There’s something liberating about decluttering your home, and a thorough spring clean can really brighten up your space. And it’s not all about cleaning – creating adequate storage in your home can have a huge impact on day to day living by keeping your space clutter-free and creating a more joyful space for the whole family to enjoy.

So what better time to look at all those unused corners or awkward spaces. Our design team has lots of fabulous space-saving ideas that are not only practical but look great too!

2021 Colours for Modern Kitchen Trends

Modern kitchens come in all colours and we are seeing an increasing popularity of greens and blues which contrast beautifully with elegant appliances and accessories. If you’re stuck for colour inspiration below is a round-up of the most popular trends for 2021 kitchen colours.

Our showroom kitchen features deep blue and contrasting light grey units, showing how beautifully these colours work in practice.

We are really looking forward to reopening our doors on the 12th April and welcoming all our wonderful customers back into our showroom.

BUILT BY HAND, FITTED WITH CARE

If you’d like more details on how we can help transform your home or to make an appointment to visit our Washway Road showroom, please do call us on 0161 976 6606. Rest assured we have all the necessary precautions in place to keep you safe throughout your visit.

Why did you choose Bluebell?

We have worked with the Bluebell team before and like that they are a local, family-run business. We choose Bluebell originally as we were recommended by a few people including Macclesfield-based home furnishing store, Bubblitex.

What was the brief to the Designers – did you have a clear idea of what you wanted?

We had a very clear idea of what we wanted and showed Stephen a few pictures of the design I was looking for. He was so easy to work with and instantly turned that into the exact design we were looking for. We knew the style we wanted but we also took inspiration from their fabulous showroom. I like to see the actual displays rather than just samples.

How did the CAD drawings help you decide on the final design?

The CAD drawings really bring the design to life. Stephen would create the design and we would meet and chat about different ideas and he would move things around. There were only a few tweaks to the original drawings to get the perfect design.

Did you have any tricky areas or issues in the rooms to overcome such as access or limited wall space and did you have any specific requirements Bluebell had to include or work around?

The study is a very small area. I wanted to create a space the whole family would use. I work from home, my husband likes to have his own space to work in, and we wanted somewhere for the children to do their homework. In lockdown, it has proven a vital space for our 13 year old who has lessons from 9am until 3pm each day and it’s such an amazing space for her to use rather than being in her bedroom all day.

What do you like most about working with Bluebell?

They are so easy to work with. I ask for a design and they provide. Really simple. I like things a little different. They also designed our daughter’s room which was a larger area and I didn’t want just a row of wardrobes. I gave 3 pictures to Stephen – a seating area, dressing table and wardrobes. Lighting is very important to me and they know I always add “warm white” to the specification. Stephen designed exactly what we were looking for. The same for the study. It was just so easy to work with him and he did everything we asked for. I don’t think we changed anything in the design.

What is your favourite part of each room and why?

I can honestly say I love everything about each room. I suppose with my daughter’s bedroom it’s the seating area, dressing table, and lighting. Anyone that has seen it said “wow” which is exactly the reaction I wanted. My daughter has the lights on low in the evening and relaxes after all the homeschooling. It’s such a lovely space. The study has had the same reaction. I’m usually not a very big fan of cool lighting but it looks amazing. Before the latest lockdown, all our zoom meetings were in the study (before our daughter took over!) and everyone has complimented us on it even though they only saw a little of the area.

How did you decide on the wall lighting concept?

Bluebell has a display wall in their showroom and as soon as I saw it, I loved and knew I wanted it that for the space. It’s a small area but we wanted it to feel great.

I’ve worked from home for a very long time now and my previous study became a place no one really wanted to use and I would end up using the kitchen table!

How did the process go from initial design consultation to fitting, did the team sort everything for you?

Yes they did. The fitters have all been so neat and tidy. We have had a new build house and renovated lots of properties and we were so impressed with the workmanship. The study and bedroom were both done during the current pandemic. They followed government guidelines completely and had to work around a busy house but we had minimal interruption from Bluebell being in our home.

Is there any clever storage or practical ‘tricks’ they have included in the design for you?

The study is a small area but I wanted to make sure the storage space incorporated the printer as I didn’t want it on show. Bluebell designed the unit with a pullout for the printer with a plug at the back for access to it. It’s so easy to use. I wanted everything to have a place. We have so much storage area with deep filing cabinets also – It’s just perfect.

How are the spaces working for you now they are finished?

My daughter is using the study for all her full day of zoom homeschooling. I’m so glad she feels comfortable in there and it has been amazing for her through the lockdown. My 8 year old son is actually using her dressing table for his zoom calls 3 times a week. It’s such a calming area for him and he really enjoys sitting at the dressing table and chatting with his friends and teacher. We all have our own areas to use and it’s working well. We are so lucky that we have these spaces, especially as the weather isn’t as good we are not all on top of each other!

BUILT BY HAND, FITTED WITH CARE

If you’d like more details on how we can help transform your home or to make an appointment to visit our Washway Road showroom, please do call us on 0161 976 6606. Rest assured we have all the necessary precautions in place to keep you safe throughout your visit.

We are proud to announce HUMEN as our ‘Charity of the Year’ for 2021.

Did you know that 76% of all UK suicides are male? HUMEN is leading the movement to improve and maintain men’s mental health, preventing them from suffering in silence and dying too young.

Our motivation to get involved with this charity has been our lifelong family friend Chris Ingram, who has inspired us with his incredible story. It shows that everyone can experience mental health challenges no matter how successful they are. Despite achieving his dream to be the first British Driver in 52 years to become FIA European Rally Champion, his mental health was suffering and he needed help from friends, family and supporters.

To help raise awareness, Chris (who is Manchester born and bred) will be taking on #Challenge76 where he will be challenging himself to run 76km and cycle 76km per month, in preparation for the World Rally Championship where he will compete on 76 stages against the World’s best drivers in his comeback to the sport. You can learn more about the challenge he is taking on by clicking on the link below, where you can also help to support Chris and this amazing charity by making a donation to his fundraising page.

When lockdown comes to an end, team Bluebell will be setting our own fundraising goal to support Chris so do watch this space for more details!

Learn more about Challenge 76 and donate here.

We are thrilled to announce that we have triumphed in the North West Family Business Awards 2020 and have won Retailer Of The Year!

We are very proud to have beaten some extremely strong competition (including the wonderful team at Bents Garden Centre) with a record number of 192 businesses entering the awards from across the North West region.

We cannot express how delighted we are to win such a fantastic award. We’re so incredibly proud of our family business and our amazing teams at our Washway Road showroom and Altrincham factory, who help make it all possible. Also thank you to everyone at the North West Family Business Awards for all their support and for putting on a fantastic evening at Runway Visitor Park.

We established Bluebell Fitted Furniture nearly 30 years ago. While our styles and products have changed, our passion for quality and good old fashioned customer service has never wained.

This we feel is one of the reasons we have won this prestigious award, along with our Washway Road showroom which truly wowed the judges and of course our wonderful team – who we like to call the wider ‘Bluebell Family’.

We don’t like to stand still at Bluebell, we have created a fantastic brand that we are truly proud of, our focus has always been providing top quality products along with top quality service. Local products, British manufacturing and our community are at the heart of our business and we strive to support these in everything we do. (Check out our Sunflower sponsorship with Raring2Go Atrincham for example). 

Most of all, we are growing our business for the future generations of our family and we are also protecting a strong and reliable brand with a hard-working and trustworthy team.

We now go on to the National ‘Family Business of the Year Awards’ in June so keep your fingers crossed as we attempt to bring home this prestigious Award too!

February is the month of Love and one thing all our customers tell us is how much they love our fitted furniture. There are so many ways our products can help you transform your interiors. If you’re keen to update your style or need some inspiration to make a space both functional AND beautiful, here are just a few suggestions to help you fall in love with your home all over again.

The Kitchen Is King

Transforming a kitchen can feel a little daunting. In our experience, the key is to think about how you want to use the space – for example, will you be cooking, eating and working; watching TV or entertaining? Do you have an impressive wine collection you want to show off or do you need extra room for the kid’s games consoles?

More space is one of the most common requirements and you’d be surprised what our talented designers can achieve. Whether you’re after something sleek and modern or something more traditional, or really aren’t sure, we’re with you every step of the way and also have our own in-house fitters for extra peace of mind.

A Bedroom Retreat

A bedroom should be a haven of relaxation – a serene space to unwind and switch off. Furniture and lighting plays a huge part in creating the right ambience and we are experts in every aspect of bedroom design. From dressing rooms to vanity units; bespoke bunk beds; floor to ceiling wardrobes; headboards to TV tables – we’ve got it all covered.

We also work closely with a number of interior designers who can help plan all the soft furnishings to complement the look you’re going for.

Living Rooms to Lounge In

A living room often needs to be so much more than just a space to watch TV or read a book. As more and more of us entertain at home, the list of must-have accessories has increased. Luckily, we are experts in creating bespoke wall panelling, media areas, bars and fireplaces to transform your lounge into a stylish space to be proud of.

Wonderful Wardrobes

Wardrobe wars can cause havoc at home, there’s nothing worse than not enough space for all your clothes, never mind the bags and shoes! At Bluebell, we’re full of inventive ideas to solve all your storage problems as well as making the end result look beautiful!

We’re very excited at Bluebell to be entering our fourth decade designing, making and supplying fitted furniture for our wonderful customers, and as we look back on 2019, it really was a fantastic year for our family business. Here’s a little roundup of some of our highlights.

The Apartment gets the Thumbs Up

In November, we celebrated the launch of ‘The Apartment’. Over the last year, we have completely transformed the first floor of our Washway Road showroom into a luxury ‘Apartment’ to showcase the creativity and craftsmanship of our talented team and give our customers an idea of what can be achieved in their own home. It features a fully working kitchen, walk-in-wardobe, media area and bar!

The response has been truly overwhelming – customers and friends alike have loved it and we’ve even had a few requests to move in!

Manager Steve’s Graduation

The end of 2019 also saw our Sales Manager Steve ‘graduate’ from the Morgan James Consulting ‘Step Into Management’ programme. 

Steve’s design skills, attention to detail and professional manner has helped elevate Bluebell ahead of the competition when it comes to design and knowledge – he’s a real asset to our team and we’re delighted for him!

Teamwork Makes The Dream Work

We are also delighted to have worked with the amazing team at Cheshire Stairs who created this beautiful staircase for one of their customers in Bowdon. We supplied and fitted the wall paneling with ’halo effect’ lighting and the end result is absolutely stunning. We’re really looking forward to working on more projects with them in the coming months as more and more customers are looking for a bespoke wall feature to accompany their staircase and hallway.

At Bluebell Fitted Furniture, we’re always looking for new, innovative ways to surprise and delight our customers and over the last year, we’ve been working extremely hard on a very special project – ‘The Apartment’.

Quality and Finish

‘The Apartment’ is our latest development at our Washway Road showroom in Sale and covers most of our first floor.

Simply step through our ‘secret door’ and you arrive in the most glamorous ‘home-from-home’, complete with spacious walk-in-wardrobe, fully working luxury kitchen complemented by a fabulous feature island with Quartz worktops, floor to ceiling decorative wall paneling with ’halo effect’ lighting, a luxurious living area with built-in fireplace (supplied by our friends at Fireplace Superstore in Cheadle), a stylish bar and glamorous media room.

Style and Substance

Every bit of ‘The Apartment’ has been lovingly made in-house by our talented team at our Altrincham factory. Everything you see we can can create in your home – something we are incredibly proud of and something which many of you may not realise.

Elegance In Every Room

‘The Apartment’ is our chance to really show off what we can do at Bluebell. Some of you may already be customers and think we simply make fitted bedroom furniture for example but we wanted to let you know that we really are a full-service interiors, ‘one-stop-shop’ and the perfect partner to help you create your dream home.

As well as being renowned for our bespoke fitted furniture, our clever team have also been busy making some beautiful Freestanding furniture – made with the same care and attention as all our products and we’re really proud of the results.

Pick Your Style & Finish

As with all our products, our freestanding furniture is completely bespoke. Whether you’re looking for something to fit an awkward space or have a particular style or finish you want to achieve, our talented designers and craftsmen are on hand to create your perfect piece. 

From traditional shaker-style furniture to a more modern, contemporary look, the world really is your oyster when you choose Bluebell to help complete your home interiors.

The Bluebell Promise

All our products are locally sourced and we are extremely proud to support British manufacturing. We also understand that we are working with one of your prized possessions – your home. There is nothing more personal than that, and our dedicated team will work closely with you throughout the process to find an individual solution, perfect for you and those around you. We are also experts at making a piece of furniture dual-purpose – clever storage solutions being just one of the popular tricks we have up our sleeve!

Elegance In Every Room

Our furniture portfolio covers every room of your home. From bedrooms, kitchens, lounges, to media areas, home bars and cinema rooms. And whatever your budget, we’ve got it covered. We can even visit you in the comfort of your own home to discuss your furniture needs and help start the design journey.

It’s been a buy few weeks for the Bluebell Team, not just in our Sale HQ but some of our team members have been across (and ‘in’) the Channel to France! Here’s a round-up of what they’ve been up to..

Bluebell Girls Paris Reunion

Last month, our inspirational Founder and Director Alison Reuben jetted off to Paris for a very special occasion. More than 300 former Bluebell Dancers from all over the world came together at the Lido de Paris to celebrate the Bluebell Global Reunion. As you may or may not know, from the age of just 16, Alison was a Bluebell Dancer for a number of years so this was an emotional and enjoyable trip. We couldn’t be more proud of Alison, who went on to name our wonderful fitted furniture company after the iconic dance troupe.

James’ Channel Challenge

Alison is not the only member of our team who crossed the channel last month. Huge congratulations to our Designer James who, along with his friends from Rudyard Lake Youth Sailing Club, successfully completed their magnificent Cross Channel Challenge to raise money for the wonderful Maggies Centre Manchester.

The team sailed on Saturday, leaving Rye early in the morning and 7 hrs 1min and 45 seconds later, they arrived in Boulogne France. They couldn’t have wished for better weather and they even got a Supertanker to do a 360 degree about turn in the middle of a shipping lane to avoid them!

What an amazing achievement – we really are so proud of James and if you’d like to donate, simply click here. Many thanks to Carol Kane and the team at Boohoo who also came on board (excuse the pun!) to sponsor the team.

BUILT BY HAND, FITTED WITH CARE
For more details on our range of fitted furniture, contact us on 0161 976 6606 or you can fill out in an enquiry form on our website. Alternatively, why not pop into our Washway Road showroom and meet the team for yourselves?

The last few months have been extremely busy at Bluebell so we thought it would be nice to share a few snippets of what we’ve been up to.

Wembley Way

As a family business, we were incredibly proud to make it to the finals of the National Family Business Awards 2019. The Awards ceremony was held at Wembley Stadium and was a glittering occasion and a chance to come together with like-minded companies to celebrate our achievements and successes. Sadly we weren’t winners on the night but rubbing shoulders with such inspirational people was a huge honour. Above, you can see our Director’s Alison and Mike making the most of the trip and visiting the hallowed Wembley turf.

Sale Scarecrow Safari

We’re excited to be taking part in the Sale and District Lions/Act4Africa Scarecrow Safari. Come and meet the newest member of the Bluebell Team at our Washway Road Showroom! 

The Scarecrow Safari runs until the 4th September. See how many Scarecrows you can find in M33 by the 4th September to be entered into a draw for the chance to win £400 worth of cash prizes. For more info of how to join in the fun, click here.

We’d also like to introduce you to our Factory Manager, the lovely John Horner. John has been with us since we started 26 years ago and is literally part of the furniture at Bluebell (excuse the pun!). Not only is John a wonderful chap, his knowledge and expertise is second to none in the industry and we are very proud to have him as part of the Bluebell family.

John was also the imspiration behind our Scarecrow Safari entry. Look closely into John’s eyes and we think you may see the Bluebell logo in them too!

Teambuilding Day 2019

We’re a competitive bunch at Bluebell so our annual team building day for our Designers is always a highlight! This years’ Pitch & Put event was held at Pinky Park with Stephen, Josh, Darren, James and John along with Directors Mike & Alison and of course our Bluebell mascot Dennis (kept on a lead due to chasing the balls!). The big winner of the day was our Graduate John Lewis. The Award Ceremony was overseen by Sales Manager Stephen (he considers himself semi-professional!!) who luckily took being pipped to the post in good humour!