Moben Kitchens, Sharps Bedrooms and Dolphin Bathrooms have unveiled their new ambassador - renowned interior designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.

Bringing his own unique style to all three brands, Laurence now provides inspiration and styling advice when it comes to new kitchen, bedroom and bathroom product introductions and is featuring throughout the marketing programme, unveiled to customers for the first time on Tuesday, 22nd June 2010.

All new photography of new ranges launched by Moben, Sharps and Dolphin will be styled by Laurence himself and a part of his role will be as a style consultant for all three brands, working with the new product development teams. Sitting alongside the existing brand experts, Laurence will be available for comment on the inspiration behind new products, style advice and trend predictions on the three brands behalf.

Laurence also has a dedicated ‘trends and inspiration’ page on all three websites – www.moben.co.uk, www.sharps.co.uk, www.dolphinbathrooms.co.uk – featuring his detailed insights into the design inspiration behind each new range introduced, styling tips and a look ahead to what trends will be leading kitchen, bedroom and bathroom design over the months ahead.

Furthermore, Laurence will also be embarking on a ten day showroom tour, visiting a total of 20 Moben, Sharps and Dolphin showrooms across the country this autumn. Consumers will be able to meet Laurence and hear all about the latest trends and product launches, with dates to be confirmed soon.

A close working relationship

Commenting on his new role with Moben, Sharps and Dolphin, Laurence said: “I have been working with Moben on the TV advertisement voiceovers for a while but it soon became clear there was a great deal of potential in becoming an ambassador for all three brands.

“My real remit with Moben, Sharps and Dolphin is to inject even more personality into these products and make sure that customers can truly ‘see’ the product within their own home. I can come up with the big, broad-brushstroke ideas that can take all three brands to an even more design-inspired position. I want to further inspire the design team, encourage them never to hold back on creativity and share my enthusiasm of this wonderful business.”

With regards to the existing product portfolio as well as the new ranges soon to be introduced, Laurence is excited about the potential all three brands have to offer the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom market.

“Moben, Sharps and Dolphin all have a reputation for quality, reliability and dependability, and I want to build on that. These days, it is no longer about playing the property market – it’s about making your home a home again. There is a now real hunger to have more personalised products. By working with these three great brands, I feel I can bring more personality to their beautifully engineered, thoughtful and well-designed furniture.”

As the space most often used to store all the unnecessary household clutter, the cloakroom is usually one of the most neglected areas of the house, despite the fact it offers great potential. For those looking to upgrade their downstairs space to a fully-fitted, downstairs washroom to be proud of, Dolphin has a number of stylish options to choose from.

Understairs cloakroom

 Stunning in its simplicity, the understairs cloakroom shown above makes the most of a limited space. It features the gorgeous Esta wash station, complete with an integrated basin, which offers fantastic storage to hide away those everyday essentials.

With its stylish solar mirror, this cleverly designed room manages to look classic yet contemporary. The mirror has a high-tech infra-red switch fitted, as well as a demister pad to prevent the mirror from steaming up. This understairs solution is also fitted with an attractive 300x800 heated towel rail, which adds a practical yet stylish touch.
Combined with the gorgeous Dados blanco tiles to give the illusion of space, this design will give neglected cloakrooms an instant wow factor.

Cloakroom

 For a slightly more contemporary look, the polished cloakroom pictured below features chic, casino wall-hung furniture – perfect for urban living.

A glossy splash basin adds a sleek look to the room, while the soft-line back-to-wall WC, which is backed on to the Envy WC unit, completes the look. With two internal shelves, the mirrored Modena cabinet adds further storage space, which is ideal for maximizing space in this typically small room.

The effortlessly stylish Young stone scored tiles complete the look and add the illusion of extra space.

Geoff Wells, bathroom planning expert for Dolphin Bathrooms, comments:

“Both of these new designs from Dolphin make the most of what’s usually a neglected room. Each gorgeous cloakroom solution makes the most of a small space, and the stylish and contemporary details add a touch of glamour to any home. Having a second washroom is ideal for busy households and with Dolphin, it is possible to make the most of this extra space in the home.”

Brits are a nation of pamper addicts who hoard more toiletries than they use, according to a survey from national fitted bathroom experts Dolphin

Britain is officially a nation of pamper addicts with four out of five people admitting to having up to 20 toiletry items clogging up their bathroom cabinets whilst the rest have as many as 50 products, according to a survey of 3,000 participants conducted by specialists Dolphin Bathrooms.

With the UK’s bathrooms in dire need of a spring clean, almost 70% of those surveyed said they currently had up to 10 unused pamper products, with the remainder having up to 30 bottles, packs and tubes simply gathering dust.

Shampoo is the most wasted product, closely followed by shower gel (which came top with men as the most wasted item) and moisturiser, (which was the most neglected beauty product by women). Over a quarter of respondents said their bathroom also held host to out of date medicines but most shockingly, 54% said that they would still use them regardless, with men proving to be particularly lax on this issue.

The most common reasons provided for hoarding so many unused or out of date items in the bathroom was  because people ‘forgot they were there’ and ‘always buy too much and never get round to using it’, whilst 58% said the majority of their unused toiletry items were from unwanted gift packs.

Special store promotions were also cited as a key reason why Brits buy more products than they need, with 61% saying they would still take up a multi-buy offer even if they knew they wouldn’t get around to using it all.

One fifth of those surveyed by Dolphin estimated that they had wasted just over £20 on unused pampering products whilst it seems the Welsh spend the most, at an average of £24.72, compared to the more conscientious West Midlander’s spending £19.85. This isn’t surprising as the Welsh also have the highest average number of unused toiletries within the UK and are more likely to take advantage of ‘buy one get one free’ offers despite the fact that many products simply get stored away never to be used.

The bathroom cabinet takes most of this strain for half of those surveyed, followed by the windowsill and around the edge of the bath. A quarter of respondents claimed that too much bathroom clutter was a cause of argument at home, with 57% of households choosing to have a clear out every so often to keep on top of everything.

Geoff Wells, planning expert at Dolphin Bathrooms, comments: “Whilst we may be a nation of pamper addicts, we accumulate too many beauty products that we never intend to use (according to 40% of participants) and this often means bathrooms can be cluttered. It comes as no surprise to us that over 60% of those we questioned wished they had more storage space in the bathroom, as it is often the smallest room in UK homes but despite this, we can’t seem to stop ourselves hoarding and so end up losing precious space. 

“However, with careful planning, any bathroom can be designed to keep lotions and potions well organised and easy to find. Clever use of cabinets, sink space and shelving will make sure you optimise every inch of space whilst keeping your bathroom beautiful - plus you can avoid wasting money on new products you don’t actually need after all.”

View coverage of this survey from Express.co.uk: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/167862/Rows-Why-they-gel-in-the-bathroom