May: Final Touches & Chandellier Installation

We can’t believe it’s been a whole year since we started our refurbishment and expansion project… What a journey it’s been! We began documenting the progress on this blog last May so that we could take everyone on this journey with us, and we’ve absolutely loved sharing the excitement with you. We’re so grateful for all the lovely comments and messages each time we shared updates, and for all the people that came by for viewings and saw our vision even when it was a building site… We hope you love what we’ve done!

We had one VERY exciting day on site recently…Our mother-of-pearl chandelier has been installed!!!

Each shell carefully strung together with handmade silver links, the wonderful team over at Vivid Design Works specifically designed and created this incredible chandelier for our railway arch. They’ve come back to the venue to install it, which as you can imagine is no simple task….

Going up...

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And here it is!!! Now gracing the top of our double height arch and hanging down in all its majestic beauty.

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Down to the final touches…

The two doorways in between the main room and railway arch have been adorned with reclaimed scaffold, softening the space and complementing the brickwork. We’ve also added a step just before entering the main arch, which will be painted white, and we'll be building a removal ramp so that the venue can still have step-free access throughout.

There is a wide variety of textures in this space: the wood, exposed bricks, zinc bar top, concrete floor, and mother of pearl shells, all coming together perfectly and creating a warm and relaxing ambience.

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Usually working events here as head of our security team, Myron has also been helping us with some of the final preparations. We’ve decided that instead of keeping the courtyard gates black, it would be a lovely idea to add some green and brighten up that side of the courtyard. Myron has done a great job at putting up our new artificial foliage wall, have a look:

We’re pretty pleased with how real these ‘plants’ look, what do you think?!

Speaking of plants, we didn't forget about our real ones! We also took a trip to the Dulwich Pot & Plant Garden to buy pots, and we left with pots, and a new gardener…We met the lovely Tom who works there and will now also be taking care of the Barrington jungle!

Our plants have had to be kept upstairs during lockdown and the building works (and somehow survived…) but they are now back in the venue, freshly potted, and ready for the reopening.

Plants, foliage, festoons... it was very busy Friday on site! Catch a glimpse of the preparations in full swing below:

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As soon as our new festoons were installed in the courtyard, we couldn't wait to see them light up that evening!

A warm and welcoming glow, perfect for any kind of evening event...

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From the huge chandelier to the door handles, every detail has been carefully crafted, breathing new life into these beautiful old railway arches. We cannot wait to welcome you back to our venue, and are so excited to be hosting events again this summer!

-Barrington team xxx