We are delighted to announce the launch of our brand new website.

 Our new innovative site offers greater functionality and in-depth information for potential and existing clients to explore our design services and portfolio.   

The new site highlights some of our favourite projects, including a recent family home refurbishment and contemporary new build project.

You can view a selection of our projects here.

 As an award winning interior design practice, we are excited to now offer a complete package service. Horton can oversee the design of your whole project – the build, interiors and landscaping, keeping your vision at the heart of all design decisions. Working in close collaboration with you, preferred architects and landscape designers we’ll deliver a cohesive design across your whole project. Our teamwork-based approach to work ensures design continuity throughout each project, achieving the very best finish whether we’re tasked with a complete redevelopment or an individual soft furnishing scheme.

View a comprehensive list of our services here.

We’re proud to present our new look to you at www.hortonandco.co.uk.

We’ve worked closely with Stride, a Chester based graphic and web design studio, on our branding and they have developed and designed our new website.

 Website photography by Craig Magee Photography www.craigmagee.co.uk

Our in-house workroom is staffed by fully qualified experienced seamstresses who make beautiful hand sewn curtains, blinds, bed valances, bed throws, cushions and any form of soft furnishings to the highest standard and exquisitely finished.

Working with one of our interior designers, we offer a full consultation either in our showroom or on site and provide a full measuring, design and fitting service. In addition to this we can hand make curtains and blinds, to clients own specification, using their own fabric.

Our showroom is home to an extensive library of fabrics from a wide range of suppliers; examples such as Ralph Lauren, Mulberry, Colefax & Fowler and Pierre Frey are amongst our most popular collections.

Pièce de résistance! Our finishing touches really do add that extra dimension that commercially produced products fail to deliver. All soft furnishings are hand sewn using the highest quality materials, reflecting the pride and care taken in the quality of our work.

Our experienced fitters will ensure that your curtains, blinds or any window treatment and headboards are fitted and dressed perfectly.

A few examples of our work :

Sailor Woolworks, also commonly known as ‘Woolies’, became popular in the 19th Century as a pastime hobby for men working out at sea. Sailors learnt sewing and needle work skills through routine tasks such as repairing sails and clothing whilst on board. Seamen utilised these skills to make needle work pictures of their ships and the landscapes they sailed upon; passing the long hours and keeping their fingers nimble in the wind and cold.

Originating as a self-taught hobby and forming a tradition of wool work, these folk art pictures were not intended to be sold, therefore they are unsigned. It can, however, be possible to date the Woolworks, as seamen would incorporate significant elements such as patriotic flags and symbols, and quite often the ships name into the embroidery.

‘A great variety of stitches were used, such as the cross stitch, chain stitch, darning and the quilting technique called trapunto. The earliest existing examples of woolies date from the 1830s, and demonstrate the use of a chain stitch – each stitch seems to go into the one before and is less than a quarter of an inch long.  An adaptation of this stitch is the long stitch, used in woolies after 1840; it is a long stitch that leaves little thread on the back, saves wool and makes for much faster sewing. Some sailors even added bits of bone, metal, wood, glass, or some other such embellishment to decorate their woolwork ship portraits.’ (http://www.vandekar.com/sailors-woolies-woolwork-pictures.asp)

Woolworks were popular up until around World War 1. Since this time, retired seamen and fishermen had taken up the hobby rather than working men at sea. More recent works created a ‘great individual expression to produce remarkable personal tributes to the ships on which they sailed and to their own maritime histories’. Working from home also gave the opportunity to introduce finer materials such as cotton and silk when available, to embellish the traditional wool work.

We have a selection of Sailor Woolwork in our showroom for Sale.

Music Room – Northern Design Awards Winner 2014

Horton were employed as the clients Interior Designers to work alongside the architect on the redesign of this 5 bedroom detached house. The client brief was to create a well-designed, functional family home.

The final room to be designed during the two year long project was the Music Room. The client wanted a bold, contemporary colour palette throughout the house, to showcase their fun and eclectic tastes and personalities. In contrast to the contemporary style of the other rooms, they felt this room should have a more traditional feel.

Both husband and wife are passionate about music and needed to accommodate a grand piano and somewhere to play the cello within the space, along with plenty of seating for guests. This resulted in a well-considered furniture layout, encompassing necessary storage, creating a cosy and intimate setting.

The soft furnishing scheme began with the selection of a beautiful pearlescent gold wallpaper with a strie pattern, giving the effect of silk walls. A strong base palette of deep greens and aubergines were added to give a sense of depth to the room. The client’s love of bold colour and pattern was embraced in the cushions and chairs, using a striking mix of fabrics by Etro and Mulberry, off-set by the bright blue velvet – an unexpected pop of colour.

An assorted arrangement of furniture pieces were specified, including an antler chandelier and candlesticks, Julian Chichester consoles and drinks cabinet and William Yeoward lamps. The designers chose artwork in keeping with the musical theme and interesting accessories such as the incandescent butterfly domes, which add a whimsical twist. Each angle of this room has been designed to offer a unique scene that is pleasing to the eye.

Client Testimonial

Horton’s designers have changed our lives
We gave them a pretty tough brief – ‘we want our house to feel well designed, but not so it looks all design-y. Oh, and we have small children; so it has to look wonderful, but be practical enough so we don’t keep yelling “don’t touch that!” ‘

But they nailed it.
 
Every room feels like us – a true extension of what we’re like.
 
Every room looks different – yet they all flow into each other.
 
Every room is a pleasure to be in.  Even better: we’ve yet to shout “don’t touch that!”

 All our family loves our house.  Our friends love coming round here, as do our children’s friends.  We’ve spent more quality time with friends and family as a result.
 
Horton’s designers have changed how it feels to live here.  They have changed our lives.

Architect Andrea Done and her husband talk to Cheshire Life about their modern family home and how they are going to have the perfect Christmas this year.

Andrea gave a wonderful testimonial to Horton during her interview:

‘We have been consistently impressed with Horton and Co over the years. When we walked into their office for our first meeting, we had an entire house to furnish and no idea where to start.
‘Gillian, Hannah, Helen and Rachael appear to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the interior design industry.
There isn’t a thing that they can’t make or source. They are imaginative, professional and, most important for us, patient!’

To read the whole article, Cheshire Life magazine is on sale now

(Photos courtesy of Cheshire Life)