Daily Mail - 23.08.2019

Page 72 Daily Mail, Friday, August 23, 2019

No room for

storage? Now

you see it...

now you don’t

crisper TV picture depending

on the primary use.

Prices start at about £2,000

for a 43in Ultra High Definition

TV (prodisplay.com).

Demand for such items turns

out to be high for bedrooms;

whatever the legions of new

sleep gurus recommend, plenty

of us still love to watch the box in

bed, apparently.

T

He urge to conceal

items is not confined to

living rooms and

bedrooms. A common

tip for making a kitchen look tidier

is to attach a spice rack to the

inside of a cupboard door.

Yet the areas with the greatest

potential for hiding away clutter

might lie in hallways, landings

and stairs.

Clever Closet makes modular

drawers that are installed under

stairs. Such drawers are mounted

on sliders and can be designed to

include anything from wine racks

to shoe rails, with each drawer

holding up to 35kg of clobber.

Push-pop opening mechanisms,

activated with minimal effort,

avoid the need for handles and

knobs so the drawers fit flush with

their surroundings. A factory-

sprayed finish enhances the sleek

exterior. Prices start from £499,

with the six-drawer unit costing

£1,049 (clevercloset.co.uk).

There is also the possibility of

turning a hidden space into an

enhancing feature or even an

opportunity for surprise. A well-

designed set of cupboard doors

might, for example, conceal a

shallow-depth yet fully stocked

cocktail bar.

For a real wow factor, consider a

spiral wine cellar. Spiral Cellars

(spiralcellars.co.uk), constructs

them using engineered limestone,

up to 3 m in depth, for costs

ranging from about £18,000

to £70,000.

At the lower end of the range,

you will receive a kit to be

installed by your own builder

(the cellar will still hold 1,600

bottles of wine). The more

expensive versions are installed

by the company itself and may

come with a sleek James Bond-

style retractable glass door.

Managing director Lucy

Hargreaves says: ‘They incor-

porate a passive ventilation

system that draws in cool air

and expels the warm air, so

they still function as intended in a

power cut.

‘Most clients use them to store

wine, but they can be used for

other purposes. We’ve heard of

clients using them for libraries of

rare books or even for a prized

shoe collection.’

Because these cellars are not

classified as habitable space, they

typically don’t require the planning

permission needed to dig a base-

ment. However, it is important to

check whether specific restrictions

apply to your house (whether, for

example, it is listed).

In certain London boroughs, the

costs may be largely recouped by

the square footage added to the

house, and if it’s a country

residence then, you will be

following in a long tradition of

ingenious passageways.

WINDOW SHOPPING OTTOMAN SEATS

Interiors

When pushed for space, clever hideaways

are the answer, says Daniel Pembrey

Hidden talents: Clever

Closet’s six-drawer unit

and, inset left, storage by

Spiral Wine Cellars

n

s

;

w

y holding up to 35kg of clobber

up

ra

to

A

yo

in

(t

bo

ex

by

co

st

H

p

s

an

they s

Hi

Clo

an

Sp

Clarence burnt

orange, £24.99,

homescapes

online.com

Hampton

pouffe, seafoam

blue, £149,

made.com

Gisela, dusty

pink, £49,

dunelm.com Hodge & Hodge, Aria,

£29.99, xs-stock.co.uk

Truth

storage,

£169, dfs.

co.uk

H

IDeAWAYS are hardly new to

British homes. Sutton Place,

the grand Surrey home of oil

magnate John Paul Getty,

featured secret passageways

disguised as wooden panelling, enabling

priests to spirit themselves away during

the religious persecution of Tudor times.

Or consider those secret doorways masquerading

as library bookcases in Agatha Christie-type

murder-mysteries.

The impulses for creating concealed storage may

be less dramatic these days, but no less pressing

given the cost of space throughout the land.

The good news is that it doesn’t require millions

or a grand country house to take advantage of new

ideas. Indeed, a quick internet search will reveal the

myriad creative ways of decluttering our homes.

The real challenge is making it look classy,

cohesive and effortless.

Take televisions. Not only are they taking

up increasing space as we’re tempted into

buying bigger screens, but they set a

particular tone in a room, with their typically

dark presence becoming a distraction. One

solution is to conceal them in cupboards; the

room will immediately feel calmer.

Continuing a polished plaster finish from the

wall onto the cupboard doors can make these

doors near invisible.

Other, higher-tech approaches are proving

popular, too. Mirrors are an age-old way of

making a room feel bigger, lighter and brighter.

Now a mirror can be switched to become a TV

(or any kind of monitor), as manufactured by

companies such as Pro Display, whose mirror

glass is offered with different levels of ‘reflectivity’

so customers can prioritise high reflection or a