The London home of Henrietta Courtauld of The Land Gardeners remodelled by Retrouvius
Picture the scene: your house is bursting at the seams, your soon-to-be teenage children need rooms of their own, and you urgently need a home office for your newly launched business. Then your architect suggests using precious space for a country-house-style hall, empty save for one central table. On paper it sounds mad, but walking into the hall of this 1850s London terrace house with its owner, Henrietta Courtauld, one can see the logic behind that suggestion. The architect in question is Maria Speake, one of the founders of architectural salvage and design company Retrouvius. As she says, 'Families need space, but also breathing space', and this hall has just that.
In 2013, Henrietta and her friend Bridget Elworthy set up The Land Gardeners (take a look at Bridget's home Wardington Manor here) as they shared a passion for soil and plant health. They restore and design walled gardens and supply organically grown cut flowers, which are freshly picked from Bridget's Oxfordshire garden and delivered weekly to London's most original florists, chic design shops and some lucky private clients. At this time, Henrietta's three children - Willow, now 15, Lilac, 14, and August, 12 - were sharing one big bedroom on the top floor of the house. 'It was great fun,' says Henrietta. 'They were always dressing up and putting on shows up there.' But she and her husband Toby realised it could not last; yet they did not want to move. Their house backs onto a three-acre communal garden, which Henrietta is responsible for planting and planning. 'Developing the garden is a labour of love for me,' she says. The couple had extended the kitchen when they first bought the house 13 years ago, but they are very much against the digging out of extra basements, so Maria had to work within the confines of the house as it stood.
MAY WE SUGGEST: The Land Gardeners look back on a year in their garden at Wardington Manor
'Between the hall and the children's floor, we took the place apart,' Maria says. 'Clients are anxious about moving things structurally, but often it is the easiest thing to do, and financially it is not a big deal. You can spend a fortune on cupboards, but a few good bits of steel can create the most dramatic change.' And the dramatic change she made was to get rid of the original staircase and replace it with a slim one on a side wall, opening out the space that is now the hall.
When new draught-proof security windows were made for the hall, the original window was used to divide it from the drawing room behind. The remade cornice conceals the track of a light curtain, which can be drawn to cover the whole front wall, including the front door, for a cosier atmosphere at night. Although it would be a shame to draw it over the new shutters, with their slim slices of bevelled mirror in the panelling, which provide a twinkle at night. 'Both Henrietta and I love a bit of twinkle in a room,' says Maria. In the drawing room, with its duck-egg-blue walls, the twinkle comes from a Seventies mirror above the marble chimneypiece, and from the two eye-level cupboards in the recesses, with removable glass fronts that open to reveal pictures pinned to the fabric behind. 'Henrietta has a terrific eye for objects and colour,' says Maria, 'and all the furniture was hers, so I just suggested we upholster it in antique grain sacks and French linen sheets to tie the room together.' The pristine appearance of this white upholstery speaks volumes about the forbearance of Arthur, the family's long-haired Jack Russell. Colour in the room comes from the hand-dyed velvet cushions by Kirsten Hecktermann.
At the top of the new staircase to Henrietta and Toby's bedroom, a panel of more hand-dyed velvet gives a pink glow to the landing. Kirsten copied the colour from a small piece of eighteenth-century ribbon that belonged to Henrietta, who describes it as being - 'the colour of rhubarb stems'. The same velvet covers the headboard of the bed, and the colour is picked up on the 'Floreat' curtains from Lewis & Wood. Two rows of framed antique pressed flowers bought from her friend Charlie McCormick line the walls, and above the chimneypiece is a pair of candle sconces from another friend - Lulu Lytle of Soane, on the Pimlico Road.
On the staircase up to the children's floor, a wall of barley-sugar-twist banister spindles lets light through, and there are skylights in all three of the charming new bedrooms, with their meticulously planned storage, clever joinery and pinboards positioned out of sight behind the doors.
MAY WE SUGGEST: Maria Speake of Retrouvius fills a London house with reclaimed treasures and vintage finds
Down in the kitchen, Maria and the Courtaulds agreed on retaining the existing Plain English kitchen. 'All it needed was a coat of paint,' she says. And they also agreed on a pea green, which matches the corduroy cover on the sofa. From the kitchen, you see The Land Gardeners' studio, set in her small but thriving vegetable garden (they are doing research on the nutritional levels of vegetables), which looks out on one side to the lovely tulips and shrubs of the communal garden, and on the other to a beautiful and happy home, with lots of space for a busy family of five and their fastidious dog.
Andrew Montgomery1/14The Plain English kitchen, with its cream Aga, was installed 12 years ago. Maria had it repainted in an Emery & Cie green to refresh the room.
Elsa Young2/14A wood panelled wall leads into the kitchen.
Elsa Young4/14The drawing room.
Elsa Young5/14Flowers by The Land Gardeners in the entrance hall.
Elsa Young6/14The new slim staircase at the side of the entrance hall.
Elsa Young7/14In the main bedroom, framed pressed flowers are arranged above the headboard, which is upholstered in a hand- dyed pink velvet by Kirsten Hecktermann, with the same velvet used for the panelling between the bedroom and bathroom.
Elsa Young8/14A small kid's bedroom is flooded with light from both the window and skylight.
Elsa Young9/14Reclaimed marble makes up the flooring here, running up to dado height and finished with a band of antique bevelled mirror.
Elsa Young10/14More pressed flowers and pink velvet appear in the seating area of the bedroom, flowing through to the bathroom.
Elsa Young11/14Wrought-iron chairs and a table provide a place to take in the view on the roof terrace.
Elsa Young12/14Henrietta at work in the studio; in the garden, yew balls surround the main bed, which is planted with vegetables, Melianthus major and Hydrangea arborescens 'Annabelle'.
Elsa Young13/14A daybed has storage underneath.
Elsa Young14/14The Land Gardeners' studio is in the garden shed.
