A young designer's deeply cosy Georgian flat in Bristol
‘Everything I know about decorating I learned from my mum’, says Kate Cox of HÁM Interiors. The Henley-on-Thames-based design studio is very much a family affair. Started by her parents Nick and Pamela and brother Tom in 2011, Kate joined the business after graduating from university. Having spent their childhoods visiting antiques fairs and junk shops, it seemed a natural progression in 2020 for them to launch the furniture design and antiques arm to the business, Studio HÁM. They are purveyors of warm, eclectic interiors and nowhere is this aesthetic more abundant than Kate’s own flat, a two-bedroom, one bathroom apartment which occupies the top floor of a Georgian building in the pretty Bristol village of Clifton. ‘I’d never been to Bristol before we decided to buy the flat’, says Kate. ‘It was a whim.’
Until the move, she and her husband were living in London, and the two were commuting to Henley and Wales respectively. In search of somewhere closer to both workplaces Bristol, with its Georgian architecture and leafy cobbled streets, felt like an easy compromise. Though the flat was tired and in desperate need of work, Kate could see that the bones were good. ‘I gravitate towards traditional architecture, so it was exciting to be able to find somewhere like this, with high ceilings and huge windows. In London we’d be living in a shoebox for the same price.’
Working to a strict budget the project was a slow burn. The interiors are a melting-pot where her interest in historical design rubs up against a magpie-like instinct to collect art and objects that don’t take themselves too seriously. There are no rules here: if she loves it, she’ll find a space for it.
A Studio HÁM sofa anchors the living room which is packed with interesting, inexpensive pieces picked up second hand. The armchairs were both eBay finds; a brass ship was found at a steamboat fair in Henley; and several old black and white photographs - bought for 40p each - have been re-framed. ‘I could keep layering forever,’ says Kate, who has a revolving door of furniture and artwork coming and going. A favourite is a black and white Mario Testino portrait of Kate Moss, which travelled with her from London. ‘I like the contrast it has with my antique paintings.’
Kate knew she wanted the living room to be yellow the moment she saw it. ‘I painted huge blocks of different shades all over the walls and we lived with them there for weeks’. Eventually, she chose Farrow & Ball’s ‘Sudbury Yellow’ as a, ‘bright but not overpowering’ backdrop to her collection of objects and art.
The kitchen required the biggest overhaul. ‘I used to dread cooking because I didn’t want to spend any time in there.’ Formerly a ‘lino-covered hell’, she took down the wall cabinets and floor-to-ceiling cupboards, and replaced them with open shelving and light reflecting metro tiles. Wanting to introduce some texture to the room, Kate took inspiration from country house kitchens and added a curtain under the sink in a fabric by de Le Cuona. The floor was transformed with terracotta tiles and the worktops were replaced with a mixture of white marble and black granite. ‘I don’t want everything to be perfect and matching.’ Tucked away in the corner is an enamel-topped dining table.
In the main bedroom the walls in ‘Pink Ground’ by Farrow & Ball are light and airy. Though not one to completely eschew pattern altogether, Kate has upholstered the headboard in ‘Ismaelia’ by Pierre Frey. ‘It’s punchy, but the room is big enough to carry it off’. A vintage Swedish theatre poster hangs on the opposite wall to a painting of a cowboy on top of a rainbow, painted by devon-based artist Sammy Little.
‘The spare room is the only one I actually put a scheme together for’, she admits. ‘I had rolls upon rolls of wallpaper samples that I’d stashed away’. Eventually, she landed on a small-patterned Jean Monro print. ‘It’s classic in feeling, but the colour palette had a hint of the Seventies which I love’.
The overall effect is captivating. There’s something for the eye to feast on in every corner. ‘It’s thrilling to find things that you really love in unexpected places’, says Kate. ‘So many of the pieces in the flat have nice memories, and for me that’s what makes a home.’
Tom Griffiths1/11Kate Cox of HÁM Interiors in her Bristol flat.
Tom Griffiths2/11The Vase is by the Seville based ceramicists The Exvotos.
Tom Griffiths3/11The dog on the mantlepiece is an antique Staffordshire Greyhound.
Tom Griffiths4/11
Tom Griffiths5/11The hallway which leads from the front door to the two bedrooms has just one window, so, introducing a connection with the ivy-covered outside of the house, Kate installed Sanderson’s now discontinued ‘Bowery’ wallpaper, underneath which a dado painted in ‘Calke Green’ by Farrow & Ball adds a contemporary edge.
The hallway table holds more of Kate's treasures.
Tom Griffiths6/11
Tom Griffiths7/11
Tom Griffiths8/11The Majolica chicken teapot is sourced by Kate from Ebay.
Tom Griffiths9/11The walls are covered in Jean Monro's ‘Clover’ wallpaper in Flower Pot. Not wanting to crowd the room with too much pattern, Kate chose a neutral fabric for the Studio HÁM headboard: ‘Ismaelia’ Pierre Frey.
Tom Griffiths10/11The bureau is an antique from William Morris Antiques.
Tom Griffiths11/11Being a small space, the bathroom only needed a bit of updating: a scalloped marble sink found in a reclamation yard sits on top of a playfully marble-effect painted vanity from Studio HÁM, and unlacquered brass hardware ‘ages beautifully over time’.
