Notes from the trade

• Materials
• Finishes

Choosing curtain fabric for Gulf sun

Fibre decides most of what happens to a curtain here, and it decides it before anyone opens a colour book.

• Spaces
• Furniture

Designing a majlis that works when it is full

A majlis is judged on the night it is busiest, not on the afternoon the photographs are taken. Most of what decides that is settled at layout stage.

• Materials
• Furniture

MDF or plywood, and which belongs in your cabinets

Fitted joinery is almost never solid timber, and it should not be. The real question is which board, and where.

• Spaces
• Process

Planning an office fit-out in Abu Dhabi

An office fit-out is judged on the handover date. Almost everything that threatens that date is decided before anyone is on site.

• Finishes
• Materials

Paint sheen, and which one each room needs

The same colour in two different sheens reads as two different colours. Most disappointment with a paint job traces back to the sheen rather than the shade.

• Materials
• Finishes

Travertine, and what to know before choosing it

Travertine gets sold as marble often enough that the name has stuck. The difference between them decides where it works and how it has to be looked after.

• Materials
• Finishes

Types of marble, and where each one belongs

Marble is a natural stone and no two slabs are alike. That is what makes it worth having and what makes choosing it harder than it looks.

• Materials
• Furniture

What UAE humidity does to wood, and how to build around it

Timber takes on moisture when the air is damp and gives it back when the air is dry. It changes size every time it does, and that never stops.

• Furniture
• Costs

Custom furniture or store-bought, and how to tell which you need

Custom is not automatically better. It is better in specific situations, worse in others, and the difference is usually the room rather than the piece.

• Costs
• Process

What interior fit-out really costs in Abu Dhabi

Nobody publishes fit-out prices, so everybody guesses. Here are the ranges the market works within, what sits inside them, and the decisions that move a number more than the rate ever does.

• Process
• Costs

How to choose a fit-out contractor in the UAE

Three quotes for the same job can differ by a third. Almost always the difference is what each one left out, not what each one charges.

• Process
• Spaces

A villa renovation checklist for Abu Dhabi

Most renovation delays are decisions that were not made, not work that was not done. Here is the order things need to happen in, and what to settle before anyone starts.