The designer describes the house as the product of a ‘constant stream of ideas’, but the finished result has just the right air of measured restraint. Thea credits this in part to the fact that they were having to work to constant deadlines, which meant ‘we were quite focused and always taking one step back to simplify a design choice’.
The walls are painted in Paint & Paper Library’s ‘Stone II’.
Michael Sinclair
This sense of coolness and restraint is also a result of the tranquil and warm palette, which has become a signature style for Thea, who honed her eye while working at Rose Uniacke for five years. The hallway and kitchen walls are painted in the same colour as the kitchen cabinetry, while the main bedroom is in Edward Bulmer Natural Paint’s ‘Lilac Pink’. This room is a particularly peaceful hideaway, with the bed positioned so it looks out over nearby Queen’s Park. Textiles were key to creating a calm atmosphere – from curtains in Rose Uniacke’s ‘Sheer Linen’ to others made from inexpensive artists’ canvas. ‘It is a large house, so we had to be mindful about where to spend the money, and the clients were thankfully very open to fabric that cost £6 a metre from Goldhawk Road,’ explains Thea.
On an equally enlightened note, the owners were also happy to move in with just beds, joinery and curtains in place. ‘You do get the best out of spaces when you let them come together piece by piece,’ she observes. Many of the upholstered items, including the sofa and the ottoman in the family room, were bespoke – adding to the already good stash of furniture, antiques and art that belonged to them. This includes works by Martha’s mother, the artist Annabel Gault, such as the pair of abstract garden paintings hanging over the kitchen table and a crocodile in ink above the beds in the children’s attic room.
Cabinetry by 202 Design in the same colour as the walls – ‘Stone II’ by Paint & Paper Library – is enlivened by worktops in Bianco Fantastico marble with distinctive burgundy and green veining in the kitchen. The double pendant lights with opal glass shades are from Berliner Messinglampen.
Michael Sinclair
Unsurprisingly, there is a good spattering of antiques throughout the house, from 20th-century European finds to primitive items, adding a certain richness – many of them sourced by Thea. Sussy Cazalet, a friend of the owners, designed the wall hanging in the basement family room, creating an earthy aesthetic that embraces the lower light level. ‘Thea was the magic in the project,’ says Martha. ‘Her input is what made it special, because she managed to keep all the lovely parts while creating this wonderful atmosphere.’ For Thea, the project marks an exciting turning point for her business and she has now shifted her focus to full interiors projects and consultancy. ‘Antiques will always be something that I dabble in, but I can easily find a place for everything I source in my design projects,’ she explains. What lucky clients she has.
Thea Speke: theaspeke.com | Martha Balfour: marthabalfour.com