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Behind the scenes
They specialise in great interior design. But what do the experts’ own homes look like?
October 16, 2019 16:03
11 min read
They specialise in great interior design. But what do the experts’ own homes look like?
October 16, 2019 16:03A home can be an expression of one’s personality, one’s family history, or design philosophy. Or it may be a deliberately minimalist space, keeping its secrets tucked away in streamlined storage. What do you hide in your home and what do you keep on display? Six interiors professionals have kindly taken us on a tour of their homes, verbally showing us around their very own visions of domesticity.
If I walked into your home, where would my eye be drawn first?
To the natural finishes in the house — the original brickwork, the doors.
Does your home have an overall design vision or 'look'?
I designed my home using the inspiration of The White Company stores — light, white, bleached with touches of grey.
What is your favourite room/item in your house?
The dining room (right). We have a large, old, distressed bleached wood table with a metal base and lots of chairs. We have a large family, with 16 immediate family members (not all living in the cottage!) so mealtimes are always noisy.
Name up to three items in your home that most reflect your personality.
My kitchen, my bedroom (restful, peaceful and tranquil) and my garden (an English country garden).
Is there anything about your home that you’d like to change?
No, nothing.
Where do you hide your 'stuff'? Or are you clutter-free?
We are pretty clutter-free. In a cottage, there is not much space for clutter.
What is your most treasured Jewish/family-related object in your home?
The menorah my grandmother gave me and our front-door mezuzah, rescued from the ruins of our previous home, after it was pulled down and redeveloped.
Which product would you most like to add to your own home?
More candles.
What makes a house/flat into a home?
Throws, cushions, books, flowers, cooking smells, Danish pastries on the windowsill under a glass dome...
If I walked into your home, where would my eye be drawn first?
To my staircase carpet (shown, page 37), a bold teal with an off-white honeycomb pattern.
Does your home have an overall design vision or 'look'?
Modern-classic, in terms of form and shapes, with a muted palette of greens and blues (Farrow & Ball Light Blue, Pale Powder, Oval Room Blue and Strong White), which give it a fresh and calm feel.
What is your favourite room/item in your house?
My kitchen, which has a very veiny grey marble island, which I never get bored of looking at. Natural materials always add extra depth to a space.
Which items in your home most reflect your personality?
The Atelier Areti pendant light over my kitchen island — so simple and stylish. Also, the walls of my guest WC. They are painted in blackboard paint, so the room is full of messages and drawings from anyone that goes in there. And our beautiful bespoke Julian Chichester cabinet in Farrow & Ball Theresa Green; it is curvy and playful, but practical too, as it is filled with toys.
Is there anything about your home you’d like to change?
I love the feel — all the colours and tones make it cool and calm. I would just like more space in the lounge for entertaining.
Where do you hide your 'stuff' in your home? Or are you clutter-free?
A bit of both; I am constantly decluttering — and if there is anything I can’t part with, I will find some space for it in the loft or the shed.
What is your most treasured Jewish/family-related object?
A tall pair of silver Shabbat candles my grandma gave to me, which belonged to her grandma.
What makes a house/flat into a home?
I always tell my clients it’s the paintings and artwork and what goes up on the walls that really makes a home — what fills the shelves, the books, the family photos, the indoor plants.
I can create the backdrop for this and a stunning house, but all these personal collections are what turns it into a home.
If I walked into your home, where would my eye be drawn first?
To a central feature with a high board and spectacular painting above.
Does your home have an overall design vision or 'look'?
Contemporary but luxury feel.
What is your favourite room/item in your house?
My favourite is the kitchen. It has two islands and a double-aspect ceiling and there are large glass doors leading to the garden, bringing the outside in.
Name up to three items in your home that most reflect your personality.
The doors, which extend to full ceiling height and the shiny ceramic tiles to give the feeling of space and height.
Where do you hide your 'stuff' in your home? Or are you clutter-free?
We have the perfect amount of storage and a showroom style, clutter-free.
What is your most treasured Jewish/family-related object in your home?
A menorah presented by a good friend.
Which current product from your own company would you most like to add to your own home?
A bookcase that’s just come in — it is amazing.
What makes a house/flat into a home?
Personal touches, like family pictures.
If I walked into your home, where would my eye be drawn first?
I’m a big fan of Andy Warhol and David Hockney. Throughout the house, you’ll find a selection of pop art which has been used to add colour to our minimalist white walls.
Does your home have an overall design vision or 'look'?
We knew we wanted something quite clean and timeless — Scandinavian style seemed a good place to start. Over the years, we’ve added some mid-century modern icons and have found the two styles work very well together.
What is your favourite room/item in your house?
Funnily enough, my favourite piece of furniture used to belong to one of our clients. They’d just received delivery of a stunning new storage unit and their old chest of drawers was in the back of a Chaplins van.
After rescuing it, my father-in-law and I sanded it down and gave it a beautiful new varnish. I then scoured the internet for some new handles to give it a cool vintage feel. I feel like there’s so much story in that one piece and I love that I got to work on it with my father-in-law.
Name up to three items in your home that most reflect your personality.
Hmm… perhaps the Days Forum sofa and armchair by Robin Day? It’s Bauhaus in aesthetic, so features a lovely wooden frame, wrapped around soft leather upholstery.
I like to think that the frame represents support and the way I show up for my family and colleagues during difficult times. The soft upholstery is the gentler side that my wife and kids get to see.
Is there anything about your home that you’d like to change?
When moving in, my wife and I decided to make the downstairs open-plan. Since then we’ve had two children and there is now no escaping the plastic toys. We are currently considering Crittall-style room dividers, to create quieter zones when entertaining.
Where do you hide your 'stuff' in your home? Or are you clutter-free?
To be honest, I’m actually very considerate in my purchases. I think it was Vivienne Westwood who once said: “Buy less, choose well, make it last”. I really subscribe to that mentality and it’s meant that everything I have, I really love and need.
In that sense, I’m kind of allergic to clutter. My friends once nick-named my first flat “The Lab”, because it was so minimalist.
What is your most treasured family-related object in your home?
A Tottenham scarf, which reminds me of watching and going to games with my dad, who sadly passed away last year.
Which current product from your own company would you most like to add to your own home?
This one’s easy. An Eames lounge chair by Vitra. It was my first contact with design and one of the reasons I ended up switching careers. I’d always had an interest in fashion but found it to be quite cut-throat. Design is completely the opposite. Everything is about collaboration and longevity — the desire to create something that’s timeless as well as trendy. The Eames chair is a great example of this.
What makes a house into a home?
Quite simply, family. Having children is the most challenging thing I have ever done and it requires certain compromises when it comes to the look of your home. That said, I wouldn’t change it for the world. Nowadays, it’s the bedtime stories and family dinners that I prize.
I’m still obsessed with design, but it’s more about the moments they facilitate rather than the actual object itself. You can have a completely gorgeous home but if it doesn’t tell the story of you, then it’s missing something. I know mine would feel strange now without all the chaos and mess.
If I walked into your home, where would my eye be drawn first?
Our Chalon-inspired free standing kitchen.
Does your home have an overall design vision or 'look'?
Our home is made up of a 15th century farmhouse, joining with a New England-style barn conversion, so it is a mixture of period-style farmhouse and contemporary classic.
What is your favourite room/item in your house?
The family room. Toys everywhere and a huge built-in cinema, with comfy couches that the kids love.
Name up to three items in your home that most reflect your personality.
My guitar collection and my antique rifle collection.
Is there anything about your home that you’d like to change?
No.
Where do you hide your 'stuff' in your home? Or are you clutter-free?
Mostly clutter-free. My wife is quite tidy and usually ensures I follow suit.
Which current product from your own company would you most like to add to your own home?
A tiled bench seat in my shower, so I don’t have to wobble around on one leg while washing my feet.
If I walked into your home, where would my eye be drawn first?
To a bright red original Harry Bertoia Bird chair and ottoman.
Does your home have an overall design vision or 'look'?
Our ground-floor space is completely open-plan, with zones defined by a split level and at night by lighting; very contemporary and relatively minimal but with a warm and interesting colour palette.
What is your favourite room/item in your house?
I love the way the downstairs space works and flows; we can be entertaining friends and family, or cosying up in front of our white/minimal TV — the space imbues a sense of well-being, whether you are alone or have company.
Name up to three items in your home that most reflect your personality.
Firstly the open-plan kitchen, 100 per cent designed by the chef in our house — my wife, Gina — to be incredibly functional and incredibly minimal and very lovely. Soft warm colours of matt lacquer, stone and wood are tonal and soothing. Nothing is out on display, except a vase of flowers on the floating peninsula, where we can sit and look out to our garden and the woods beyond.
Then there is our bedroom, in soft off-white and natural tones, with our bed floating in the centre and our dressing room behind the oversized headboard. Finally, we have a wonderful bespoke, curvy, aubergine velvet sofa, where we can all snuggle up to chat or watch TV. Plush, with oversized loose back cushions — it’s everyone’s favourite.
Is there anything about your home that you’d like to change?
We had designed a long floating wall unit to go under the TV, to house all the TV “stuff”, drinks, glasses etc — and when we came to fit it, we were concerned about the weight, so we added legs at the last minute — they still bother me.
Where do you hide your 'stuff'? Or are you clutter-free?
We are so clutter-free, it’s almost shocking. Quite, quite different from our childhood homes...
What is the most treasured Jewish/family-related object in your home?
During a holiday in Israel, we found a local artisan to make us the simplest mezuzot ever — beautiful long tubes with a delicate “shin” engraved; these adorn every entry.
Which current product would you most like to add to your own home?
We need to replace the rug in the lounge area. Our lovely cairn (recently deceased) loved it too much and we were defeated in trying to keep it pristine.
What makes a house/flat into a home?
The space has to work for your lifestyle. It has to make you sigh with quiet pleasure when you turn the key and allow you to relax and enjoy it.
If I walked into your home, where would my eye be drawn first?
Our antique mirror kitchen worktops —which look amazing but are not easy to live with. However, they are most definitely worth the cleaning hassle.
Does your home have an overall design vision or 'look'?
Our home is a little bit “glamorous boutique hotel”. Lots of rich dark tones — we are not afraid of dark colour. We feel it brings warmth and richness.
What is your favourite room/item in your house?
The kitchen/TV/dining room — we never use our formal lounge, even though it is beautiful. Once we are in our “all-in-one” room, it’s hard to move guests. We love to fully open the bi-fold doors and adore the outlook into the garden. Our 10-to-12-seater dining table is perfect for large family dinners and the open-plan room holds large gatherings and parties with ease.
We love sitting at the dining table, looking out to the garden and often set up our laptops at the dining table just to enjoy the view while working (even though we do have a separate home office). We love our very comfortable dining chairs, where you can sit all day and still be comfortable. These have been upholstered in one fabric on the front in a deep buttoned style and in another feature fabric on the back.
What items in the home most reflect your personality?
Our chosen art reflects our personalities. We have collected art since we were first married 32 years ago and when we move homes, we re-frame the art and re-use it, as we still love all of our pieces. We adore an artist called Jurgen Gorg and have a number of limited edition prints that work well with most styles of décor and colour schemes.
Is there anything about your house you would like to change?
My kitchen. Our tastes have become a little more classic since we made our current modern kitchen, 12 years ago. The layout etc will remain similar, as the room works so well for us, but it’s time to update the look.
Name any current product you would like to add to your own home.
I would love to be able to include bespoke Gaggenau ovens, now available in any colour and finish, to match every kitchen that we produce — no more having to stick with steel, black or grey. We have these on display in our showroom and they most definitely evoke FOMO in me.
Where do you hide your 'stuff'? And what makes a house a home?
We do like some things out on show. Too clutter-free doesn’t feel very homely. It’s a “home”, not a showroom after all. But there is definitely a fine line between things out on show and potentially messy. We have put as many storage areas as possible into the house. Recently we built a wonderful cupboard under the stairs, which houses a large pull-out clothes rail for overflow clothes. Personal photos and mementos from trips abroad all help make a house into a home.
What is your most treasured Jewish/family object?
Our most treasured Judaica are my grandmother’s silver candlesticks, given to us a number of years ago. They are intricate and very beautiful and sit on a matching silver tray. We always light the Shabbat candles and remember those no longer with us.
