Many designers seek to preserve the magical stage in decorating. It is that liminal moment when the scaffolding comes down, the builders have left and the furniture is yet to be installed, when a house feels completely at peace with itself. ‘I often think that the most successful projects are the ones in which a room looks beautiful before you put anything in it,’ says interior designer Jessica Summer. Decorating with restraint requires skill and confidence but, as she explains, ‘it cannot happen successfully without investing in the fabric of the house’.
This level of artful simplicity is clearly showcased in a recent project of hers, a Victorian house in south east London, on which she worked alongside its owner to bring the property back to life. Jessica studied interior architecture at the Inchbald before going on to work at Mlinaric, Henry and Zervudachi, followed by five years at Rose Uniacke. There, she says, ‘I learned to work to a meticulous level of detail. If there was a functional element that had to be used, we were taught not to hide it but to make it sing. Every detail – from hinge to hook – had to be beautiful.’ It was while working for Rose that Jessica was also schooled in the value of good antiques and well-placed furniture, and a stint with architecture studio P Joseph stood her in good stead for this project, where she designed and oversaw all of the interior architecture.
Walls in a custom paint create a soft backdrop for photographs by Hiroshi Sugimoto (behind a floor lamp from Howe) and Tom Hatton (above the chimneypiece), and a painting by Aythamy Armas (above the tilt-top table, also from Howe London).
Jake Curtis
‘The house was in a bad way,’ explains Jessica. ‘But it had a dishevelled charm. The owner wanted to update it, but he didn’t want to lose that sense of age, time and character.’ Having seen a small kitchen project of Jessica’s, he was confident that she would be able to preserve the spirit of the house.
In some cases, the damage had gone too far. A beautiful pine floor was riddled with woodworm: ‘After a painstaking process, we installed reclaimed boards.’ In a pleasing stroke of luck, these came from an old school down the road. The brief was to create a space that felt like a sanctuary. This was achieved through the cohesive palette of hard materials. ‘A space feels good to be in and stands the test of time visually when there’s a rich, layered canvas to work with and restraint in the palette,’ explains Jessica.