Inside Tanya Burr's supremely liveable north London house
You’d think, with 4.2 million people regularly tuning in to her Instagram or YouTube channel to pick up tips on leading an aesthetically pleasing existence, a digital powerhouse like Tanya Burr might feel under pressure to keep them happy. If she does, she certainly doesn’t let it show. Here is a woman who knows what she likes and importantly, knows how to execute it. Her Instagram wall is awash with understated outfits, sunny climates and too-good-to-eat plates of food, and has been like this, largely unchanged, since she started her career in 2009, before influencing was really a thing. When she bought her “forever home”, she finally had the opportunity to implement the ideas she had been storing up for over a decade. The result is a distillation of everything she has learned about beauty. And ironically, it exists in a different realm to fleeting social media trends, achieving the much sought after “timeless” look.
“I am so new to this and haven’t got a clue what I am doing. But I feel like I am going to catch the renovation bug” she said, in her first renovation vlog, posted shortly after purchasing the house in August last year. She had been living in a house in west London which, unlike this one, was sadly lacking in anything that reflected its Victorian architecture. She was in need of more space to house her growing family (she has a two year old son, Sage) and a new project to sink her teeth into. “Top of my list was a place with original period features. I wanted fireplaces, cornicing and coving. This one had it all”, she says. Another pull was the house's floor plan. Unlike many she had seen, all of the main communal areas were on the ground floor, and thus benefited from masses of light. “The bones were good,” summarises Tanya.
This doesn’t mean the house was ready to go. Undoing questionable decorative decisions made by previous owners was Tanya’s first task. On a mission to strip the house back to its bones, carpets came up and underneath them, bright red paint was sanded off revealing impeccably preserved, original wooden floorboards. The fireplaces - unused for some time - were reinstated and the PVC windows (“I am allergic to PVC windows,” confesses Tanya) were replaced with Victorian-style paned glass ones reflective of the house’s architecture. On the upper three floors, an underused bathroom and bedroom became Tanya’s walk-in wardrobe and her partner Dan's office respectively, and the spare room next to the master bedroom was transformed into a bathroom, with the wall between the two knocked down.
“My style is classic and relaxed, and the house does lean into that”, she says. “I wanted it to feel warm, cosy and elegant. But also it needed to be practical”. A neutral palette of varying shades of warm white provide a backdrop for Tanya’s collection of furniture and art. Some pieces are vintage picked up from antique shops, face Marketplace and Vinterior, some are inherited, and some bought new. “I am not a fan of trends”, she says. “I didn't want the house to obviously belong to any decorative era, and I think mixing period pieces with contemporary ones creates a subtle layering and gives the house harmony, but there’s nothing distinctly “trendy” about it”.
In the kitchen, this aversion to trends is manifested in a high-low mixture of Shaker style cabinetry, a table picked up years ago from Anthropologie which has followed Tanya from house to house ever since, contemporary lighting bought from Pinch and a former lab desk from a science classroom whose etched-in graffiti tells the story of its previous life. But it's the sitting room that says the most about who Tanya is. Built-in bookshelves heave under the weight of her favourite titles while a grand piano takes centre stage in the ‘middle room’. Here, layers of texture deliver the cocooning warmth she wanted. Linens on the sofa, cafe curtains and cushions are offset by a walnut and bouclé armchair, a rug from Vinterior and a mid-century cabinet given to Dan by his parents.
An equally serene atmosphere has been created in the master bedroom. Pale walls are anchored by a wooden desk and a wardrobe from Kempton antique market. This sense of peace continues through a set of wooden double doors into the adjacent bathroom.
“This is my favourite space”, she says of her bedroom. “At night, when the baby is asleep and there is calm in the house, I get ready for bed and have to pinch myself. I can’t believe this is my home”. It’s not just Tanya who has been eagerly anticipating the house coming together. She has a hooked audience who admire not just her taste but her “can-do” attitude. These people have been waiting with bated breath for the big reveal. Well, it’s here, and I suspect it is everything and more than what they wanted.
Dean Hearne1/20Three antique mirrors add a sense of grandeur to the hallway. The pendant lights are from Jim Lawrence.
Dean Hearne2/20
Dean Hearne3/20Above the island – sourced by Tanya from Vinterior – hang pendant lights from Devol. When she moved in, the windows and doors were all PVC, so Tanya worked with Beechhall Joinery to replace them with Victorian-era wooden ones. The painting above is by Dan's grandmother.
Dean Hearne4/20A dining table from Anthropologie anchors the dining area.
Dean Hearne5/20Above the dining table hangs a pendant light from Pinch. The rug is from Pelican House, and was designed in collaboration with Lucy Williams.
Dean Hearne6/20
Dean Hearne7/20Open shelving displays Tanya's collection of ceramics.
Dean Hearne8/20‘We wanted our bedroom to feel like a sanctuary’ says Tanya. In order to achieve this, she has maintained a neutral palette with antiques such as the wardrobe from Kempton market – anchoring the space.
Dean Hearne9/20
Dean Hearne10/20The artwork above the fireplace is a drawing of Tanya by her boyfriend, Dan.
Dean Hearne11/20
Dean Hearne12/20Tanya knocked through into the room next to the main bedroom to create this large and airy en-suite bathroom, accessed through a pair of wooden pocket doors bought on Ebay.
Dean Hearne13/20An 18th century Italian mirror from Brownrigg Antiques hangs above a double vanity from Soho Home. The walls are painted in Farrow & Ball's ‘White Tie’.
Dean Hearne14/20
Dean Hearne15/20
Dean Hearne16/20A rug from La Redoute adds a pop of colour in Tanya's son Sage's bedroom. So does the quilt hanging on the wall above the chest of drawers, which was made for Sage by Tanya's mother. The tonal walls and ceiling are painted Farrow & Ball's ‘New White’ and ‘Dorset Cream’ respectively.
Dean Hearne17/20A headboard covered in 'Otomi' from Lewis & Wood and made by The House Upstairs adds pattern to the spare room. The painting shows Cley, in Norfolk, where Tanya grey up. She bought it from Looses Antiques in Norwich.
Dean Hearne18/20The armchair is from Loaf.
Dean Hearne19/20The sofa on the terrace is from Cox & Cox, and the table and chairs are from Crocus.
Dean Hearne20/20
