Finding suppliers that offer lasting quality and style

If you're looking to update your home, you will soon realise that the array of products available to buy is endless! At Flippa Interiors, we believe in helping our clients buy responsibly: seeking out style, functionality and durability so that money spent is money well spent.

Cool carpets

At Flippa Interiors, a core part of our philosophy is the belief that we should offer clients practical solutions that won’t break the bank. With many having young families or pets, we know they want solutions that are as durable as they are stylish.

In this article, we've gathered together some of our favourite and most trusted suppliers. When you buy through us, we are able to use our trade accounts to pass on a 10% discount in most cases, which is just another good reason to use an interior designer!

Easy care fabrics and furnishings are at the heart of a relaxed, easy to maintain home. We love the carpets from Cormar. Their easy care range can actually be cleaned with bleach if it gets stained (really), and we can personally vouch for how disaster proof it is after spilt nail varnish cleaned up like a dream. This beautiful grey carpet looks really contemporary and works well with so many colours.

PHOTO CREDIT: Cormar Carpets Primo Ultra

Stain Guard fabric

Modern fabrics are now often treated with Stain Guard or use stain free technology to prevent stains and finger marks from being a problem. This amazing technology effortlessly makes light work of pen marks, wine, mustard, ketchup and any other manner of spills. And let's face it, there are times in every home (even those free of young children and pets) when a drink or some food gets spilt. With the right fabric, this isn't a cause for concern.

This sofa uses a gorgeous velvet fabric from the Houdini range from Andrew Martin https://www.andrewmartin.co.uk/fabric/houdini-bottle. We love its dark, jewel-like colour. We had this sofa reupholstered, and it's looking as good now as ever, despite being in constant use in an incredibly popular Airbnb. Take a peek at this Andrew Martin video showing just how well their fabrics clean off https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhSQIQTpXiU in case you need any convincing!

Other ranges we recommend include Prestigious Textiles https://www.prestigious.co.uk/fabrics/azores, and Loaf.com sells a selection of ‘clever fabrics’, Durability (the clue is in the name), which hold their own against everyday water-based spills if you're looking for a new sofa.

PHOTO CREDIT: Flippa Interiors

Diamond Walls

Another must for a home that is as easy to keep looking fresh as the day it was decorated is to consider what paints you use. Our top recommendation is the Diamond range of paints from Dulux. They are 50 times more effective than standard trade emulsions and are equipped with anti-fade technology. Available in a variety of finishes, from durable matt paint to high-performance eggshell.

PHOTO CREDIT: Dulux

Vinyl just got glamorous

Waterproof luxury vinyl floor tiles are another of our favourite products to recommend to our clients. This type of flooring is very easy to install, requires no maintenance, and the beauty of it is that it can be fitted over existing tiles. Vinyl flooring is also waterproof and has excellent grip and slip resistance, making it ideal for utility rooms and bathrooms. Not only can it look incredibly realistic, but it is less expensive than the 'real' thing, ie wood floors, for example and is incredibly hard-wearing. We particularly love the Plusfloor range of luxury tiles. https://plusfloor.com

PHOTO CREDIT: Plusfloor

Rugs you can wash!

Another great product that guarantees spills won't matter for the floor comes from https://ruggable.co.uk. This great company sells non-slip, machine-washable rugs. Using an ingenious idea, Ruggable’s Rug System comes in two pieces. The lightweight, removable rug cover fits perfectly inside the washing machine, while the clingy, nonslip rug pad keeps the cover securely in place. When it’s time for a wash, you simply take it off and pop it in the washing machine! They also offer tailor-made solutions, so there's a rug for every situation.

https://ruggable.co.uk/pages/how-it-works

PHOTO CREDIT: Ruggable Kamran Hazel Rug

The future

Fashions and interiors can be transient, and it feels as though what we buy is disposable. Magazines will push the newest trend, but this short-term view is neither good for our wallets nor the environment.

We encourage our clients to approach their interior design projects with a longer-term view, which is why we spend so much time listening to what they need and finding solutions that will last and have flexibility built in to allow for the natural, organic change that happens in a home. We often recommend clients incorporate existing furniture into their new designs rather than buy new, for example, by considering reupholstering or re-purposing furniture.

When we do recommend, clients purchase new, we look for what will really work with their lives, and with so many of us having very full, busy lives these days, this new breed of hard-wearing, easy to maintain products really do have a place in every home.

PHOTO CREDIT: Prestigious Textiles Azores fabric