English tradition meets Russian romanticism in Alexandra Tolstoy's London house

MAY WE SUGGEST: Revisiting Alexandra Tolstoy's former home in Chelsea

It paid off. Alexandra lit upon a house in the area she wanted, with ‘beautiful fireplaces and original tiles’. It also came with an expanse of laminate flooring and all-white walls. Cleverly, Alexandra negotiated a redecoration allowance in return for signing a long-term rental contract. Within days, the landlord’s team had found wooden boards underneath the worn synthetic flooring downstairs, laid sisal upstairs, removed a tired Ikea kitchen and revamped three bathrooms – all to Alexandra’s specifications. ‘I was respectful of cost,’ she says. ‘The panelling is off-the-shelf sheets and the bathroom floors are Amtico, from John Lewis.’

Regarding the repaint, which was wanted but not needed, she says, ‘I mentally spread the cost over how long I plan to live here.’ The final expense was the kitchen. ‘I had one last piece of real jewellery, which I sold, and I bought a reconditioned Aga – so much better than a necklace.’

Alexandra had kept back from the Christie’s sale the contents of her children’s rooms. This included the antiques sourced by Daniel Slowik of Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler, such as the sheep, now in the sitting room. She also kept the dining room table and some of the curtains. Those in teal hanging down-stairs are hand-appliquéd with Ivan Bilibin’s illustrations for Alexander Pushkin’s fairy tales and were made for a house in Moscow, from which Alexandra and Sergei had to flee in 2010. ‘They’re the only thing I succeeded in retrieving. I’m glad I did – the children have been brought up on those stories.’

Supporting Alexandra was Emma Burns of Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler: ‘She’s brilliant and has decorated all my houses with me – as well as a yacht. Here she helped, as a friend, with advice on paint colours. She also managed the cutting-down of all the curtains, originally designed by her for other windows. She adjusted so gracefully to my rather different budget.’

Unpacking was done in record time, thanks to Susanna Hammond of Sorted Living, who specialises in organisation and is described by Alexandra as ‘a godsend to a frazzled mother moving house’. Meanwhile, the antique dealer and framing specialist Benedict Foley worked with Alexandra on the hanging of paintings, textiles and more. ‘The children’s bedrooms were each an Aladdin’s Cave – it’s wonderful to see these old friends in a new light,’ she says.

This extraordinary collection, coupled with the abundance of pattern running riot over furniture and furnishings alike, is what gives the sense of being between the illustrated pages of a book of tales by Alexander Afanasyev or the Brothers Grimm. In the dining room, walls painted in ‘Pimlico Green’, by Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler for Fenwick & Tilbrook, provide a gingerbread backdrop to Orthodox icons and folk art. Chairs covered in Lewis & Wood’s ‘Joseph’ velvet contrast with a Luke Irwin rug and an antique Swedish painted cupboard.

In Alexandra’s bathroom, a 19th-century Russian commode inspired the wall stencils by Taruga Creaciones. In her bed-room, the antique bed, dressed in linen and fabric from Volga Linen and Robert Kime, is placed in the window to make space for a 20th-century Irish wardrobe and embroidered Uzbek coats, which recall the allure of the Central Asian steppes.

MAY WE SUGGEST: Alexandra Tolstoy's fairytale Oxfordshire cottage

‘At my Chelsea house, those coats were hidden away, along with painted furniture that I’ve collected since my twenties, which Sergei was not keen on. I feel that I’m able to be truer to myself in this house. We’re so happy,’ says Alexandra.

She has conjured magic from mettle, giving a masterclass in starting again, downsizing and decorating within the limits of a rental contract, while creating a beguiling home for her children full of treasures valued for reasons that do not relate to their cost. The best houses reflect the lives of those who live there; this is one of them.

The Tolstoy Edit: thetolstoyedit.com
Alexandra Tolstoy Travel: alexandratolstoy.co.uk