A gorgeous Victorian house style and design, encouraged by the owner’s antique collection

Prior to turning into an inside decorator at Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler, Daniel Slowik managed the company’s antiques division, and it was in this capacity that he initially met the operator of this Victorian terraced townhouse in south London. 

© Supplied by Homes & Gardens
cream kitchen area with darkish grey blue island

‘The proprietor of this home is a passionate collector and she would appear into the Brook Street shop all the time,’ Daniel recollects. He continues, ‘Twenty several years on, she obtained in touch with me by means of Instagram to say that she and her associate were downsizing to a house about the corner from their previous household, and she questioned if I could support.’

As owner and designer strolled from the larger house to the smaller sized a single, a system started to arise as to how a lifetime’s assortment could be curated and revealed in a new light-weight in this much more petite home. 

‘From the outset we realized that this was not likely to be a case of acquiring new items fairly, it would be about re-masking, re-sprucing or repainting her most treasured finds,’ Daniel explains. 

‘We are coming into an age of repurposing, which is a little something my enterprise was executing when they were decorating region houses back again in the 1950s. Our emphasis now, as it was back then, is on couture decorating – if you re-end a piece superbly, it will come back again to everyday living and previous for lots of several years to occur.’

Residing space

Created to chime with the period of time of the house, the new joinery in the living home has been tailored to match the owner’s selection of guides. 

Detailing provides crisp definition to pieces, and incorporates contrast eco-friendly piping on the pink sofa (which was originally covered in a chintz) and orange trim on the major, base and leading edge of the curtains. ‘Curtain producing and upholstery are not cheap but the fabrics don’t have to be wildly expensive. It’s all about the specifics,’ he posits.

The blue wall color was a single of the to start with hues chosen for the home. ‘It is amazingly flexible and is effective beautifully with greens, pinks and biscuit-y hues,’ observes Daniel.  

Kitchen

Daniel’s solution to upcycling also used to the fittings within this home. 

‘I’ve significantly been trumpeting about sustainability and not throwing matters absent when they are perfectly excellent,’ he suggests, citing as an example the property’s existing kitchen cabinetry: ‘It had instead unattractive panelled units but we loaded things of the panels, and repainted all the things we then included gorgeous reeded knobs, which set our stamp on the room.’ 

The wall of models was constructed to enhance the current kitchen area cabinetry, and the client’s informal dining household furniture was repainted and taken care of to new seat pads. A fantastic marble-topped table provides a contact of grandeur.

Key bedroom

The floral drapes of the 4 poster bed ended up in completely superior condition, so Daniel reused them as effectively as the matching curtains, which he experienced simplified to fit the additional modest proportions of the house. 

An English quilt relationship to the 19th century adds a further layer of richness to the scheme. 

An 18th century French provincial chair in the key bedroom was reupholstered to accommodate the scheme. 

On the bracket sits a 20th century faience vase that includes a manganese glaze. 

Dressing space

Encouraged by a piece of wallpaper provided to Nancy Lancaster by the King of Sweden, this painterly design and style has been utilised for the window cure, walls and curtains which were being favoured in lieu of cupboard doorways. 

For Daniel, the wonderful pleasure of this job was that his private tastes and these of the shopper converged. 

‘She loves florals and a palette of pinks, blues and greens – and so do I,’ he reviews, including that though the palette shifts from space to area, there is a perception of a relationship in between the areas. ‘I often take into account the see from a person space into the up coming it is significant that it mustn’t jar.’

Daniel summarises this venture as ‘a miniature place property in London’, and he thinks that it exemplifies – albeit in a compact-scale way – what he and his colleagues at Sibyl Colefax and John Fowler do greatest: ‘It’s about mastering colour and pattern and focussing on each and every element,’ he describes, adding, ‘Our enterprise was born out of these rules.’

Interior designer/ Sibyl Colefax and John Fowler

Images/ Boz Gagovski

Text/ Rachel Leedham