back in 2006 with an online catalogue that encouraged people to identify products they love and place a phone order. Classic furniture for modern homes was my vision for what French Bedroom would bring to market and I wanted to help people find signature pieces for their home where they could build a style around those pieces.
Signature pieces of furniture rarely change but seasons and trends do so my aim has always been to work with customers to help them adapt their soft furnishings to match the season or trend. Once people have placed their signature pieces we then maintain an ongoing relationship with them to help match furnishing and colours to their interiors. It’s the approach of personalised service that helps us build strong bonds with our customers and we find most people we work with choose to remain with us for the longer term as they go through different stages of life.
Q3. Can you share with me your views on current trends in the interior design space?
Current trends in interior design are intriguing. I feel there are two things going on:
1) There’s a real move forward towards luxury looks. Velvets and silks have seen a resurrection for sure. Maximalism is on trend for sure with colours like emerald green, deep navy, sapphire blue and jet black all part of the renaissance of the luxury home interior trend.
2) The second is a trend towards ethically produced goods with natural history and feel to them. In times of financial uncertainty, you often see a move towards warm/ neutral tones, natural linens and products that can be handmade becoming more prevalent. Products that have a story are popular such as items sourced from India and Africa. For example, Rattan beds have been very popular for us this year and we’ve seen a growing trend of people introducing plants into the interior of their homes.
Maximalism is on trend for sure with colours like emerald green, deep navy, sapphire blue and jet black all part of the renaissance of the luxury home interior trend
Q4. Could you give us your opinion on the changes you’ve seen in the home interiors market over the years?
There have been a lot of changes but the biggest I have seen is the removal of plastic from product packaging. There’s a real conflict between effective packaging, environmental and aesthetics when it comes to packing products for delivery. Some products are delivered with 5 – 6 layers of plastic packing-which is crazy when you think about it. We’ve tried to balance that out with our products by delivering with a mix of cardboard and plastic. As people are becoming more conscious of this the market has begun to react but there is still a long way to go to develop standard practices across the board for packaging and environmental sustainability.
Another change that is evolving is the production of more sustainable and natural products that bring lower health risks to consumers. An example of this is organic mattresses made from wool, bamboo and organic cotton. We’re launching a new range of mattresses in late August that does not contain toxic chemicals and are naturally fire-resistant. Recent studies have shown the health implications of chemicals to households which highlight the issue and will cause the government to act decisively.
Q5. You’ve got a lot of experience. What advice do you have for people designing and furnishing their homes?
Good question! Coming back to my earlier summary of French Bedroom my advice would be for people to start simple and place signature pieces of furniture first. In that decision-making process, I’d encourage people to think about placing signature pieces like the long term, even lifelong investment. There’s no substitute for quality and you can build your home interior around these pieces. I also recommend that people really think about the wallpaper and curtains they place in their home. They really complement the feel and create the atmosphere.
Overall you want home interiors that make you smile so be your own stylist and don’t settle for anything less than what you love. That doesn’t mean you need to spend big, it just means that you should feel proud of what you’ve created. Another piece of advice for people who have a furnished home is to review the furniture items you have and clear out the ones that you don’t need or that don’t add any value. Really question why you have the pieces and if you can’t find a valid answer for a piece being in your home then get rid of it. It’s a very refreshing exercise!
Q6. I’m interested to know what your favourite products are being sold by French Bedroom and why?
There are two answers to this question which I’ll answer by collection and specific product:
The Amour Collection
The Amour collection for a full room style. I absolutely love it and it’s so popular with our clients. Elegant and designed with love.
The Chateauneuf Bed
This is an all-time favourite of mine (and our customers too!). It’s an exceptionally dreamy bed that focuses on the trend for natural, unfinished, distressed and weathered furniture, whilst capturing a romantic and graceful aesthetic. It’s the ultimate in pared-back romantic and carefree styling, taking inspiration from the styling of French country homes. The hand-carved, reclaimed and recycled mahogany finish gives this piece a gentle warmth which would suit both a fresh, bright white bedroom or a more classic French style bedroom.
French Bedroom offers a truly unique home furnishing proposition to the market with first-class customer service to support. To search and discover products by French Bedroom and many more amazing furniture retailers across the entire market simply click here.
