Avec plaisir

A George III mahogany dressing mirror - the moulded rectangular swing arm mirror with gilt lining, raised on serpentine moulded uprights with brass acorn finials, over a pierced fretwork panel, the moulded rectangular top over three frieze drawers, raised on ogee bracket feet.


Goodbye aching regret, hello gorgeous. And, you will actually work much better with the chair.




A mahogany elbow chair, c.1760, the arched back carved with flowerheads, leaves and husks over a pierced waisted splat worked as an anthemion and scrolls. The moulded and scrolled arms carved with acanthus leaves on scrolled supports. The over-stuff seat on shell carved and moulded front legs.



Now playing: Rick Astley - Together Forever

Serving it

Jean Prouvé and Jules Leleu
Enameled metal, laminated wood wall-mounted desk from the Sanatorium Martel de Janville
Ateliers Jean Prouve
France, 1936



Yes. I. Am.



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Dear Madam,

Please find the attached images of the pieces we discussed. They are truly wonderful. Not simply because each is unusual or particularly fine, but because each also contributes a specific and different note to a whole that could be...quite magical.



A satinwood and caned settee, late 18th century



Anglo Portuguese child`s chair, 18th century



Oak window seat with ebonised detail



Late collage by Sir Terry Frost



Walnut and brass bound jardiniere



George III mahogany tray top commode



Yours faithfully,




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Rehab

These two chairs are a prime example of what is known around here as the Lilie Road look. Which is always used in the pejorative as it represents a... for the lack of a better word... style that is completely lacking in substance.




Chairs like these are toshed out by the hundreds. They are either so crudely made or so far gone they are not worth restoring properly. Instead, they get a slap of cheap emulsion and a shoddy re-cover in calico or linen and presto... shabby masquerading as chic.





The chairs are first primed with a liquid sand solution, allowed to dry, and then repainted by dry brushing on two different shades of white. The recessed areas are roughly painted with a red oxide colour to approximate exposed bole, the base used in water gilding. The areas in high relief are then sanded back to expose some of the grey and some of the raw wood. Three coats of wax in two different shades are then applied.


To combat the expanse of Belgian linen that is the sofa in this particular project, a raspberry cotton/viscose strié velvet was chosen for the squabs and backs.




As there was no support under the padding, new wooden insets needed to be installed prior to the upholstery work being done. Had these chairs been of a superior quality I would have advised that the seats be re-caned as they would have been originally.


No silk purse these, but not quite the sow's ears they were either. Now, I can happily stand by them.



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Easy peasy

persimmon squeazy.

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Something had to give

What with one thing and another, there just wasn't time enough to do it it all.

One thing being an office revamp for a client. From this...




To this...




Seemingly simple enough, but rife with delays on every front. Even the one and only lampshade proved to be problematic. And, it all still has as yet to be photographed properly.



Another thing being - the home invasion. Anne Bass was lucky. At least she didn't have to make her intruders endless cups of tea or spend a dime. Two local characters, and an assortment of their cronies, came into my house (already in a precarious state of organised chaos) and not only wreaked havoc, but also completely emptied my pockets (which are also always in an equally precarious state).



Though nowhere near done, the house is all the better for it.




And nothing gets in the way of Christmas.

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And this...

belongs



here.

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And off we go

A clean slate with nothing to compensate for, or to fix.

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Have you two met?

Emily, meet Mrs. Spry.

Constance, this is Miss Young.

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What's going on?

My take on the anti-bourgeois theory.
The whited out windows are part of the finished look.


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More W1

The street, photographed by Alvin Langdon Coburn, as it was at the end of the 19th century. The architecture is predominantly Regency and Vogue Regency (the style prevalent with the smart set of the 1920s).

While one needs to respect the client's wishes one should not disregard the architectural integrity of the space. Above all the client wanted the apartment to be masculine. Unfortunately, this desire often manifests itself with boxy pieces of leather furniture. Here, however, the client was steered towards a restricted palette (Indian jade, black, burnt orange, and a dirty greyish white) and more organically shaped pieces to achieve the desired effect.




The living room is sill awaiting its rug, which needed to be re-coloured. Elephants gestate faster.





The Jansen mirrors were a great find (that is code for the client did not collapse when told the price), as was the bar. The fireplace still awaits its fire bowl.



And this (in terracotta) is sill the perfect piece to help finish the room.




The accent colour changes from burnt orange to yellow as one moves into the private space of the apartment.




Originally the kitchen was a testament to the 80s - white and grey marble tiles and pale blue-grey cabinetry.
The cabinetry now painted black (with whiskey coloured interiors), the marble replaced with cork and oak, and the hardware bronzed. Hopefully more an homage to T. E. Lawrence than a testament to the 2000s.


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Almost there, W1

Soon, very soon.


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Let go and let God

Maslow's hierarchy of needs.*

Sometimes things simply don't turn out the way one wants. No matter how hard one tries. Being tactful usually means people will blissfully make do with what is wrong. Wrong being the dumpy (and very expensive, as I was continually reminded) sofa, the Eames chair and ottoman, the monolithic coffee table, the uplighters, and the ugly Victorian dumbwaiter.

*The images have been changed to protect the bicthy.

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So very Miss Marple

English Riviera



Blyth Beach

I have always wanted to do one of of these. Though I thought I would have to wait until we got one or our own. Not so, a client has asked for me to do theirs. Practice makes perfect.

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Notting Hill isn't always Notting Hell

Stucco town houses in Stanley Gardens, W11

Long before Notting Hill became synonymous with that godawful movie and the banker-wanker (and their status anxiety riddled wives) it had an association with artists and bohemian culture since the 1820s.

Part of the allure, undoubtedly, is its large light filled Victorian houses; originally designed as single family dwellings with room for some live in help. By the 1950s, the majority had been hacked into bedsits and, later on, flats. The boom of the late 90s saw a great many of them restored to single family dwellings. Some have even had their basements dug lower to accommodate lap pools. Needless to say, the long time residents find this akin to heresy. I tend to look on it much the same as Mrs. Parrish looked on a steak and lobster dinner, so Hollywood.

There are still some pockets of interesting people. It has been my good fortune to work for one of them. Here are some snippets of the late night room I did for him.



Mirrors needn't always go in the most obvious of places. A particularly good Icon of John the Baptist hangs above a woodpecker by Rowland Ward from the Benacre Hall sale.




Two more pieces of taxidermy by Rowland Ward from the Benacre Hall sale.




A Billy Baldwin Nantucket sofa, the body done in leather with the cushions done in mohair. The throw across the back is an antique Sammi quilt. Four versions of Saint Apollonia (patron saint of dentists), purchased to bring the rest of the religious art into a more current context, gaze out from above the sofa.




Early 19th Century Podicherry angels with instruments hang above the fireplace. While the client liked them, they rose even higher in his estimation when he found them far superior to the ones in the Mayfair offices of Air India.




Notting Hell

Hilarious because it is ridiculous yet cringingly real.


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