Home Color in the interior Precisely RIGHT

Precisely RIGHT


When Jane Churchill downsized to a two - bedroom terrace house, she employed all her design skills to give her new home an air of space, light and calm.
Its all about creating an illusion of space, says Jane Churchill, leading me through the narrow entrance hall of her house in a quiet Chelsea street. I hate small hallways. So I had the walls done in broad stripes of polished plaster to make this one look wider - its the same principle that says wearing horizontal stripes makes you look fatter.
No sooner had Jane downsized from her four - bedroom Belgravia house, after her youngest son had flown the nest, than she set about deconstructing this two - bedroom terrace to create a home of gracious proportions. Much is achieved by lighting and the skilful placing of mirrors. The drawing room segues seamlessly into the conservatory, which overlooks a tiny courtyard, its walls clad in trellised mirror glass to enhance the light and space.
The blue - greys of the drawing - room walls, sisal carpet, unfussy curtains and deep, slim - backed sofa form a neutral palette for discreet splashes of colour. I planned this room around some old silk ikat I found in Istanbul, says Jane. 4I designed two chairs for it without armrests but with curved backs for comfort, as there is no space for armchairs. Crewel - work cushions pick out the ikat colours, as do a yellow chair and a small lilac sofa.
Though the style is pared down to a modern idiom, old friends are all around. Beneath a ninctccnth - ecntury trumeau mirror, an antique French clock that had belonged to Janes mother - in - law sits on a Chcsncys chim - neypieee, flanked by two bronze and glass horn - shape vases from her grandmother, Alice Winn. Two opulent ormolu and cut - glass candelabra, also her grandmothers, inhabit the conservatory, on a tablecloth appli - qued with restored eighteenth - century Hanoverian needlework figures, while Alices paintings adorn the walls, here and there, in eclectic clusters.
The basement has been completely transformed, with unifying dark wood floorboards running the length of the space. You descend into a library that leads on to (he courtyard. The area is defined by dark bookcases, their contents arranged by size, but the focal point is a William IV pedestal table covered in blue - and - white china grasshopper pots.

Precisely RIGHT


The kitchen crisply creamy and customised with geometric shapes painted along a bank of cupboards has been moved to the front of the basement. Cocooned between it and the library nestles the dining area, with vcllow fabric - covered walls and chairs in brick - red stoncwashed silk, complementing the Indian - cotton tablecloth. At one end hangs an arresting abstract by Bianca Smith, one of several in the house.
From the entrance hall, a striped carpet from Jane Churchills collection, available at Capitol Carpets, leads upstairs to a half - landing, where a bathroom has been replaced by a mirror - faced walk - in cupboard. I hate bathrooms on half - landings!Jane comments. Thomas Daniell aquatints of India, and copies of Janes grandmothers rare etchings of Jamaica line the stairwell all the way to the ceiling.
Upstairs, the second bedroom was turned into an en - suite, its surfaces painted with a fine, wood - grain effect. Black - and - white family photographs and Carlton Davidson lights soften the functional aspect of the room. In die bedroom feminine calm rules. The walls arc covered in a restful dove - grey fabric, with matching curtains at the window, and on the floor is a cream carpet, also from the abovementioned collection. Janes great aunt Nancy Lancasters decorative mirror sits on a cotton - covered dressing table beneath four Bianca Smith abstract watcrcolours. They are echoed by four of the artists line drawings of nudes above the bed. Its hard to find pictures that look right on a fabric wall you have to get the balance right,Jane says, but I think these work well.
They do. This may be a small house, but it packs a hefty punch - hitting the mark with an elegant precision that betrays this designers hand.

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