A witty and flamboyant take on country house style in an unassuming London terrace
Walking along a street of unassuming Victorian terrace houses, it is very easy to imagine that the interiors are as uniform as the exteriors. It never pays to make assumptions, though, and on this particular street in north west London, at least one house has some surprises in store. In its previous life, it was a familiar sort of white box inside, but its current incarnation, at the hands of its owner Max Hurd and the frame-maker and designer Benedict Foley – who runs art and frames company A.Prin, as well as Foley and Prin antiques – is anything but bland.
The tone of the project was established at the beginning by creative consultant Max and his unusual process for choosing a house. Being in possession of a remarkably wide and extravagantly colourful painting by Norton Saliba, which had once hung in his childhood home in Brazil, Max needed to buy somewhere that had sufficient wall space to display it. He had rejected other properties, which were excellent in other respects, for lacking a suitable space. ‘I viewed this house, ran into the hall with my tape measure and immediately fell in love with it,’ he says.
The painting, which now hangs in the entrance hall, became a starting point for the project, but there were plenty of other elements that came together to make for a lively brief. ‘The original elevator pitch for the house was Oscar Wilde by way of a Brazilian bordello, circa 1900,’ says Max, to which Benedict adds a list of references that include ‘Verner Panton, John Fowler, Nicky Haslam and a good dose of Marlene Dietrich camp’. Max’s background in fashion and art direction meant he was not afraid of drama and flair, and, as Benedict notes, ‘We wanted to make it so that Max would feel excited by this environment, rather than be bored to tears.’
At first sight, this may not appear to be a harmonious house. Colours and patterns clash with gleeful abandon – from the wild mishmash of the stair runner by Dale Chihuly for The Rug Company, which greets you as you enter, to the violent meeting of red and purple in the attic room, inspired by the Verner Panton-designed staff swimming pool at Spiegel publishing house in Hamburg, with a dose of Frederic Leighton’s Holland Park house and studio. Nonetheless, there is unity here that makes the house more liveable than one might expect. As Benedict explains, ‘A successful interior, I think, relies on whether you have a logical story. And it can be a ridiculous story, as long as it’s logical.’ Despite the unusual colour choices, classic country-house style is the backbone of the story. ‘If you look closely at most of the rooms, they are under-pinned by the traditions of English decorating established by the likes of John Fowler, but without being stuffy.’
The budget imposed some major restraints. Early on, it became clear that a choice had to be made between the house being immaculate in its architecture and details, and having fun with the decoration. It goes without saying that they opted for the latter. ‘The layout and the bones actually weren’t bad,’ says Benedict. ‘It seemed a shame to rip out all the joinery and start again when it was perfectly functional. We just needed to make it visually playful.’ Paint was a key component of that mission, as was the mixing up of expensive and more affordable fabrics and pieces of furniture. ‘Country houses are not usually uniformly grand,’ explains Benedict. ‘There’s always some bit of painted wicker stuff in among the good antiques.’
Only someone with a considerable sense of humour could get away with creating a country house in miniature in a typical London terrace. Fortunately, both Benedict and Max have one – indeed, Benedict declares that the only type of interior he finds truly off-putting is one where ‘there’s no evidence that the occupant laughs’.
The front room has become the library, with glossy green walls, a deep, comfortable sofa and bookshelves full of reassuringly well-thumbed titles. A drawing room with a drinks tray adjoins it and leads into the kitchen, with its tongue-and-groove panelling and crenellated cabinets. Upstairs, Max’s bedroom is adorned with a bed canopy formed from lashings of Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler’s distinctive ‘Squiggle’ fabric and a stately striped wallpaper.
‘What most people tell me when they visit the house is how calming it is,’ says Max. ‘The time and the planning that went into it have meant it is not visually jarring.’ There is a rhythm to the colours and motifs that appear from room to room, which Benedict likens to a symphony, where musical passages appear and reappear in modified form – or to an extended family, in which each member bears some resemblance to others but is very much their own person. It took a year to complete the work, but, as Benedict points out, that is not a long time to achieve the layered quality that many houses take a lifetime to attain.
Boz Gagovski1/24Looking out from the drawing room, a door frame in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Bancha’ offers a glimpse of the Norton Saliba painting in the hall.
Boz Gagovski2/24The drawing room adjoins the library at the front of the house.
Boz Gagovski3/24The full bleed green colour scheme is based on Mark Hampton’s scheme for Denise Hale in San Francisco. The walls are in Farrow & Ball's Sap Green with the woodwork in Bancha, chosen to blend out the robust but unadorned shelving that Max inherited from the previous owner (they had painted the whole house white, the current incarnation might be rather a surprise for them). The sofa was made in a green cotton velvet by Love Your Home, scattered liberally with cushions made up of Sibyl Colefax’s Lilies & Geraniums, Decor Barbares’ Dans Le Foret, and a number made by Max’s sister Flossie from Indian Kantha cloth as a house warming present. The whole sits on a carpet designed by Campbell Rey for Nordic Knots. The long series of prints to the left were from a book on Ludwig II of Bavaria that both Max & Benedict discovered was a common favourite, with every colour illustration from it framed by A.Prin. The gilt stools and crystal-drop candlesticks came from Max’s grandmother’s former home, Hartwell House in Buckinghamshire.
Boz Gagovski4/24The chair is upholstered in Sibyl Colefax's Leopard Stripe in green to match the blind. The 18th-century gilt mirror from Almásy Antiques is flanked by Staffordshire dog figurines on top of grotto brackets from A.Prin, painted to match the walls in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Sap Green’.
Boz Gagovski5/24Looking back from the library into the drawing room and kitchen. The table to the right is covered in Sibyl Colefax's Lilies & Geranium pattern.
Boz Gagovski6/24The 18th-century Italian table sourced by Benedict was the first thing Max bought for the house. This room was always designed for cocktails. The yellow tray is Veere Grenney for the Lacquer Company. The 19th-century Chinese lacquer & mother of pearl box is from Daniel Slowik Limited.
Boz Gagovski7/24The vintage striped chair with bullion fringe was found by Max in Golborne Road.
Boz Gagovski8/24The red-painted, carved Burmese side table from Foley and Prin picks up on the walls in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Bisque’, displaying an eclectic collection of art. Under the bow made from an off-cut of Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler’s ‘Leopard Stripe’ in green (used for the blind and slipper chair in the library) is an early colour print of an Infanta that Benedict gave to Max years ago – Max picked up the frame for £4 on Portobello Road.
Boz Gagovski9/24Max decided to retain the original kitchen whilst working out how he might want to change the layout in future.
Boz Gagovski10/24Tongue-and-groove panels in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Fake Tan’ are a background for an unsigned painting of Rudolf Nureyev from A.Prin. Max found the table and chairs on Etsy.
Boz Gagovski11/24The lower cupboard doors were removed and replaced with a curtain made of Sibyl Colefax’s Teapots fabric.
Boz Gagovski12/24The crenellation detail, designed by Benedict, and the oversized Victorian ceramic cabinet handles lend the existing kitchen units a playful feel.
Boz Gagovski13/24The banquette in the study covered in remnants of vintage fabric found on Ebay, positioned so that no section matches the next. Floral curtains, passed on by a friend of Benedict, completes the ‘chintzy frenzy’. The choice of Farrow & Ball’s sunny ‘Babouche’ paint for the walls was inspired by Nancy Lancaster’s Yellow Room in her Mayfair flat.
Boz Gagovski14/24The downstairs loo, with wallpaper in Farrow & Ball’s Versailles design.
Boz Gagovski15/24The stair carpet, made by The Rug Company to a design by the artist Dale Chihuly, was chosen to continue the energy of the painting up the staircase. This design had previously only ever been made as an area rug. A sketch by Tracy Emin hangs opposite in a now blind doorway, topped with an over designed by Benedict based on the Palazzina Cinese in Palermo - also made by Max’s friend Sam.
Boz Gagovski16/24The eye-catching paint effect in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Charlotte’s Locks’ and ‘Belvedere Blue’ on the door and the panel of plain chintz fabric sculpted and staple-gunned to the wall set the tone for a theatrical scheme. The bedroom doors were painted by the decorative painter Queenie Ingrams.
Boz Gagovski17/24Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler’s ‘Squiggle’ linen in aqua was chosen for the curtains and bed canopy, which cascades from a plaster scallop shell Max bought in Italy; the headboard – an Ebay find – is painted with the same motif. It sets off the pyramid design of the bedcover from TT Quilts, a charitable enterprise that helps victims of conflict in Vietnam
Boz Gagovski18/24Farrow & Ball’s ‘Tented Stripe’ wallpaper is a nod to Fifties country-house style while woodwork in the same orange and blue as the door add an ‘energetic twist’.
Boz Gagovski19/24The bathroom fittings stayed on a sustainable principle, only swapping the loo (which, as Benedict says, was formerly a cross between something from Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey and a Soviet nuclear reactor) for a reclaimed classic style version found on eBay.
The walls are in Farrow & Ball's Pitch Blue. The pelmet was inspired by an early John Fowler design; it was made by Max’s friend Sam Collins and painted in leftover paint and sample pots (Farrow & Ball's Harissa Red & Joa’s White). The window curtains are Red Ivy Trellis, a custom print from Daniel Slowik Limited. A Serpentine frame in Deep Rose by A.Prin hangs next to the sink.
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Boz Gagovski20/24In Max's housemate Hugh's room, the bed is covered with a American 19th-century rag quilt, and another damaged one was used to recover a recycled headboard from Max’s previous bedroom. The large black and white photo is by Alfie Fisher of Count Vronsky who turned out to be the actual client of the project, supported by cat aficionados Max & his housemate Hugh - framed by A.Prin. The shelves were simple plank and button with a felt pennant edging made by Benedict with pinking shears.
Boz Gagovski21/24The walls are in Farrow & Ball's Joa’s White with woodwork in Charlotte’s Locks and Belvedere. The trellis pattern below the dado was conceived as a fun way of using up left over paint, and executed by Queenie Ingrams.
Boz Gagovski22/24Looking out of Hugh's room up the stairs to the attic.
Boz Gagovski23/24The colour scheme of this room was inspired by Verner Panton’s staff swimming pool at the Speigel Offices in Hamburg, combined with a dose of Fredrick Leighton’s Holland Park studio. The sofa bed is made up in a Viola Lanari linen. A painted papier-mâché table top hangs on the wall in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Blazer’.
The white painted cast candle sticks are from A.Prin, standing on a bamboo table from Jermaine Gallacher. The zig-zag lamp is also from Jermaine, while silver lampshades by Viola Lanari top recycled lamps repainted by Max.
Boz Gagovski24/24Max sits with his cat Count Vronsky.
