Sophie Ashby's stylish, relaxed scheme for a new-build London flat
Sophie Ashby's peripatetic childhood took her from Cape Town to London and then Devon, and involved hours on end spent peering through estate agents' windows with her parents. 'But it wasn't remotely boring,' she insists. On the contrary, it gave her plenty of time to ponder her exact formula for the perfect home, which at the time firmly included two staircases and a water feature. Fast forward several years and, although the ingredients may have changed, Sophie has made a career of contemplating the recipe.
Her studies at Parsons School of Design in New York were followed by a return to London and stints working for Victoria Fairfax - a doyenne of country-house style - and later the small creative design agency Spring & Mercer. In 2014, when she was just 25, Sophie set up her interior-design company Studio Ashby. She now heads up a team of 12 and has completed a wealth of high-end projects across the UK and France.
The latest in her portfolio is a second-floor flat in a newbuild in Chelsea. A stone's throw from the glitzy bustle of the King's Road, the flat stretches a generous 351 square metres across one floor. The rooms were well proportioned so, as Sophie says, 'nothing felt tight or compromised'. She has created a look that is glamorous but not too slick, with mid-century furniture, an earthy colour palette and a playful take on texture and pattern. 'This was our first major project and we put our heart and soul into it.'
In a stroke of good fortune, Sophie had a year to finish the flat and was more or less given carte blanche by her clients, who are based in Moscow and spend much of their time trotting round the globe. They so liked the show flat she had decorated for the development that they asked her to design theirs, too. But this is no carbon copy. Sophie makes a point of never using the same piece of furniture or artwork twice. 'This wasn't about spending a tonne of money on a gold-leaf armoire just for the sake of it,' she says. 'I hope it's more interesting than that.' And so, inexpensive Ebay finds cohabit comfortably with bespoke furniture and one-off ceramics.
The open-plan sitting and dining room is drag-painted the colour of milky coffee; it's a clever trick that softens the large space. The neutral palette is pepped up with splashes of indigo, green and coral and some wonderfully decadent details: teal cushions woven from peacock feathers glimmer exotically on the sofa; and a monolithic marble coffee table packs a punch in the middle of the room. The large abstract painting by Frédéric Heurlier Cimolai behind the sofa subtly brings all these elements together.
MAY WE SUGGEST: Sophie Ashby and Charlie Casely-Hayford's flat in west London’s former-BBC building
Sophie has designated the back of the room as the dining area, where a delicate arrangement of lights by Nendo from Carpenters Workshop Gallery seems to float above the dining table. To the right is the slither of a kitchen; a fresh, white room dominated by Jon Tonks' photograph of chilly looking sheep clustered beneath the Union Jack. The room is hardly capacious, but a bit of trickery provides extra space - a smart marble counter on castors rolls out to provide a long thin table or an additional worktop.
At the far end of the sitting and dining room is the media room. Sophie has covered the back wall in Apparatus Studio's 'Strata Study' wallpaper, a monochrome design that might have been cleft from a rock face. The rest of the room is a distinctly more laid- back affair, with a slouchy L-shape sofa heaped with Kuba-cloth cushions and a stonking great television that emerges from an ebonised cabinet at the flick of a switch.
At the back of the flat are the three bedrooms, each of which is divided by a half wall incorporating additional storage and beyond which lies a bathroom. In the 10-year-old son's room, a swirl of clouds billows across a cerulean sky. It is both cosseting and dramatic. He must be the only boy in London to boast a Constable mural above his bed - admittedly not the work of the artist himself, but an enlarged version of the painter's Study of Cirrus Clouds.
The daughter's bedroom is a pretty confection of marbled grey wallpaper and gauzy muslin drapes - an elegant scheme for someone nearing the end of her teens. Next door is the main bedroom, a large space with walls covered in fawn-coloured silk; smart rosewood cabinets flank the bed and a long burr elm dressing table lines one wall. 'It drives me crazy that so often in newbuilds everything is built-in, so I wanted something free-standing and moveable,' explains Sophie. The result is a quirky combination of two circular mirrors, a smattering of brass wall lights and a pair of leather pouffes, which exudes a modernist glamour - part Bond girl boudoir, part Seventies ski chalet.
The flat neatly encapsulates Sophie's refined aesthetic - masculine lines, earthy colours and natural materials. Though multiple staircases and bubbling fountains are notably absent, Sophie has created a resolutely chic family home. She has clearly come a long way since the days of pressing her nose against estate agents' windows.
Studio Ashby: 020-3176 2571; studioashby.com
Ngoc Minh Ngo1/14Contemporary and traditional furniture meet in the entrance hall, where a 'Bolle' pendant light from Gallotti & Radice, a bespoke rug by Christopher Farr and a Reinhard Görner photograph combine harmoniously.
Ngoc Minh Ngo2/14An abaca rug from Holland & Sherry demarcates the sitting area. Sophie added layers of pattern and texture on the 'Cestone' sofa from Flexform, with cushions covered in fabrics from Fameed Khalique and Zak + Fox.
Ngoc Minh Ngo3/14Statement armchairs upholstered in a beautiful peacock feather fabric make a statement in the living room.
Ngoc Minh Ngo4/14The marble coffee table picks up the pattern on the Fornasetti floor lamp. At one end of the room, a bespoke desk based on a Giò Ponti design creates a small study area.
Ngoc Minh Ngo5/14Cream sofa with glass doors leading onto a balcony, a monochrome tea set sits opposite the sofa.
Ngoc Minh Ngo6/14A casual sitting space in the flat featuring a comfortable white sofa and matching structured chair. The wall opposite has monochrome detail and modern artwork.
Ngoc Minh Ngo7/14These high stools provide an informal dining or sitting area, a houseplant glimpsed through the doorway adds warmth to the modern space.
Ngoc Minh Ngo8/14Sliding pocket doors can be closed off to separate the open-plan sitting and dining room from the media room. Cream and indigo dominate the scheme, with Gallotti & Radice chairs surrounding the oak, beech and walnut dining table made by Treeslounge Bespoke.
Ngoc Minh Ngo9/14In the main bedroom, silk 'Madison' wallpaper from Stereo provides a bold background to the set of nude studies from Lorfords Antiques. The walls are covered in fawn-coloured silk and smart rosewood cabinets flank the bed.
Ngoc Minh Ngo10/14A long burr elm dressing table lines one wall in this large space. 'It drives me crazy that so often in newbuilds everything is built-in, so I wanted something free-standing and moveable,' explains Sophie.
The result is a quirky combination of two circular mirrors, a smattering of brass wall lights and a pair of leather pouffes, which exudes a modernist glamour - part Bond girl boudoir, part Seventies ski chalet.
Ngoc Minh Ngo11/14Sophie covered a wall and cushions in the daughter's room in Schumacher 'Romeo' wallpaper and fabric in the carrara colourway, from Turnell & Gigon.
Ngoc Minh Ngo12/14The son's bedroom has a cloud mural by Surface View - a copy of Constable's Study of Cirrus Clouds; the velvet cushions and a spray-lacquered Danish desk from Ebay add to the blue theme, while the Zak + Fox fabric on the headboard provides a strong contrast.
Ngoc Minh Ngo14/14Long dark wood bathroom surface with built-in sinks and a mirror wall. Clean lines make for a modern look.
