Clara Bee

I have recently finished an extensive, 18 month, project with Clara Bee involving the full refurbishment (and extension) of the ground floor, exterior and garden of my house. I knew from early on that I wanted to work with Trevor and Claire - i'd spoken to Trevor previously about a smaller project, and while they weren't involved in that, i knew that they were the right people for the bigger piece of work further down the road. The two most important things for me, particularly for such a lengthy project where you spend a lot of time together... you can't help but get on with them, and you genuinely feel that they are as personally invested as you are in making your project as successful as possible. On the project management side, Trevor's support throughout was absolutely priceless. His attention to detail and understanding of all aspects of the design and build process are exemplary. He sees and understands things that the 'layman' client would have no chance of spotting. This saves enormous amounts of time, and therefore money. They have a number of recommended contractors and suppliers that they have previously used, but also link in with new ones that you may bring onto a project separately. I was rarely around for much of the project, and Trevor's ability to coordinate across upto ten different contractors working on various different aspects of the project all at the same time was invaluable. I genuinely dread to think how much longer and how much more costly it would have been without that support and expertise. For the interior design, more than anything Claire helped me make sense of my own ideas. I was relatively hands on, but somewhat of a novice and she helped me both experiment and make sensible decisions. Again, the attention to detail was terrific, and Claire is wonderfully tolerant of being dragged round various shops, looking at endless samples. I couldn't be happier with the end result, and that couldn't have happened without Claire and Trevor's support and expertise. They're terrific fun to work with (very important over that length of time!), and are more than worth the investment. I would highly recommend Clara Bee.

“It has been a real pleasure to have Claire and Trevor manage the works in our house. They have made the whole process incredibly smooth and stress-free, which was particularly welcomed as our family with young children lived in the house during the works. Always on top of things, they made sure that we were aware of all the possible options at hand and went an extra mile to guarantee a perfect end-result. We are thrilled with our refurbished home and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Clara Bee to anyone wishing to conduct works without the chore of coordinating different trades, timing, snagging issues etc. Thanks!”

The transformation of the study (which previously i hated going into) is now a tranquil, relaxing study room which has been tastefully decorated with beautiful textures, fabrics and colours. Clara Bee and her team listened to my ideas and we both worked well together. I can recommend Clara Bee for her enthusiasm and knowledge in creating and managing a home project.

Clara Bee designed a bedroom for our two-year old daughter and managed the decoration work. The design was great and Claire and Caroline worked with our brief to suggest design options that really worked for the room. Our daughter loves the room, particularly the mezzanine bed section and the hidden magnetic wall for her to pin her drawings on. We're very happy with the room. Recommended!

Clara Bee worked with us to completely redo our kitchen – we knocked through a few walls to create a larger kitchen/living space, and added in a utility room and WC. We are very pleased with the service Clara Bee provided – from the initial planning stages, to helping us find a builder in budget, to designing the new kitchen, and – crucially – to project-managing the work. It was the biggest building project we had done – and Trevor’s steady hand overseeing everything was hugely reassuring throughout. As is the case with all projects, not everything went to plan – but Trevor was brilliant at keeping everything on track (and budget!). The project was finished in time for us to move back home for Christmas. We are delighted with our new kitchen – it’s modern, bright and very useable. Clara Bee helped us to ensure everything we wanted in our new kitchen is there – lots of hidden cupboard space, a beautiful worktop and a greatly admired turquoise splashback. We now have plenty of room for cooking, entertaining and for our toddler to run around in – exactly what we were hoping for.