Muted colours transform a London house into a haven of tranquility
Moving into a new house often comes with a few surprises and items left behind by previous owners but for Sophie Warburton and her husband, it was an altogether surreal experience. “We picked up the keys and went to the new house, opened the door and I just stood on the doorstep and cried,” recalls Sophie, the founder of homeware platform Host Home and ex-style director of The Telegraph. The tears were not because she realised she did not love the house she'd just bought, a rather lovely terraced house in Brook Green, but because of some of the surprises the previous owner had left. The house had been lived in by a couple who were in the process of divorce, and things had become rather messy as a result.
However, once Sophie and her husband, Tom, had disposed of the previous owner's sex toys that they kept finding in rooms all over the house, replastered the patch of wall that had been stripped down to bare bricks to remove a family mural and dealt with the lack of electricity in the living room, they set about creating a calm and grounded house for their growing family. This was not the couple's first time renovating a house; in fact it's the third that Sophie has done. They moved from a house in Highbury that they had completely gutted and redone, so they knew that "when you start tinkering with one bit, there’s a cascading effect,” she explains. With that in mind, (and an unfortunate inheritance of Japanese knotweed to deal with), they weren't keen to undertake structural work.
“We have learnt the amazing effect that colour can have” Sophie explains. The ground floor is a perfect example of this; the kitchen area alone had three different types of floor in it, and they quickly replaced this with a carpet in a warm neutral. “The room feels instantly bigger rather than having three little segments to it” Sophie confirms. “The kitchen units were all pillar box red and harsh on the eye,” she continues. “Having gutted somewhere previously, we had a knee jerk reaction to rip it out but in actual fact, we didn’t need a new kitchen, just a refresh. A soft green paint and new tiles has made a world of difference and it automatically feels much calmer.”
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The house has a distinctly peaceful atmosphere, but this has not been achieved by Zen-like minimalism. The alchemy is actually a happy consequence of Sophie and Tom having entirely different tastes and finding clever ways to bring their disparate styles together. Sophie's design sensibilities are in part informed by her upbringing and her interior designer mother, Vicky Parkinson, who was on hand to give advice throughout the process. “She would bring me 30 years of experience. She’s the voice of the reason,” admits Sophie. She describes her mother's interiors as “mixing a traditional colour palette with contemporary art, or an antique, classic sofa shape covered in a bold fabric so it doesn’t feel staid,” which is very much the feeling of her own house. “If it was up to me,” says Sophie, “the house would be cosy and modern-chintzy, but if it were up to Tom, it would all be wood, metal and beige. If you took all the stuff out, it’d be very Tom, but with all the stuff in, it’s very me and it softens it.”
The “stuff” Sophie refers to is made up of the pieces she constantly collects from around the world. “I once had to leave all my clothes in New York to get a load of trinkets home,” she confesses. The jugs in the living space are from Umbria – “every time I go to my friend’s house there I make a pilgrimage to buy all the ceramics I can and I always buy from a different maker” – there's a hat bought in France and the pièce de résistance? A large portrait in a gilt frame on the first floor landing, which Sophie bought online in the first lockdown because “I was so depressed and everyone else was buying earrings”. It sits outside the couple's enviable bedroom, which extends the length of the house from a bay window at the front to an ensuite overlooking the garden, with built-in cupboards on either side of the bed and built-in wardrobes leading into the bathroom.
There are three rooms which have a bolder colour scheme than the rest of the house; two of the spare rooms, one a soft pink with Sophie's beloved chintz on the curtains and its neighbour a teal blue with an orange chair that lifts the room. Tom's office is a lovely brick red that works brilliantly in the small space, which is flooded with light from the landing and a large window. The way in which Sophie has played with colour in the house gives it a wonderful personality, and reflects the style that she has made Host Home known for. As Host is set to expand in the US this year, and the couple are preparing for the imminent arrival of their first child, the tranquil feel of the house can be no bad thing, and a house is certainly much more tranquil without unwanted personal effects from the previous owner hiding in the cupboards.
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Chris Horwood1/15Sophie refers to the mirror above the fireplace as her “first grown up purchase”, which she bought for her very first flat. It comes from Tyson, and as Sophie explains “his studio was next to my preparatory school and I used to go there with my mum when she picked me up from school. I had always wanted something from him, from when I was little!”
Chris Horwood2/15At the top of the shelves are a collection of pots, which Sophie transported home from New York and had to leave her clothes there in order to do so. The bust of Brutus – behind the G Plan chair – has quite the story: “After a rather long lunch in Rome, I was challenged by a friend to find a bust of Brutus. After much googling, broken Italian and hilarious trips in Ubers, we found him! My husband then had to travel to Barcelona for work and took Brutus on the trip in his hand luggage. He amazingly looks quite at home in our sitting room.”
Chris Horwood3/15The jug is a Georg Jensen design, picked up on a trip to Copenhagen. It sits amongst a small part of the couple's large collection of books and a butterfly cloche from Les Couilles du Chien.
Chris Horwood4/15The sitting room flows into the rest of the living space, where a wall of cupboards is painted in Benjamin Moore's ‘Gallery Buff’. The stool was picked up from the Lincoln antiques fair, while the jugs on the shelves are some of Sophie's collection from her trips to Umbria.
Chris Horwood5/15The tiles are zellige tiles in a colourway called ‘Pastel Sand’. A pop of colour comes from part of Sophie's glassware and ceramics collection, with all the glasses from Host and mugs from Mud Australia.
Chris Horwood6/15Pinch's ‘Avery’ chairs sit around a table that Sophie imported from Manutti, with Host cushions lining the bench against the wall. The bud vases and candlesticks on the table are also Host designs.
Chris Horwood7/15The lights above the table are Head and Haft's ‘Quake’ pendants. The cubby shelves house more glassware.
Chris Horwood8/15A vase from Frances Palmer with artwork by Bloomberg & Chanarin.
Chris Horwood9/15The painting which Sophie bought in the first lockdown hangs on the landing, surrounded by more of the couple's impressive book collection. “I gave this chair to my husband for his 30th birthday as he loves to sit and read in chairs in obscure places,” explains Sophie, who chose cushions in ‘Stripes’ by Pierre Frey x India Mahdav. The vase is a ceramic rattan effect design from Host.
Chris Horwood10/15The walls and cabinets – which were the only new ones installed in the project – are painted in ‘French Grey’ from Farrow & Ball, with the headboard upholstered in ‘Craft Curcuma’ by Pierre Frey. The curtains are Fermoie's ‘Pebble' and the sofa is ‘Hepburn’ from the Conran Shop in a bouclé fabric.
Chris Horwood11/15Sophie source the vintage Kantha quilt from The Running Stitches. The bedroom leads into an ensuite with built-in wardrobes joining the two spaces.
Chris Horwood12/15A chest of drawers from Chelsea Textiles houses a lamp from Casa Pupo, which Sophie admits “I sourced for Host but never managed to part with.”
Chris Horwood13/15The walls of Tom's study are painted in Benjamin Moore's 'Georgian Brick' while the woodwork on the window frame is the same ‘Skipping Stone' as the hallway and ground floor. A Sebastian Cox hat stand lives in one corner.
Chris Horwood14/15In the spare room, Sophie has indulged her love of chintz with a pair of curtains in Jean Monro's ‘Hollyhock’ fabric – “I was obsessed with getting in somewhere in the house - my husband finally conceded and has since admitted that he likes it!”
Chris Horwood15/15‘River Stone’ by Fenwick & Tillbrook sets the tone in the neighbouring bedroom, where the headboard is made from a vintage indigo wrap from Adire African Textiles. The throw on the bed is a vintage Chinese indigo hand-loomed weave, sourced by Sophie's mum. As for the orange chair, Sophie bought it at Kempton Antiques market and upholstered it in a mud cloth that she bought in Morocco – “it was another case of having to empty our suitcase to bring it home”, she admits.
