A re-energised Victorian house in Clapham, built around a young family and their eclectic art collection

The pendant is from Rowen & Wren.

Chris Snook

The new kitchen, with its blend of antique furniture, verdigris lighting and prep table with wavy edges, demonstrates Laura’s magpie approach to decorating. To connect the space to the double living room, a small porthole has proved particularly effective: as well as projecting light into the snug, it affords a view through the house from as far back as the walled courtyard. ‘At Christmas, you can even see the twinkle of the tree lights in the bay window,’ says Laura.

The living room is home to the clients’ one must-have: a Sophie Conran sofa. In the adjoining snug, an antique trunk works hard as a coffee table with storage, while a Kanduri shrine cloth acquired as a wall hanging doubles up as a tactile TV cover. Uniting the two areas are a pair of marble fireplaces from Jamb. The walls are where the owners’ lively art collection sings, bolstered by a handful of pieces acquired by Laura, such as a plaster intaglio from LASSCO and brass creations commissioned from Harriet Bruce in tabernacle frames.

To temper the stripes of the sofa and armchairs, an accent chair was covered in Beata Heuman’s Willow fabric.

Chris Snook

During the project, the clients welcomed a baby boy. For his bedroom, Laura commissioned the embroiderer Bellamy Jean to embellish a café curtain with a castle scene, along with his parents’ names (and the family’s beloved dog). ‘The idea is that it can be a future family heirloom – something that they can take down and have framed,’ explains Laura.

Next door in the guest bedroom, the earthy palette is punctuated with a set of fuschia wall lights. ‘They [the clients] understood that the whole house needs to flow and so some rooms are a little louder than others, while some are a little more neutral,’ says Mel.

Palmer & Stone had the kitchen crafted to specification, with the units painted in Terre de Sardaigne by Argile Peinture. The verdigris lantern above the island is by HÁM.

Chris Snook

Up a level in the loft space, ‘we were trying to make it feel like the rest of the house rather than something that had had space added onto it,’ explains Laura. The split levels have been cleverly utilised to create a ‘primary apartment’ feel, rather than a walk-through suite, with the generously-proportioned landing holding a pair of wardrobes and a dressing table. Curtained panels were chosen over doors to conceal eaves storage, ‘as we felt that one of the key factors that make a loft feel like a converted space is being too heavy on joinery,’ says Laura. The newly created bedroom is decked in tongue-and-groove panelling, a detail which instantly injects the room with character.

What ties the renovations together are the external windows and front door, painted in a playful shade of pastel pink. They act as a palette-cleanser from the wealth of patina and period detailing inside. A copy-paste project this is not: ‘This isn’t a design that can simply be replicated, because it came from our process of working together from day one. What makes it unique is how well it reflects the owners,’ says Mel.

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