A lovely professional couple with a young family, our clients swung between preferences for industrial/vintage and Art Deco styles so our brief was to find ways of bringing these together.
 

This was achieved using raw materials with elegant detailing - honouring the features of the property’s Victorian origins whilst merging the different styles, to create a harmonious mix
 

The colour scheme was to include greens, blues and muted yellows, with small amounts of dusty pink but no purple.
Soft furnishings were to include Ikat designs, stripes, graphic and geometric patterning but not spots. Matt metal finishes were to be teamed up with Mid Century elements.

 

The main living area was open plan and with only hard finishes throughout the house, we needed to bring in some acoustic solutions that didn’t involve walls or solid doors. The middle room in the house only had borrowed light at both ends so we designed sliding Crittall style doors between the 2 living rooms, to allow free flowing space & light, whilst also shutting off the rooms acoustically when required. In addition, we placed one at the entrance to the kitchen. This was even more important as we were to provide a work-from-home space within the middle room, with a play area and the tv just next to it!

The existing wood flooring was too rich and honey toned so we set to sanding it back to gain a lighter tone, giving it that more stripped back, Scandi feel.

In the front living room, we designed a window seat with drawers beneath to give both added comfort for reading or socialising, as well as a practical storage solution.

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The ceiling moulding was decorative and whilst we wanted to enhance it, we wanted to avoid it being too busy so we used subtly different shades to gently highlight these. All the hardware throughout the house was to be changed. Both the clients and ourselves liked playing with different metal finishes so we brought in dark bronze alongside antique brass for this.

Although the hallway was quite narrow, it was important to have a striking yet practical entrance. So we set about designing pullout under stairs storage to really maximise this underused area. The decorative encaustic tiles married seamlessly into the poured concrete floor that led to the kitchen where once again we introduced a Crittal style door for acoustic protection for the rest of the house. We sourced an Art Deco inspired anaglypta wallpaper and fitted a dado rail throughout the hallway, stairs and landing above to bring in this style detail that is also practical, as it hides day to day damage to the walls, especially on the stairs. A slimline console with a simple round mirror above and some decorative coat hooks meant that day to day functions in and out the house were aided, whilst the finer details ensured the elegance and style remained throughout.

Once in the kitchen which was a previously extended side return extension, more kitchen storage, built in seating with pull out drawers, exposed brickwork and ambient lighting was introduced to ensure the space was fully functioning for both daily family life and entertaining friends and family. Added detailing including metal mesh panelling on drawer fronts, wall lights, wall hung upholstered seating along the full wall run and LED lighting recessed into the skylight, all which ensured a relaxing yet stylish, bistro style. We removed low ceiling boxing throughout and lighting to lift the area and give a feeling of more space whilst bringing more lighting along the kitchen units and repositioning pendant lights to work around how the family used the space better.
 

As we worked through the rest of the house for a general freshen up, we wanted to bring the same kind of aesthetic attention to the master bedroom but with softened edges. Key elements in achieving this was a full wall width upholstered headboard, ambient pendant lights, sanding back the honey toned flooring and replacing the dark wood furniture with some beautiful Art Deco inspired dressing furniture pieces.

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Photography by James Balston