A serene, art-filled townhouse by Ann Boyd

In her latest project for a long-standing client, the designer Ann Boyd has pared back the interior of a London house to create light-filled spaces that showcase the owner's collection of modern art in a comfortable setting
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Paul Massey

The colour tones blend beautifully, but Ann has worked hard to avoid anything obvious. ‘I am not keen on matching things,’ she says. So, in the sitting room, pyramid lamps picked up in an antique shop are paired with intricately decorated ceramic vases by Alice Corbett. In an inspired melding of art and design, the artist Richard Wright has created a stained-glass interior window of blue geometric shapes, which rises from the sitting room to the mezzanine level above. That space, in turn, has pillars covered in hand-stitched leather, a seaweed-green sofa, shelves filled with art books and more paintings by pioneering British Pop artists. The mood is profoundly restful.

The bedrooms reveal the same attention to detail and a certain serendipity in the choice of art. Ann had placed a powder blue chair and a dusky pink cushion on the bed in a spare room, before the owner added two Malcolm Morley paintings of rooms with billowing curtains and pastel sofas that evoke the same tranquil feel. ‘This is a gentle room and they are not going to jump out at you,’ she says.

In the children’s bedroom, a David Shrigley print, with an ice-cream cone held aloft announcing that Life Is Fantastic, strikes a more youthful note. In the main bedroom, delicate works by Richard Hamilton and a calm Bridget Riley full of circles sit alongside beautiful handmade furniture. Near the gym and the wave pool in the basement, a wall of limited-edition prints commemorating the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics brings energy and colour to this space.

The entire house feels like a labour of love – which is certainly what the art collection is for the owner. Though he loans to museums and galleries, he always imagines the paintings on his walls. ‘I buy everything to display in the house,’ he says. ‘The works are often by artists I have met. You need to love the picture and it’s more personal if you know the artist.’ As for Ann, she is satisfied that her own vision – and her desire for perfection – has been fulfilled. ‘It was an amazing project because the owner trusted me, which was slightly unnerving, but also the greatest compliment’

Ann Boyd: ann@annboyddesign.com