An imaginatively eclectic yet eminently practical London house by Rachel Chudley
Designer Rachel Chudley’s first encounter with the owner of this Victorian terraced house in Dalston, east London, got off to a bit of a false start. The client – a woman in her thirties, who runs her own production company – was living in a flat round the corner at the time and asked Rachel to zhoosh it up before she put it on the market. ‘I told her that it would be a waste of her funds,’ says Rachel. ‘I’ve learned from previous experience – our studio is all about delivering the whole package and having control over every detail.’ Wisely, the client listened, sold up and then got back in touch with Rachel a year later, in 2019, when she had found her dream house – this time a project that required a total overhaul. ‘It’s one of those lovely, classic terraces in Dalston,’ Rachel says of the early-Victorian three-storey house. ‘I could see it had great potential.’
The client called on Rachel while she was still in the process of buying the house. ‘It was a good way to do it, because it gave us time to develop ideas together,’ Rachel explains. Along with rewiring and replumbing, the first priority was to open up the space – especially downstairs, where a poky sitting room was knocked through to create an entrance hall. This now functions as a glamorous antechamber to the sitting room at the front of the house. At the back, the kitchen and dining room previously occupied separate existing extensions of different sizes, which were opened up and their walls brought into alignment to create one large space. Four bedrooms, spread across the two upper storeys, became three. The first floor now consists of a main bedroom with an en-suite bathroom and dressing room, and the top floor accommodates two spare rooms.
When it came to the decoration, the owner’s collection of Biedermeier and antique Austrian furniture – inherited from the Austrian side of her family – were Rachel’s first port of call. In the pale blue antechamber, the starting point was an antique daybed, which belonged to the owner’s grandparents and was reupholstered in pink silk. An open fireplace (reinstated by Rachel), a round Biedermeier table and a large Tomo Campbell canvas – all Impressionist pinks, greens and blues – add to the drama of the space. Inspiration for the scheme in the sitting room next door came from the striking antique mirror, which hangs majestically over the existing marble chimneypiece. ‘It’s a pretty piece of junk from Golborne Road, off Portobello market,’ explains the owner. ‘I’ve had it in all my homes since my twenties.’ This room is a confection of pinks, with a velvet sofa and curtains, and walls in a bespoke colour developed with New York consultant and Rachel’s father-in-law Donald Kaufman, who designed the paints for the whole house. ‘I loved the bohemian air of the Austrian pieces and wanted to weave that feeling throughout,’ says Rachel, gesturing to voile blinds in the sitting room with antique lace fringing.
Blues and pinks are the main tones used throughout, including in the open-plan kitchen and dining area. For the kitchen, Rachel referenced the owner’s heritage, looking to old Austrian cabinets for her inspiration. ‘I wanted to incorporate the little turrets and fun details found on those old pieces, but recreate them in a fresh way,’ she explains. ‘It is a bit of a flight of fancy,’ she adds, gleefully pointing out the upper glazed cupboards, lined with marbled paper, which frame the oven while also providing extra storage. Even the cooker hood is neatly concealed within a finial-topped pediment.
Almost every decorative flourish, though, is underpinned by practicality: a delicious pink curtain, hiding the pantry that Rachel carved out of the space under the stairs, could easily be mistaken for silk, but is in fact made from a robust, wipe-clean Teflon. The dining room’s bespoke pink banquette has a scallop-shaped seat – not because it looks good (although it certainly does), but because it was a way to navigate around the legs of the four-metre-long farmhouse table. ‘I thought it might be rather weird, but it’s actually one of my favourite parts of the house,’ admits the owner. ‘Rachel is brilliant at suggesting playful, whimsical details, but she’ll never impose a specific style on you.’
For the main bedroom and en-suite bathroom on the first floor, Rachel’s vision grew out of the sliding door she had added between the two rooms. Or, to be more accurate, the exquisite antique kimono that she used to upholster one side of it. The bedroom has walls in a bespoke Donald Kaufman paint devised to resemble the colour of old cotton; an elaborate wooden bed that Rachel designed to mimic bamboo; and a very pretty Art Deco Chinese rug underfoot. In the bathroom, the tones of the kimono are picked up by Kit Kemp’s ‘Mythical Land’ wallpaper for Andrew Martin, which frames the window, with its vibrant yellow silk blind, beautifully. ‘I love how the blind feels like a bit of a foreign agent within the space,’ Rachel adds.
Rachel, of course, was true to her initial words. With her overseeing all elements of the renovation, the result is a wonderful house rich in detail and a real reflection of its owner, who concludes, ‘It was amazing collaborating with Rachel – I couldn’t have done it without her.’
Rachel Chudley: rachelchudley.com
Paul Massey1/11The wall trim is ‘Greek Key Border’ in grey from Adelphi Paper Hangings. An inherited antique daybed was reupholstered in a pink silk that picks up on the painting by Tomo Campbell above it. The lantern was sourced from Selling Antiques.
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Paul Massey3/11The pair of Italian mid-century armchairs, re-upholstered in Clarence House’s ‘Tibet Small Scale’ linen mix in the graphite colourway, was sourced from Etsy, as was the black chinoiserie table lamp and shade. These echo the style of the antique mirror hanging above the chimneypiece, bought on Golborne Road, W10, and the antique fire screen.
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Paul Massey5/11An antique dining table from Brownrigg has been teamed with Sixties Thonet dining chairs, sourced via Vinterior, and a bespoke banquette in Luciano Marcato’s ‘Lemming’ in rosa antico, with a scalloped seat to make it easier to navigate the table legs. Above it, a series of prints by German photographer Karl Blossfeldt is displayed beside a brass sconce found on Etsy. The sculptural ‘Gold Moon Chandelier’ light is from Catellani & Smith.
Paul Massey6/11Curtains in Pierre Frey’s ‘Cheyenne’ linen in ciel frame the French windows, which open onto the garden.
Paul Massey7/11Rachel designed the wooden bedframe and bedside table to mimic bamboo, referencing an antique kimono found at a Paris antique market, which features as a decorative silk panel on the sliding door between the bedroom and en-suite bathroom. Its colours are echoed by the vintage Welsh blanket on the bed and an antique rug from 1stDibs.
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Paul Massey10/11The cupboards are decorated with a mural inspired by the owner’s childhood memories of Austrian holidays painted by Maxted Murals; the curtains are in Colefax and Fowler’s ‘Adair Stripe’ silk.
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