A costume designer gives his childhood flat a warm contemporary makeover
If you had the chance to go back to your childhood home, gut it and renovate it from scratch, would you do it? For Cobbie Yates, it made a lot of sense. As he and his partner Joseph were casting around for a way to get on the property ladder, his mum offered them the chance to move into the old family flat in Deptford, where Cobbie had lived until the age of 17. As an ex-council flat, it was considerably more affordable than other similar properties, meaning that the couple could plough more money into creating a stylish and functional interior.
As for most first-time buyers, budget was an issue. The couple had to temporarily move in with family to finish saving enough money for the deposit, and finally moved into the flat in 2017. They worked with a recently-graduated architect to rejig the floor plan and completed the main elements of the renovation in a mere eight weeks, opening up the space between the kitchen and living room, and removing the bath from the cramped bathroom to make it function as a wet room. The loo, which previously lived in a separate space on the other side of the front door, was brought into the main bathroom, and its old space was used for a charming hallway seating cubby with storage for suitcases beneath.
Both Cobbie and Joseph have a creative background; Cobbie works in costume design for movies, and Joseph is a sales director for his own textile agency. When it came to the decoration, they were in complete harmony. The aesthetic of Australian and Balinese interiors was one major inspiration for them, but Cobbie explains that “we didn’t want it to feel too minimal. We wanted it to have a Scandi feel, but warmer, filled with things we’d collected on our travels.” When they began decorating, they had recently been on a trip to Ghana, where the soft pink clay of many of the buildings there inspired them to limewash the walls. Light was also key to the idea of warmth; large, statement fittings in brass and natural fibres create a theme throughout the house, while daylight happily floods into every space from the south-facing back windows.
The pair were keen to make the most of the compact space; there is clever seating and storage built in, including the hallway cubby (“It’s great for getting my nieces and nephews out of the way when we all gather for Christmas,” remarks Cobbie) and a clever bench built on top of the radiator on one side of the dining table, inspired by school gym benches. While there are two bedrooms in the flat, Cobbie and Joseph decided they would dispense with the idea of a guest bedroom, and make the second room a bit more fun. It now serves as a dressing room and karaoke room, with a beautiful vintage radiogram that Joseph once bought for £2.50 on one side of the room, and utilitarian open wardrobes from RackBuddy on the other, bulging with the couple’s collection of clothes.
Making the most of the flat’s good points has been central to the renovation. Each flat in this building has a balcony that runs along one side of the living room, facing south, but here there is a huge bifold door that allows the two spaces to become one. Filled with dramatic plants in pots, it gives the sense of a small jungle that stands between the interior and the views of south-east London beyond. The couple often move the dining table so that it sits half in the living room and half on the balcony, in a pleasingly literal interpretation of indoor-outdoor living. They also found that each flat has its own chimney, and this has allowed them to install a small wood-burning stove opposite the sofa, which lends a touch of cabin-esque charm to the room.
There is plenty more character everywhere you look in the flat in the things that Cobbie and Joseph collect and the clever way they are arranged. The furniture itself has a tendency towards the Danish and mid-century, and there is just enough of it to make the flat comfortable, but not so much that it feels cluttered. Books are piled vertically by the fireplace; toiletries are arrayed on an old key rack belonging to Joe’s parents, and the windowsills are filled with pots and vases collected on their travels. A few statement pieces are judiciously placed for maximum personality: a Japanese screen found in an Australian market forms the headboard in the bedroom; a photograph by Joseph’s sister Catherine Hyland of an abandoned theme park in China draws the eye straight down the hallway to the dining table, and a colourful painting by Eddy Varekamp brightens up the entrance hall. There is a common assumption out there that it’s hard to bring character to newbuild or modern flats of this type, but Cobbie and Joseph seem to have managed it effortlessly.
Mark Fox1/14The photograph on the back wall is by Catherine Hyland. A Tom Dixon pendant light hangs overhead. Around the table are mismatched chairs, three from Heal’s and one vintage Ercol chair given by Joseph’s mother. A bench over the radiator at the back allows for extra seating. The walls throughout the flat are limewashed.
Mark Fox2/14Cobbie on the sofa, which is by Dunke Designs. A ‘Globe’ lamp from Tom Dixon sits on the side of the sofa. The ‘Soda’ coffee table in petrol green was designed by Yiannis Ghikas.
Mark Fox3/14Ceraudo’s ‘Elio’ armchair is positioned by the log burner, which is from Arada Stoves.
Mark Fox4/14The kitchen cabinets are by the Danish company &SHUFL. The rug is by Nordic Knots. The plants the flat are mostly from Conservatory Archives.
Mark Fox5/14A Lee Broom ‘Crescent’ light stands on the counter at the far end of the kitchen.
Mark Fox6/14
Mark Fox7/14This alcove houses clever storage for the microwave and other kitchen necessities.
Mark Fox8/14Cobbie’s partner Joe found the Japanese screen in Australia and shipped it back to England. The yellow lamp and hanging planter are from Abigail Ahern. The bamboo armchair was found at an antiques fair in Dulwich, and the cushion on it is from ShineShine.
Mark Fox9/14The bed is the ‘Fawn’ design by Gazzda. Joseph bought the blue lamp from Habitat at the age of 13 with some of his first pocket money. Cobbie recently bought the glazed planter and ceramic plate that it stands on, as it was a perfect colour match for the lamp.
Mark Fox10/14The karaoke room/dressing room features a radiogram that Joe found for £2.50 at an auction and restored. On the right is a colourful woven laundry bin from Makola Market in Ghana. On the left is an orange and black plinth that was once part of a Prada window display and was given to Cobbie by a friend. The glass pots are all from Hay.
Mark Fox11/14Joe’s family run the Hylands Hotel in Nottingham, and what was once storage for room keys has now become a ‘self-care station’ and displays scent and other toiletries.
Mark Fox12/14Cobbie and Joe transformed the bathroom into a wetroom, using the bathrooms of boutique hotels they had visited as inspiration. The shade for the micro-cement was determined from the Acne Studios’ signature pink colour.
Mark Fox13/14Tongue and groove panelling painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Treron Green’ makes for a cosy atmosphere in the cubby.
Mark Fox14/14The artwork by the front door is by the Dutch artist Eddy Varekamp. The wall is painted in Lick’s ‘White 05’. The shelf is from Granit and holds a pink vase from the Royal Academy and a marble candlestick from Tom Dixon.
