Scrolling through Instagram during a chilly evening at home, I stopped on an image of a living room in unexpected hues, like something right out of Bemelman’s Bar.
Photography by French and Tye, courtesy of Bradley Van Der Straeten.
I’d later learn that the homeowner, Zoe, in describing her vision for the space, summed up our own yearnings of late: “Having lived in predominantly white spaces for the past few years, I found myself thirsty for color,” she said. Major changes came in the form of structure.
The townhome, now merged into one dwelling, is traditional on the outside; inside, though, it is what the architects call “a bold and colorful bohemian party house.”
“The design solution was simple,” the architects report.
The snug gives way to the front living room in greenish French Grey by Farrow & Ball.
The wood floors are painted in Invisible Green by Little Greene.
An unexpected jolt of color: the SCP Teti Wall/Ceiling Lamp in Orange installed in an original ceiling medallion.
The image that originally caught our attention, complete with bar cart.
In the entry hallway, the architects opted for a clever painted-on runner that “spirals up all the way to the top floor” (the color is Citrine by Little Greene).
Each bath has its own tip-to-toe color palette. This one is done in Domus Colori Lucido in Ocra DMSL 17 Gloss 300 x 100 Tiles and paint to match.
Downstairs on the garden level, the team transformed the standalone flat. The kitchen itself is a budget option from DIY Kitchens in the UK, with their Carrera doors painted to match Farrow & Ball’s Preference Red and Little Greene’s Flint, the color of the walls and ceilings on this level.
The island worktop is a carbon-neutral Dekton compressed slab; the rest of the countertops are the Fenix NTM Collection in the Rosso Jaipur colorway.
A whimsical touch: half-moon cabinet pulls. They’re the Mezzaluna Colour Pop Metal Pull Handles from Dowsing & Reynolds.
The kitchen cabinets transform into built-in storage cupboards that span the dining area—complete with the same Mezzaluna pulls.
“We fully opened up the basement level by removing all the internal walls, and we extended out into the garden with a simple and small infill single-story extension,” the architects say.
The “wormhole” stair, as the architects affectionally call it, is done in Stone Blue by Farrow & Ball.
“On the upper two floors, bar undoing a few unoriginal changes that had occurred over the years, most walls and doors remained,” the architects recall.
On this level, “we created a main bedroom with a walk-through wardrobe and family bathroom adjacent.” The main bedroom (in Farrow & Ball’s Down Pipe) makes a case for the return of carpet: It’s the Solar Carpet in Tangerine from Brockway in the UK.
The adjacent bath is a study in citrine.
In keeping with the matte white fixture theme, the tap is the Crosswater MPRO Basin Monobloc in Matte White.
The painted runner continues to the top floor.
On the tippy top floor, the architects designed “three smaller rooms used as a guest bedroom, study, and a Peloton room, but able to adapt over time.” The front guest bedroom is painted in Chinese Blue from Farrow & Ball’s archive collection.
“For the upper floors there were definite nods towards mid-century Italian colors and fittings, a particular favorite style of Zoe’s,” the architects say.
The back room, painted in warm, tonal Rufus from Paint & Paper Library, currently doubles as a spare bedroom and study.
“It’s a big house for two people,” Zoe reports, “but we find we use every inch of it already. Each room has a different function, but also a different atmosphere, so I find myself settling in different corners of the house depending on my mood.”