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Clients that are not daunted by colour and pattern are few and far between, so when interior designer Rebecca Hughes was tasked by the Californian owner of this Kensington townhouse to create maximalist schemes, she relished the opportunity.
The three-bedroom house, which, when Rebecca first visited, was a bit lacklustre and grey, was in desperate need of some tweaks to the floor plan. To make the space work for her client's lifestyle, the first-floor layout was reworked, with the existing bathroom transforming into a walk-in wardrobe and a small bedroom, originally accessed directly from the staircase, becoming the principal en suite bathroom.
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With those changes made, it was time to decorate. ‘Initially, our schemes were colourful but not saturated enough, so we kept adding more colour and drama at every stage,’ Rebecca recalls. ‘Our client fell in love with fabrics by the textile house Schumacher, and these bold prints became key anchors for each room.’ The most striking of these is in the principal bedroom, where the walls have been covered in Schumacher’s Chinoiserie-style wallpaper ‘Les Oiseaux Panel’ Set in ‘blush’.
To pick up on the tiny green leaves in the wallpaper, the beautiful arched bookcase surrounding the doorway between the bedroom and en-suite has been painted in Farrow & Ball’s sage-green Bancha.
A seamless transition between bedroom and bathroom was a top priority for Rebecca. She decided that instead of a traditional door, she would add a large, sweeping curtain made from the same Pierre Frey fabric as those in the bedroom. This stylistic choice helps to create visual cohesion between the two rooms.
Like in many of the house's smaller spaces, Rebecca has taken a maximalist approach to colour for the en-suite. The walls and cornicing have been colour-drenched in Paint & Paper Library's dusty pink ‘Temple’, creating a cocoon-like atmosphere, while also drawing the eye upwards and highlighting the house's lofty ceilings. She's also made the most of the generous wall space by punctuating it with a variety of artworks from the client's treasured collection, including an arrangement of Japanese prints above the bathtub.
Although the en-suite is generously sized, a substantial bathtub, which was specifically requested by Rebecca's client, still proved to be tricky when designing the room's layout. ‘We spent considerable time exploring whether a shower could also be incorporated,’ explains Rebecca, ‘but ultimately chose to forgo it in favour of a statement bath and an oversized vanity.’ This choice ended up making the space much more luxurious while also feeling succinct. As the bath is situated close to the window, Rebecca installed a café curtain to provides a touch of extra privacy without compromising on the amount of soft natural light coming into the room. The final scheme speaks to the client's maximalist inclinations without feeling stuffy and brilliantly represents this creative designer's ability to transform even the most functional spaces into characterful, comfortable rooms.
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