The team behind Acorn Kitchens & Bedrooms has expanded to become Acorn Lifestyle. This includes a brand new venture – Acorn Interiors Limited – based on Market Street in town. We caught up with interior designer, and shop manager, Katie Le Tissier to find out how mighty oaks from little acorns grow.

So Katie, tell us a bit about Acorn Interiors.

Acorn is well known on the island for its quality kitchens and bedrooms and the guys behind it had the idea to branch out further into interior design. That’s when I came on board and Acorn Interiors was born. Our showroom is at No.9 Market Street in town (you can’t miss us painted in the Acorn green) and we officially open in November and we’re excited about it.

What are you going to be offering at Acorn Interiors?

Broadly speaking, we’re going to be selling furniture, lighting and home accessories. This includes office furniture, a huge range of architectural and decorative lighting and exclusive pieces from international designers and brands.

How is it going to be different from other furniture shops in Guernsey?

One of the big things that we’re going to be offering is a seamless service across the Acorn Lifestyle brand. This means that if you’re getting the guys to design your kitchen or bedroom we can also consult on the look and feel of that design and bring our experience to bear in marrying the design with interior décor as well. I’ve personally worked with the team before so the chemistry is already there and we have a good understanding of how each other works and what our clients might want.

We’re providing new brands that haven’t been seen in Guernsey before and that bring a contemporary feel to interior design. Giving the island the chance to enjoy a fresh new look is a firm focus for Acorn Interiors and to do that we’re offering a broad range of furniture and lighting. In fact our lighting options are huge; we’ve got everything from pendant lights to chandeliers and everything in between in a variety of exciting styles.

We’re also really excited about our range of furniture for small spaces, including console tables and coffee tables that easily transform into dining tables; maximising space is key to many people and we want to help with that.

How is Acorn’s retail space going to shape what you do?

We’ve got a 1,000sq ft. showroom in a central location and that means we can showcase the range of brands we’re going to sell as well as a variety of styles to suit different types of people. Material and colour samples are going to be in the shop so people can come in and get a true sense of what’s available.

Listening to customers and letting them outline their personal vision for their home is so important in this business so I’ll be based in the shop and available to advise customers. It’s about providing the personal touch and helping customers to choose the pieces that will realise their vision.

Showcasing our ranges in the showroom also means that the experience is visible and tactile – something you just don’t get with online shopping.

So why is now the right time to launch Acorn Interiors?

Acorn has been doing great things since 2003 and it felt like a natural progression to be able to offer an interior design service as well. Customers were asking Acorn Kitchens & Bedrooms if they offer interiors advice so the guys thought ‘yes, we can do more’ and reached out to me.

Open plan spaces that combine living, dining and kitchens are more and more popular. If these spaces exist in homes why not offer a service that addresses all of those elements and creates contemporary designs that make the most of the way we live?

There’s also been a big rise in the popularity of architectural lighting within the home. People are increasingly looking to spotlight (both literally and figuratively) the unique architectural features of their homes and we can offer lighting that helps do this.

How do you select the pieces that you sell?

A lot of research goes into our selections as we want to offer customers quality, contemporary interior choices sourced from the UK and Europe. What’s unique is the experience I can bring; a kind of intuition as to which brands will complement each other so that helps as well.

Finally Katie, what benefit is Guernsey going to get from Acorn Interiors?

More choice, a hands-on retail experience and the chance to take advantage of an excellent interior design service using state-of-the-art visualisation software so customers can connect with their choices and our designs.

Ultimately your home is where you want to spend your quality time so you want it to look and feel like your unique space; it should be an extension of your personality and we want to help islanders achieve that.