Mix and match is a trendy concept in interior design for contemporary houses that strives to create a variety of feelings for the home owner by using a variety of materials and colour shades.

Prasopchok Sumarnmas, who conceived the idea and has been involved with Baan Chun Ratchada on Prachachun Road, built by Four Pattana Co Ltd, believes an interior designer has to communicate with the home owners and understand what they want for their house, based on their lifestyle, before thinking up the interiors.

For example, at Baan Chun Ratchada, the interior design was given a lot of importance and it was done together with the architecture of the house, well before construction work began.

"We discussed with our customers what kind of housing they wanted, and what kind of activities they have in the house," Prasopchok said.

After that, Prasopchok and architect Rujlaphus Phenphaijit, a special project manager of the architectural design department at Four Pattana, joined hands to lay out the design to meet their customer's needs.

Rujlaphus said that his customer needed a contemporary house that was close to nature and also served the demands of the family. They needed rooms for older members, and a room in which the whole family could get together for relaxing activities in the evening. They also needed space for sport activities and yoga.

All of them placed a lot of emphasis in having comfortable bathrooms.

Taking into account these requirements, architect Rujlaphus designed the house to have more space, and provided a large window for adequate ventilation.

Prasopchok selected home decorations that are comfortable, and easy to change, by using moveable furniture instead of built-in furniture.

For the furniture colour, Prasopchok used earth tones instead of modern or "fantasy" colours, because earth tones have a classy look, and they last a long time. It also catered to the customers' demand for a feeling of warm welcome when they returned home after a hard day at work.

"We selected warm colours that meet with our customer's lifestyle. However, we selected black for the dining room so that the house does not look dull," he said.

Prasopchok also designed the bathrooms to have a feel of nature by designing a small garden inside each. The decor will put people in a relaxed frame of mind while using the bathroom.

 "We used plants that are easy to care for inside the bathroom," he said.

For flooring, Prasopchok chose wood for some rooms and ceramic and granite in the living room.

"We selected different materials for the flooring to provide a different feel for family members and visitors depending on which room they used," he said.

He suggested that those who want to experience a variety of feelings when they are at home should try many different materials using the 'mix and match' concept.

"We used leather furniture, matched with cotton furniture and wood, but we controlled the colours to provide different feelings, while still matching the colours. That is our idea of decorating this house," he said. 

Somluck Srimalee

The Nation