LIVING ETC HOUSE TOURS 2015
One of my favourite days of the year (I’m not even kidding!) is the Living Etc House Tours, where Living Etc opens the doors to some of the most fabulous homes in London that have featured in the magazine over the years.
This year, I was invited to volunteer at the event through being an Open Learning student of KLC London School of Design. I got to see the day from a different view point. My ‘volunteer house’ (as I like to call it) was that of Carly Madhvani, the owner of NW3 Interiors. Walking into this basement flat, you are instantly welcomed by a mass of inky navy blue on the hallway walls, which I was later informed was Farrow and Ball’s Stiffkey Blue. The cocooning nature of the colour immediately made me feel welcome and gave the entrance a real warm feeling, moody yet homely. An amazing colour to offset Carly’s ‘Family’ wall, which was a perfect grid like formation of interesting, colourful photographs, each one framed with a crisp white mount.
This was a particularly interesting property to be in, not only because it featured a lot of my own favourite interior details: namely, the dark blue walls, the abundance of copper, wood and marble, and the perfect balance of an old period property with gorgeous original features, but beautifully teamed with modern practical furniture, not just all that! But also because this is not only Carly’s home, but also the showroom for her business, NW3 Interiors.
All the furniture that we saw in the house was for sale, and can be sourced by Carly and her lovely partner Olivia. Carly explained to us that all of the furniture in her home is durable and child friendly. She also stressed the importance that furniture is there to be used, not just admired, “rugs are meant to be walked on” Carly said when we offered to take off our shoes. This reminded me that the whole point of good interiors is that it should be totally usable, and that investing in top quality pieces allows this.
The indoor/outdoor feel of this home is something that I really enjoyed, especially because we were there on a very nice sunny day! It gave a great holiday, alfresco vibe.
The gravity swing, (or copper hammock as I liked to refer to it!) was something of a taking point with the visitors. Made by Myburgh Designs at
, this was a real show stopper piece of furniture and it was fun to see the guests trying it out… slightly worried looking to begin with! But faces of pure pleasure when relaxing in the seat… I even tried it myself! So comfortable and decadent.
You can find out more about Carly’s interior design and procurement business at
and learn more about her experience and knowledge.
Once the volunteering shift was over, we whizzed around the remaining properties (well, all bar two, due to time restrictions), the next one being the house of Illustrator and Designer Rory Dobner. I actually could not believe my luck when I entered this home. As I walked through the rabbit warren like narrow corridors of the home, I started to recognise the rooms from a past Living Etc magazine. On entering the living room I remembered the shelving of curious objects, and in the next room when I saw the iconic cat with monocle plate on the wall, my heart sunk… ‘I’m in Rory Dobner’s House’, I thought!! To my absolute delight, this home was fantastic. So to my taste, full of curiosities and decorated with elaborate furniture even in small rooms.
We met two lovely members of staff that work for Rory, who helped me choose some items to buy while I was there (although I didn’t need too much help, it was always going to be the tile with the letter L which I’ve lusted after for years!) but they also told us that we could have an item signed by Rory himself, as he was downstairs…. ‘Downstairs?’ I thought?! No way! Not only to I get to see the house of a man who’s work I love and have been admiring in Liberty (and Instagram) for years, I also get to meet him, in his studio, downstairs, and have an item signed!! What luck.
The whole day was amazing, but this was the absolute highlight. I opted for the small plate featuring the cat with a monocle, with a gold rim, which Rory very kindly signed for me, with a little message too. Happy, happy days. The home was fantastic, and had a real
Alice
in Wonderland feel to it for me, and I actually felt like an excitable child in a sweet shop to be there.
But the main event of the house for me was the studio. I find it so inspiring to see how artists work… the interior environment, the light, their tools. And this was nothing short of awe inspiring for me. In a mainly black and white backdrop Rory’s products were scattered around, with a lot of Fornasetti mixed in, interesting plate displays on the walls and a huge over two meter architectural drawing on the desk. This felt like heaven to me, just so interesting to see. Rory was such a lovely guy too, chatting away to interested faces about the background of some of the images or ‘charterers’ that he’s drawn, each one with a different funny story behind them.
Seeing Rory’s studio in his beautiful house will always stay with me, and whenever I feel a designers block or lull in my work, I’ll think about that studio for inspiration and motivation. Thanks so much for that Rory Dobner! You can purchase Rory’s items via his own website
and
http://www.liberty.co.uk/search?productsPerPage=60&keywords=rory+dobner
. My plate has taken pride of place on the mantle piece and will be soon mounted onto a wall when I have collected some other pieces. Whenever I look at it, it will remind me of the great day I had. A scented candle is next on the wish list :)
After a brief walk and a bite to eat in Hampstead, an area that I definitely need to spend more time in when I visit London, a fellow volunteer offered to drive us to as many remaining houses as possible.
The next house was a five story Victorian mansion belonging to interior stylist Marianne Cotterill. Wow, what a place! This is the exact reason why I love the house tours so much… getting the opportunity to see houses that I can only imagine through imagery in the magazine. To actually be in this house and feel the vast size of the place was just amazing. As my mum would say, there’s enough room to swing a cat in there!
Some of my favourite features were the fantastic dripping chandeliers, beautiful feminine furniture, decadent lighting and soft furnishings, colourful art work, random collections of curiosities, opulent original features (the cornice is just to die for) and I just love how the landing is about the same size as my living room!
The hallway rivals any grand hallway that I've seen in a stately home. The stained glass detail and colours were fantastic.
The top bedroom is something that will stay with me from this house. Monochrome bones with hints of colour through art work and accessories. The painting of the ruched dress above the bed mirrored by the fresh white ruched bedding is fab, this room felt so romantic.
You can see some images of Marianne’s home on her website
and find out more information on her styling services. This home really made me dream and opened my eyes to what can be achieved with a good sense of style and a lot of hard work.
What a day it was, and a sunny one at that, which made it even better. I’d like to say thank you to all of the home owners that kindly let us into your homes on the Northwest London Tour 2015, and a huge thank you to Living Etc Magazine for making it possible. It was lovely to meet some of the members of staff from the magazine too, so nice to put an actual face to the name of people that I have been reading about in the magazine for many years.
I will hold the thoughts and pictures of the day very dear in my mind, and will take inspiration from them for my own designs and schemes in the future. I will be there next year…all the way from
Manchester
!
Images courtesy of Living Etc Magazine, and my own images from the day.
