Peter Mikic effortlessly balances tradition and offbeat modernity in a Victorian villa
The right home can inspire lifelong devotion. That is certainly true for the owners of this pristine Victorian villa in a leafy corner of west London. Having relocated from Hampstead more than 30 years ago, they remain enraptured by the stucco splendour of their generously proportioned family home. ‘This is a very happy house,’ says the husband. ‘Even though it was built in the 1860s, it has only ever been lived in by four families.’ So, unlike so many of its neighbours, rather than being divided into flats, it has remained magnificently whole, with all of its architectural talking points still intact.
It took the departure of their son – and a brief stint living in the US – for the owners to realise the necessity of a major decorative shake-up. Thanks to the recommendation of a mutual friend, their needs were swiftly met by the interior designer Peter Mikic. As well as their admiration for Peter’s own home nearby, his fluid approach and sense of fun proved fundamental to the match. ‘Peter doesn’t do doctrinaire,’ says the owner. ‘He won’t say everything has to be modern, or everything has to be Victorian. It’s an organic process and, rather than just wanting to rip everything out, he had an appreciation for the house in its original form.’
Peter’s studio, which worked on the interior architecture as well as the decoration, began by carefully reworking the space: heating, water and electrics were overhauled, and chimney flues were put back into action. Some major interventions happened below ground; working with the architects Purcell, he dug down below the existing basement to make way for a cinema room, wine cellar and gym. ‘I love the house,’ says Peter. ‘But when I first came to see it, it looked like something from the Forties, with a tiny back kitchen and closed-in rooms.’ Reworking the ground floor meant opening it up to create a large kitchen and dining room, with a textured brass and quartz-topped island and sawn-walnut Boffi units. Upstairs, in the main bedroom, the emphasis is on calm tones and tactility. It opens out onto –the real draw here – a palatial dressing room with a blue cracked lacquer on the built-in wardrobes. At the top of the house, the layout of the third floor was reconfigured from three bedrooms and one bathroom to create two of each with more ample proportions.
As is so often the case, the more that they stripped things back, the more imperfections were revealed. ‘One wall had almost no mortar between the bricks,’ recalls Peter. However, there were also plenty of treasures waiting to be discovered. Chiefly, the beautiful Portland stone staircase, with its ornate metal balustrade, which took many weeks of sandblasting and stripping during long, cold winter days to unveil layer upon layer of monochrome paint. The now lovingly restored fireplaces, the elaborate cornicing and the friezes that top many of the doorways endured a similar fate. ‘Getting paint out of porous stone was almost impossible, but I was determined,’ explains Peter, who further enhanced the grandeur of the entrance by broadening its dimensions and installing a new light-emitting portico. ‘I kept saying, “Keep going.”'
Aside from magicking the house into its newly slick state, Peter’s mission was to amplify the decoration by injecting it with bold, contemporary touchpoints. The challenge was to update and uplift while accommodating the owners’ chief edict: to work with their considerable collection of antique brown furniture. It is a feat he pulled off by switching out only a small amount of the clients’ existing furniture for a few impactful mid-century pieces and a sweep of his own bespoke creations.
His approach is neatly encapsulated by the vermilion drawing room on the first floor. ‘I based the entire scheme on the existing curtains,’ he says. The simple pomegranate and fig motif of the fabric – ‘Melograno’ by Colony – inspired his design for the graphic wall-to-wall rug that now fills the space and serves as a palate cleanser in an otherwise restrained room. ‘I felt a geometric pattern would lift the room and bring real warmth,’ he says.
The beauty here, as elsewhere, is in Peter’s masterful balancing act between these offbeat elements and the interior’s more traditional roots. ‘We tried to hold on to the very English look. It has something of a country feel, which suits them,’ he says of the owners, who spend a portion of their time in Norfolk. There is an equilibrium, too, between the striking masculinity of the vivid blue library on the first floor, and the delicacy of the dining room, which is wrapped in a blush-toned chinoiserie wallpaper from Mural Sources – a nod to Peter’s own favourite hue. ‘The fireplace was mustard, so it just had to be pink,’ he says. This positive palette sets the tone throughout the villa, securing its status as a happy house for many years to come.
Peter Mikic: petermikic.com
Paul Massey1/10The sawn walnut kitchen units, textured brass island and onyx worktops are by Boffi. Mouth-blown glass pendant lights from SkLO add touches of colour. The ‘Light Chemin de Fer’ oak flooring is from Walking on Wood.
Paul Massey2/10The delicate blush-toned ‘Chai Wan Triptych’ chinoiserie wallpaper is from Mural Sources. Art deco glass wall lights pick up on the distinctive tones of the marble chimneypiece; the elegant Sixties chandelier is made from smoked white Murano glass.
Paul Massey3/10In the library, Vescom’s ‘Linosa’ linen wallcovering is a background for cabinets painted in ‘Royal Blue’ high gloss by Dulux and lined with Lewis & Wood’s ‘Hawksmoor’ wallpaper.
Paul Massey4/10A painting by the Australian artist Paul Davies hangs above a restored 19th-century chaise longue. A vintage leather-wrapped floor lamp by Valenti stands next to a bespoke side table designed by Peter Mikic Studios.
Paul Massey5/10Peter created the rug, inspired by the existing curtains in ‘Melograno’ by Colony. The coffee table is another bespoke design. The paintings on either side of the chimneypiece are by Peter Iden, while a Cox London custom Golden Oak Chandelier hangs in the middle of the room.
Paul Massey6/10The rich red tones of this room look spectacular when lit up at night. The grasscloth wallcovering is by Stereo and the sofas are part of the owners’ collection of antique furniture.
Paul Massey7/10A vintage glass-topped brass and chrome desk from 1stdibs stands on a hand-knotted wool ‘Platonism’ rug by GamFratesi for Christopher Farr. The rosewood and steel shelving unit is another mid-century piece that the house’s owners sourced in Vienna.
Paul Massey8/10In the main bedroom, the headboard is upholstered in Jane Churchill’s ‘Rostra’ fabric in the bone colourway, with red rope piping. A ‘Sphynx’ table lamp from Pooky stands on a bespoke bedside table made by Peter Mikic Studios.
Paul Massey9/10Hermès’ ‘Herringbone’ wallpaper in gris ponce complements the Arabascato marble on
the walls and floor. The wall light is from Collier Webb.
Paul Massey10/10The wardrobe fronts are a bespoke design by Peter Mikic Studios, featuring cracked lacquer in blue eggshell with brass accents. The blind is made from ‘Gru’ by Colony in the bronzo colourway.
