Maria Speake brings bold colour and salvaged materials to a curator's west London house
The mark of a well-designed house is one that seamlessly answers the often contrary demands and desires of its inhabitants. For photographer and curator Steve Lazarides and his wife Fay the chorus of needs contained within the stucco exterior of their west London villa verges on a cacophony. The couple were driven by an ambition to both conjure a warm, workable home for their collective clan of six children (ranging in age from three to 19) and carve out space for their other brood: a wildly colourful assemblage of art. This has been gathered throughout Steve's wide-ranging career, notably as a successful gallerist in the UK and US and as erstwhile manager to graffiti artist Banksy for over a decade, which Steve has documented in his recent books Banks Captured Vol 1 and Vol 2.
They felt an immediate affinity with the house when they spotted it online in 2019. The previous incumbents were fellow collectors of art, who had worked in film and other creative arenas, and had lived in the property for 30-odd years. Keen to maintain the house's spirit, Fay and Steve decided that rather than go for an all-encompassing gut renovation, they 'wanted to work with what we had'.
'People expect that we'd want something really contemporary and edgy. But the house had wonderful bones and it felt like we were a continuation of the previous owners' ethos,' says Fay. Occupying the house for a year before starting any work, they garnered a good understanding of how this 1850s house, in a conservation area, might meet their modern needs. In lieu of a chasm-like open-plan interior, they wanted to carve out individual rooms. 'It's about having somewhere to congregate and somewhere to hide away,' adds Steve. This was compounded by lockdown, when Steve took care of the cooking, while Fay home-schooled the children.
To help toe the line between home-as-gallery, home-as-sanctuary and home-as-commune, they called on the creativity of Retrouvius' Maria Speake. Together, they have transformed the interior into a supremely efficient vet soulful space. injecting colour and lavers of character through a mix of salvaged materials and ingeniously utilising every inch of the roughly 900-square-metre floor space.
Beginning in the basement, they reworked an impractical 1980s conservatory, extending the back of the house to make a light-filled and generous, but not cavernous, kitchen. It is now a vibrant room, teeming with artistic flourishes. Alongside kaleidoscopic prints by the couple's favourite Pop art nun Corita Kent, antique museum display cases, textile archive frames, salvaged iroko and parquet flooring find second lives as a large kitchen island, cabinets and doors disguising a miniature walk-in boot room
The dining table, crafted in elm by Steve, is etched with a family crest by the artist Mode 2, which reads: 'Every day is a new day.' Many of the textiles come from a playful line the couple have created together using Steve's vast photo archive as source material. They are part of a range of furnishings, bespoke furniture and original artwork available from their latest venture, Laz Studio.
Painted in an offbeat mustard yellow, the kitchen has a warm palette based on the autumn colours of the mildly explicit wallpaper by their artist friend Jonathan Yeo, which they were set on incorporating here. Displayed on a portion of wall opposite the entrance to the room - next to the children's snug, utility room and downstairs loo - the wallpaper has been backed with a thin sheet of steel to make it magnetic, a trick Steve has used in his art galleries. This serves as an ever-changing display space for the children's sketches, as well as meal plans and shopping lists.
Looking out into the garden, where Steve's rose-strewn wooden workshop gives way to a tree-lined vista framed by a church spire beyond, it is easy to forget that you are moments from the Westway. 'I remember first walking into the kitchen and feeling as if we were in a village,' says Fay of the bucolic mood, only enhanced by the exposed timber joists, revealed when the insulation was upgraded.
It is on the ground floor, in the adults-only drawing room, study and parquet floored hallway, where Steve's curatorial magic really comes alive. 'I hung the whole house, salon style, in just two days, he says, having instigated a wall-light ban to maximise hanging space for a madcap array of David Shrigley sketches, Banksy memorabilia, large-scale Alice Mann prints and canvases by the Brooklyn-based street-art collective, Faile.
Upstairs, Maria worked spatial miracles. As well as enlarging the tongue-and-groove-panelled landing to promote a much airier atmosphere, she created three bunk-filled bedrooms from the original two, each with useful in-built storage, alongside a boys' bathroom. A new hidden staircase reveals a pretty attic retreat, with a fabric-covered sloped ceiling inspired by a Parisian loft, comprising the main bedroom, with an en-suite bathroom, and a compact bedroom for their youngest child, their daughter Star.
However happily ensconced they all are in their family home, there is no escaping the art world. Within five minutes of moving in,' says Steve, 'a neighbour knocked on the door wielding a piece of plasterboard asking whether it was a genuine Banksy.
Retrouvius: retrouvius.com | Laz Studio: stevelaz.co.uk | @stevelazarides
Michael Sinclair1/8The brass splashback is a one-off piece by Laz Studio in collaboration with Jonathan Yeo.
Michael Sinclair2/8The fabric on the stools by the island is by Fay for Laz Studio, matching the banquette and dining table chairs. An ex-museum display case has been transformed creating the island
Michael Sinclair3/8Drawing on Retrouvius's stock of salvaged items, Maria has used a unique combination of materials for the units: glazed textile archive frames have become fronts for the wall-hung units and iroko wood has been inlaid with old parquet panels for the large cupboard doors.
Michael Sinclair4/8Laz Studio in collaboration with Jonathan Yeo 'Leaf' teal wallpaper backs a rotating gallery of the children's artwork.
Michael Sinclair5/8In the main bedroom the walls, ceiling and curtains are in ‘Ikat’ in rocket and grapefruit by Peony & Sage, creating a calm and enveloping feel. Cushions in Fay's 'Spots' fabric for Laz Studio enliven the pale bedcover.
Michael Sinclair6/8Tongue and groove in Paint & Paper Library's 'Temple' is the background for artworks by Mode 2, Jacob Taylor, C Morris (Fay's great-grandfather) and Banksy
Michael Sinclair7/8Built from salvaged timber inset with Victorian glass panels, the boys' bunk beds have been cleverly designed to incorporate wardrobes and a desk. An A&P × Stash chair from Modernica, a blind in a Hugh St Clair fabric and a Louis De Poortere carpet introduce colour and pattern
Michael Sinclair8/8In the boys' bathroom, an Art Deco urinal, mid-century mirror and framed artwork by Modern Toss are set against rustic tongue-and-groove panelling. Red shelving cubes from Amazon pick up on the rubber tiles from First Floor.
