A smart London family home created by combining two houses
London houses are endlessly surprising. Take this family home, refashioned and redecorated by the interior designers Nicholas Spencer and Sophie von Wedekind for themselves and their two young sons. It stands on a side street in Hammersmith and from the outside appears to be a standard mid-Victorian, two-up two-down terrace, like countless others within the M25. But look a bit closer and it becomes apparent that it is not as ordinary as it seems. The front garden and exterior paintwork offer the first clue, for they suggest that this is not a single house but two neighbouring properties combined into one. Just how cleverly this has been done, however, is not revealed until you step inside – nor the fact that there is a third little house in the back garden, with its front door on an entirely different street.
Nicholas bought the first of the two houses in 2010, before he met Sophie, when they were both studying at the KLC School of Design. By this point, he had already had an 18-year career in the fashion industry, bought a flat in Lexham Gardens, W8, and been through his first marriage and a divorce. ‘I knew I wasn’t going to stay in fashion for ever,’ he says. ‘Though I loved the idea of retraining as an architect, I couldn’t face six years of study. That’s when I applied to KLC.’ For her part, Sophie had always been interested in design: ‘I spent my childhood rearranging my bedroom and knew I wanted to work in that field.’
Both come from interesting backgrounds. Nicholas was born in Tehran; his mother is an Iranian academic and his English father was a high-flying art director for advertising agencies across the globe. His parents divorced when he was three years old and he spent his childhood in the wake of his parents, with his mother moving to the US and his father living everywhere from Dubai to Bangkok. Though her mother is English, Sophie grew up on the family estate near the German city of Hanover before studying at Cheltenham College. ‘I have a metropolitan approach, while Sophie brings the feel of country style,’ says Nicholas. ‘We like to say that we create homely homes.’ If this means comfortable and welcoming, then it certainly describes their own London house – though it is as sophisticated as it is homely.
Its sophistication is apparent as soon as you step through the original front door and find yourself in the L-shaped space that forms the entrance hall and sitting room, and encloses a study in the corner of the L. This free-flowing, open-plan room unites both ‘halves’ of the double house (they bought the property next door in 2016) and leads into the double-width kitchen extension at the back.
Despite the lack of doors, each area has its own distinct character. In the entrance hall, a lantern is suspended from a ceiling papered with a bold pattern and framed by crisp coving; the sitting room occupies the entire ground floor of what was once the next-door house, with chairs and sofas arranged around an ottoman. The wood-panelled study, in what would have been the front room in the original house, retains its Victorian fireplace.
A run of large glass rooflights illuminates the kitchen, which spans the full width of both houses, with a rank of bespoke Crittall french windows opening onto the garden. Again, small touches reveal the sophistication of their approach: the marble work surface on one side extends into a continuous marble sill round the room, while the apparently recycled units that form the central island were actually carefully distressed to appear older.
Staircases at either end of the house lead to bathrooms on the half landings, then up to the main bedroom and two spare rooms. The attic floor above belongs to the two boys, with a bedroom at either end and a bathroom and playroom in between. ‘They love racing up and down the staircases when I tell them it’s bath time,’ says Sophie.
After years of planning, designing, raising funds and getting permission for the work, not to mention persuading their neighbour to sell, Sophie and Nicholas moved into the entirely reconfigured house in time for Christmas 2016. Successfully completing such a complex project would be enough for most people, but in 2018 another neighbour asked if they would like to buy the small, two-storey rental property that overlooked their garden. They leaped at the chance, not least because the lease on their office looked like it was coming to an end. Two years on, the upper floor of the former forge has become their studio, with a self-contained, step-free flat on the ground floor, which, says Nicholas, ‘is perfect for when my father comes to stay’. It is just the latest surprise in this most surprising of houses, and one wonders how many more there are to come.
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Spencer & Wedekind: spencerandwedekind.com
Lucas Allen1/8The larder door on the right is painted in ‘DH Slate’ by Dulux Heritage. Nicholas and Sophie designed the sapele wood island, and the lines of the french windows are echoed on the fronts of the kitchen units.
Lucas Allen2/8Sophie and Nicholas designed the cabinets, which were painted in ‘Bone China Blue’ by Little Greene.
Lucas Allen3/8The vintage rosewood chairs came from Danish Homestore and the oak ‘Arx Table’ is by Bullenberg. A continuous marble sill runs around the kitchen. The reeded-glass door to the left conceals a utility and boot room.
Lucas Allen4/8This bedroom, on the first floor at the back of the house, is entered through a jib door from Nicholas and Sophie’s dressing room. On the walls is Lewis & Wood’s ‘Jasper Peony’ chinoiserie wallpaper in cirrus; the headboard is covered in the matching fabric.
Lucas Allen5/8Nicholas and Sophie’s bathroom has marble tiles from Fired Earth, with a bath from Albion Bath Company and a vanity unit from The Water Monopoly.
Lucas Allen6/8In this attic bedroom, the wallpaper is Fornasetti’s ‘Macchine Volanti’ from Cole & Son.
Lucas Allen7/8The top-lit kitchen spreads across the full width of both original houses, with bespoke french windows opening onto the garden terrace.
Lucas Allen8/8The Crittall windows on the ground floor of the separate studio, which was once a forge, were inspired by Mondrian paintings.
