HAMPSTEAD HOUSE II

Hampstead House II

Over the last 16 years the creative director at top London interior design studio, René Dekker Design, has formed a strong personal bond with the owners of this beautiful 1930’s red brick home, nestled away at the top of a small hill in the leafy London suburb of Hampstead. It all started back in 2008, at the height of the financial crisis, when the couple had just purchased the house and were looking for an architect. At the time, René was head of interior design at a well-known London practice and it seemed only natural that once the planning had been completed that they might consider the interior design service. The original schemes were pared back and the project was almost treated like a gallery where the house would play the back drop for a variety of authentic and classic designed furniture and lighting. As such colour was left to the art and the tones were muted and neutral. The process cemented a strong personal relationship between the designer and the clients which has led to the connection that still exists today.

As time progressed and with René moving on to opening his own studio, many smaller cosmetic works were carried out at the house. As the children grew up and wanted a more personalised space, we were called in to help and we also added a ‘viewing room’ to the top floor attic, which previously was used only as storage. With frequent dinners and holidays together, the clients were exposed at all times to new projects that the studio would undertake. The creative director’s inimitable style was always pushing the boundaries and with pattern and colour playing a large part of later projects it was not a surprise, when it was time to refresh the house, that they would embrace this new paradigm.

The first room that set the trend was the music room. Previously a white box with a very glamorous fire place with access to an enchanting terrace, this would be transformed into a modern ‘homage’ to the Art Deco style. A chance discovery of a Ralph Lauren wall covering in black and gold, depicting a stylised leafy pattern set the tone! It would play backdrop to the client’s collection of classic black and white photos, mostly taken by the client. Dark green velvet is a staple for this sort of scheme and was only enhanced by the wisteria planting just beyond the terrace doors. The glossy black piano, another strong link to Art Deco, now took centre stage and looked like it had finally found its home. The room already had some furniture from the previous scheme and this was sent away for re-upholstery. In particular, the transformation of the Crescent sofa by Valdimir Kagan added a stunning show piece to the room. Of the previous scheme, we kept the rug, gold leather swivel chairs and Fat Fat tables in their original coverings as they worked perfectly in the new scheme. We further added some emerald green velvet window treatment to complete the scheme.

Access to the Garden level is twofold with a smaller staircase from the music room leading down to the dining area. As we had radically transformed the music room colour scheme, this needed to somehow play a role on the dining room feature wall, as architecturally there were no places to end one scheme and start another. We chose a wide width textured black and gold wall covering to lead from the top of the stairs down onto the feature wall. This married well with the bespoke penguin artwork in white black and gold that hung at the head of the table.

With the kitchen, family room and dining space all forming part of one open plan area on the garden level, it followed on that the family space would also require some finishes that tied it in with the new dining room scheme. Modern Skandi chic was the buzz phrase and ‘with all the leading roles already on stage’, it was just a matter of choosing the new costumes. The classic B&B sofa got a dark air force-blue leather upholstery to the frame with the seat and back cushions receiving a random patterned blue and greige linen effect covering. The Pelican chair by Finn Juhl received a creamy white heavy boucle and the feature TV wall was again hung in a dark gold patterned wall covering and the scheme was pulled together by the introduction of a modern landscape oil painting.

Further changes to the house included a makeover for the master bedroom which saw new window treatment and accessory fabrics, top floor guest bedrooms given an injection of bright colour and strong pattern and one of the bedrooms transformed into a dark and moody music studio with teal faux eel skin wall covering complete with a drum kit, electric guitars, electric keyboard and other instrument.

Contemporary Scandinavian scheme, cream and blue, wool rug

Award winning interior design, Edwardian fire place, bronze horse sculpture

Rene Dekker Interior design, cosy top floor bedroom, cream and apple scheme

Contemporary music room, teal eel skin wall paper, drum kit, Amy Winehouse portrait

Green velvet scatter cushion with gold fringe, brown velvet Kagan sofa

Glass box interior, light blue sofa with Moroso ottoman

A Dark and Moody Throne Room

A small but perfectly formed guest WC on the garden level was hung with a sophisticated almost 3D effect wall covering giving the appearance of a forest.

Deco Delight

One of the original 1930’s fire surrounds in a top floor guest room, resplendent with its floral motif and classic embellishment.

MODERN FARMHOUSE II

T: +44 20 7036 1699
E: [email protected]

No right click please!