An exuberantly offbeat north London house by Rachel Chudley
In this corner of north London, the streets are lined with doll’s-house-like villas with handsome Victorian façades – the sort of places in which characters from an Oscar Wilde play might happily reside. But the traditional exterior of one house in particular belies the offbeat rooms within. Lucy and Adam Tudhope’s home is a far cry from nineteenth-century England; conjured from the imagination of Rachel Chudley, it is an exuberant hymn to daring design.
In 2013, Rachel spent a month touring the US with the British band Mumford & Sons, sourcing props and creating costumes for their stage shows alongside the immersive theatre specialist Reuben Feels. It was then that she met Lucy and Adam – the band’s manager. ‘I can’t tell you why, but I remember thinking even then that this was a fateful moment,’ she recalls.
Two years passed before she set up her interior-design practice and it was not long after this that Lucy spotted her on Instagram. ‘We were looking to redecorate our old house, so I called her and we clicked instantly,’ says Lucy. ‘The design process had already begun when we then decided to buy our current house, so the project turned from a revamp into a head-to-toe refurbishment.’ Rachel attributes the Tudhopes’ decision to hire her to their instinct for nurturing young talent – Adam’s line of work being a case in point. ‘They were some of the first people to believe in me,’ she says ‘They wanted an interior that would bring delight to their lives on a daily basis, and I think they enjoyed the rawness of the experience.’
As a fledgling interior designer, this was Rachel’s biggest job to date but, as she is the first to point out, it was a collaborative process with the architect Duncan Woodburn and the builder Matt Elgood, who helped provide solutions for some of her wilder ideas. ‘The project was such a pleasure to be a part of because no one was precious about their role in it,’ says Lucy. Notably, it was Duncan who came up with the Heath Robinson-style laundry chute from the children’s bedrooms to the utility room below, as well as the button-activated bookcase that retracts to reveal a secret set of stairs to a playroom in the attic – surely the stuff of dreams for the Tudhopes’ two young sons.
However, examples of Rachel’s design bravura are also plentiful throughout. Should you decide to chop off the top three floors of the house, remove the interior walls and peer down to the ground floor, you would see a map of the Catskill Mountains in south-eastern New York state, where the family has a cabin, denoted by different shades of concrete and slices of brass inlay. A small brass dot in the floor of the kitchen marks the exact location of the cabin. It is a wonderfully thoughtful and highly original concept, which, given the fact the map cannot be seen even when you are inside the house, hints at the unconventional brilliance and boundlessness of Rachel’s imagination.
Meanwhile, in the bedroom, exaggerated strips of diagonal moulding run up the walls and continue across the ceiling, delineating the path of the morning sun. Combined with the art deco-inspired headboard designed in Rachel’s studio with Betina Røge Jensen and walls painted the palest shade of powder pink, the room is every inch a Forties Hollywood boudoir. ‘We asked Rachel to push us as far as she could – and she did. The ideas she came up with were wonderful,’ enthuses Lucy.
As with all her projects, Rachel worked closely with the paint specialist Donald Kaufman, her father-in-law, to create bespoke colours. The walls in the spare room are a seaweed hue, while the hall is a stormy grey – a backdrop against which several works of art, sourced by Victoria Williams and Cassie Beadle of The Cob Gallery, sing. ‘It’s such a deep and unusual colour, which magically transforms each area it is used in,’ explains Rachel. ‘On the staircase, it’s dark and moody, but in the entrance it’s almost green.’
Building the art collection was a year-long process, with a number of pieces providing a springboard for Rachel’s schemes. A large painting by Joseph Goody anchored the colour palette for much of the kitchen and was referenced by Lucy Bathurst of Nest, who hand-dyed three sets of ombré curtains for the Crittall french windows. Lucy was responsible for all the window dressings in the house, including the translucent voile blind consisting of prettily stitched modernist shapes in the main bathroom. ‘She has an incredible instinct for colour and an artistic approach to textiles,’ says Rachel. The bathroom is Lucy’s favourite room: ‘It’s one of the calmest and most beautiful spaces I’ve had the luxury of being in.’
This is a jewel box of a house, created by clients who were instinctively confident in the people they hired. ‘Rachel oozes enthusiasm in everything she does, which is very infectious,’ says Lucy. ‘I thought the process of doing up a house would be much more practical, but it was like working with an artist.’
Rachel Chudley: rachelchudley.com
Michael Sinclair1/10A contemporary chandelier with vintage glass globes and industrial-style metal pendant lights complement a bespoke kitchen by Jack Trench, which includes tall oak cupboards, an island in Fior di Pesco marble and a patinated smooth-finish concrete floor by Mass Concrete.
Michael Sinclair2/10A Joseph Goody painting presides over an antique Irish dining table, Oswald Haerdtl chairs upholstered in a Robert Allen cotton velvet and a vintage armchair covered in Scalamandré’s ‘Paradise Velvet’ from Star.
Michael Sinclair3/10Three sets of ombré linen curtains were hand-dyed a subtle pinkish apricot by Lucy Bathurst of Nest for the Crittall french windows.
Michael Sinclair4/10The curved sofa was designed by Rachel’s studio so that all four family members can curl up on it at the same time.
Michael Sinclair5/10The sofa's rich teal velvet upholstery, red hand-dyed velvet curtains, also by Lucy Bathurst, which hang from a bespoke copper rail, and a velvet ottoman pick up on the colours of the ‘Verdure’ wallpaper in tapestry green by Melissa White for Zoffany.
Michael Sinclair6/10Walls in a stormy grey created by paint specialist Donald Kaufman creates an atmospheric backdrop for artworks from The Cob Gallery, including an abstract painting by Joseph Goody. The simple, elegant ‘Luxor Lantern’ is from Pooky.
Michael Sinclair7/10Oak cupboards open to reveal a pull-down desk, a sink and a craft table in the studio. A vintage ‘Ellipse’ rocking chair by Renato Zevi makes a stylish statement.
Michael Sinclair8/10Black walls and concrete tiles from Mosaic del Sur set off a basin and taps from Aston Matthews.
Michael Sinclair9/10The Forties-style headboard in the bedroom was designed by Rachel’s studio to line up with the strips of diagonal moulding that delineate the path of the morning sun. A Woodstock landscape photograph taken by Lucy hangs over an art deco fireplace from a reclamation yard.
Michael Sinclair10/10In the bathroom, walls in a bespoke Donald Kaufman paint colour contrast with the dark stained iroko bath surround.
