‘We felt really excited after our first talk with these clients,’ says Venetia Rudebeck one of two founders of Studio Vero about this Victorian house in Notting Hill that was waiting for a new look when the owners approached the practice. ‘We had a getting-to-know-you meeting,’ adds Romanos Brihi, her business partner, ‘finding out how they wanted to live and looking through their inspo images. We knew then they were going to be great to work with. We saw they love 1960s Italian design and they were not scared of colour, which is why they came to us.’ The previous owner had left the stucco-fronted house in good condition, though with bland, ‘very vanilla’ decoration. Their clients had no furniture of their own, so Studio Vero sourced everything for the project, re-using the existing white linen curtains, fabric walling and a sofa.
Open the front door of this and the transformation is striking. All the woodwork, from the hall up, is painted in aubergine gloss. The walls are pink, and an abstract Gideon Hatch rug and a green and white Palefire lamp make quite an impact. ‘They had showed us a pink room in their inspiration images,’ says Romanos, ‘and we suggested putting the colour right up the stairs, the aubergine woodwork makes the pink less girly.’ ‘All our friends love the aubergine,’ says their client.
Farrow & Ball’s ‘Brinjal’, a rich aubergine, is used for all the woodwork in the hall and right up the stairs, while the walls, in ‘Jonquil’, Edward Bulmer’s tender pink, loses any hint of the boudoir when teamed with this strong colour. The greens of the abstract rug by Gideon Hatch is matched in the green and white lamp from Palefire. The bench, a find at Biombo Mobilier in Paris, is woven in wide bands of the same green.
Simon Brown
It is a vibrant introduction to a house, which, for the moment, is very much a place for entertaining. ‘They wanted a glamorous house for partying, with potential for family life later on. We made sure there was, for example, a coat cupboard big enough to take a buggy and, thinking ahead to toddlers’ needs, we installed a small bath in the former shower room,’ says Venetia of their approach to this Victorian house renovation.
The walls are in ‘Drizzle’ from Little Green and the window in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Brinjal’ frames a view to the garden. The Peter Page rug brings a casual feel to the room, with its custom-made dining table surrounded by chairs from Howe and a banquette seat in green leather from Howe’s 36 Bourne Street, its back in Pied de Coq fabric from Le Manach. The hanging lamps are from BTC, and the existing curtains were trimmed with Munro braid by Mulberry. The mid-century bar is from Dorian Caffot de Fawes.
Simon Brown