A London townhouse that combines elegant minimalism with hospitable warmth
Paul and Caroline Weiland love people. Family and friends mean everything to them and their house is a reflection of this ethos. Theirs is a creative and hospitable gang – Paul is a film director and Caroline is an existential therapist, and their four children work in fashion and showbusiness.
When the younger generation began to move out, Paul and Caroline decided to leave their large family house in Little Venice for a smaller, more manageable one in Notting Hill. They turned to their longtime friend and architect Alex Michaelis of Michaelis Boyd – sometimes known as the ‘barefoot architect’ for his love of incorporating tactile elements underfoot.
‘This house needed to feel cosy, because the last one – designed in the early Nineties – was bigger and crisper,’ Alex says. This subtle shift towards a warmer atmosphere for an architect whose reputation is forged on clean, minimalist, white Pawson-esque (a hero of his) spaces is, as he admits, a reflection of the times. ‘I’m not the purist I once was. My relationship with architecture has softened – in an era when the world is so precarious, your home should nourish you.’
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The result of this more relaxed approach is a space both light and bright but with texture and depth to it, delivered with an impeccable finish by Andrew and Sam Langridge of Chelsea Construction Company. Three-hundred-year-old stained Belgian oak floorboards welcome you as soon as you enter the front door on the raised ground floor and these run throughout the upper storeys of the house, apart from the top attic. An elegant Portland stone stairway with an oak banister leads down through a Crittall entrance to a large family kitchen and sitting room on the ground floor. Here wide, pale boards of Dinesen Douglas fir treated with white lye increase the sense of light and a generous table by Bulthaup, with ‘Wishbone’ chairs by Hans J Wegner, is positioned below two box skylights.
Across the room, a deep, inviting ‘Sonoma’ sofa and two armchairs from the ‘Nor Cal’ collection by the American designer James Perse are arranged in front of a large television – Paul fell asleep in one of the armchairs when in New York and found it so comfortable that he had a set shipped to London. A wall of steel-framed black Crittall doors and windows allows the garden – inspired by the one Caroline loved at Ett Hem hotel in Stockholm – to be an integral part of the room. It was reinterpreted for the Weilands by garden designer Butter Wakefield. White gravel and lime chippings are flanked by paths of London brick, with a small terrace created from reclaimed cobblestones.
At the far end of the room is a Plain English kitchen painted a rich dark blue with a bespoke central island topped with Arabescato marble, over which hang two industrial Holophane lights found on 1stdibs. Paul enjoys cooking and the larder is always crammed with vegetables and eggs from the hens at the couple’s country house, Belcombe Court near Bath.
On the airy upper floors, bedrooms with hand-dyed linen curtains are decorated simply in muted natural colours, with Hästens beds that are so comfortable it is a wonder anyone gets out of them. The main bathroom is a triumph with its large marble-lined shower and also has a splendid antique French bath found in a Paris flea market and an elegant double sink, both reconditioned by The Water Monopoly.
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A generous bay window in the raised ground-floor sitting room overlooking the garden is flanked by yellow hand-dyed velvet curtains by Lucy Bathurst of Nest. These provide a stylish contrast to the Philip Arctander ‘Clam’ chairs upholstered in black fur and the inky blue velvet ‘Drawing Room’ sofa from Rose Uniacke. A desk at the opposite end of the room, looking out at the tree-lined street, is where Caroline catches up with her admin every morning, while Paul likes to hold his meetings in the kitchen.
This is a busy house at the heart of a community that Paul and Caroline have known and been involved in for over 20 years. Their children went to school here, their oldest friends live nearby and every morning Lionel, the poodle belonging to their daughter Hannah (the founder of the fashion brand Shrimps) and her husband Arthur, is dropped off by the couple on their way to work and Caroline takes him for walks in the communal garden and to Portobello market nearby. Neighbours Ruby Wax and documentary maker Molly Dineen are often ringing the doorbell. ‘Funnily enough, even though we have so many friends on our doorstep, it took us nearly two years to throw a dinner party,’ says Caroline. ‘I think we needed to let the house settle for at least a couple of years to blow away the chaff.’
Despite this delay, Paul and Caroline are in fact the most genial of hosts and have created a house of such warmth and character that everyone who enters it feels truly welcome.
Paul Massey1/13A Serge Mouille floor lamp is angled over a dining table from Bulthaup with Hans J Wegner ‘Wishbone’ chairs. Flowers grown by the owners at their country house add colourful accents. The rug was commissioned from Kate Blee at Christopher Farr.
Paul Massey2/13A ‘Sonoma’ sofa and chairs by James Perse offer views of the garden through a run of black-framed Crittall windows. The striking ‘Ora 8’ chandelier is by Kaia.
Paul Massey3/13In the kitchen, Bert & May tiles and an island topped with Arabescato marble balance the dark blue Plain English units. The Holophane lights were from 1stdibs.
Paul Massey4/13Shelves line an alcove above a sink.
Paul Massey5/13A Stephan Balkenhol painting in the sitting room.
Paul Massey6/13The eye-catching painting Snow Iris by Marc Quinn hangs above a linen covered ‘Studio’ sofa by Rose Uniacke, with cushions from Robert Kime and Sam Taylor-Wood for The Rug Company. A Philip Arctander ‘Clam’ chair, also from Rose Uniacke and upholstered in black fur, picks up on the graphic lines and shaggy texture of a Moroccan Beni Ourain wool rug.
Paul Massey7/13A mid-century artwork hangs above a Rose Uniacke ‘Drawing Room’ sofa.
Paul Massey8/13Lionel the poodle sits beside the elegant Portland stone staircase.
Paul Massey9/13Plain pink linen curtains hand-dyed by Lucy Bathurst at Nest balance a mix of patterned furnishings including a stencilled Spanish chest of drawers from M Charpentier Antiques in Fulham and a Moroccan wool rug from Molly Hogg.
Paul Massey10/13A marble-clad shower and a bath from a Paris flea market bring character to the bathroom.
Paul Massey11/13Lights by Felix in Bath flank a ‘Poet’ sofa by Finn Juhl on the top landing.
Paul Massey12/13The antique bath and sink in the top-floor bathroom are from The Water Monopoly.
Paul Massey13/13Butter Wakefield created the garden.
