How Robert Kime's magic has endured in a Kensington house he decorated a decade ago
Megan and Alastair Holberton have been making pilgrimages to Robert Kime’s shop ever since they first moved into their Victorian home in West London twenty five years ago. ‘It was such a little treasure trove,’ says Alastair Holberton of the original Kensington Church Street site where he’d invest in the late decorator’s highly distinctive textiles and antiques. So when it came to eventually revamping their semi-detached terrace property after a hiatus in Cape Town, it happened – of course – courtesy of Kime. ‘I love his fabrics, his layering, his colours and his arrangements,’ says Alastair. ‘He was the natural choice.’
Beyond the addition of a glass kitchen extension in the late 1990s, the three-bedroomed house, which dates to around 1828, had been largely left untouched. Alastair’s only entreaty was that Robert used as many of their existing furnishings and possessions as possible, and created spaces for him to sit and admire his art. ‘More than anything I just wanted him to work his magic,’ says Alastair of the project, which was enacted together with managing director Orlando Atty and head of projects, Claire Jackson.
Happily for Robert and his team, Alastair’s home was its own trove of treasures. A longtime collector of paintings and porcelain - a habit begun as a child whilst living in Hong Kong and acquiring Chinese coins - it proved a productive springboard for Kime’s scheme.
‘After a while Robert said to my wife, “Megan, you have some good art but Alastair doesn’t know how to hang it’,’ he explains. And so began a fruitful period of rediscovery, rearrangement and rehanging that’s akin to shopping at home. At the time, Alastair’s ensemble of 19th century Japanese prints by artists including Hokusai and Hiroshige were scattered throughout the house–some stowed away at the back of cupboards. Kime cleverly unified the assemblage, hanging the woodblock prints together on the walls of the snug – since appropriately renamed the ‘Japanese Room’ – to form a tranquil space for reading and watching television.
‘Robert had this amazing, instinctive ability to match and compliment objects,’ says Alastair. ‘He brought everything together so beautifully in a way that made me discover things anew.’ An array of 17th century Japanese chargers were similarly united and arranged on brackets on the snug wall. While the early Japanese jardinières that Alastair had previously hidden from view now stand aloft the kitchen cupboards. The result is a constant sense of discovery as the eye moves between areas of interest.
For Orlando Atty, the key to ensuring the final interior felt like a home, and not a museum, was in maintaining a sense of the unexpected. Nothing is showy, predictable or too perfect. Rather than placing all the ‘best’ or finest examples of an object together, Robert kept things loose, by mixing in the ‘lesser’ works alongside. A trick worth noting for fledgling collectors. It’s often written that Kime schemes always start with a rug. But here, in the sitting room at least, it began instead with the fireplace. Dating to the 1890s, its iridescent mother-of -pearl hue caught Robert’s exacting eye, and he mixed a wall paint colour to match.
Working as requested with the clients' furniture throughout (the couple had a great array of lovely desks, tables and chairs) the team brought in an abundance of soft furnishings, as well as textiles, carpets, lamps and ottomans – one upholstered in a Turkish blanket, another in Susani – to compliment. Guided all the while by the end function; that Alastair would want to sit and admire his art from all these glorious vantage points.
There was the occasional, very gentle, structural intervention too. In the kitchen and dining space at the back of the house, known as the glass room, the layout was reconfigured to incorporate a sofa. The impact of this relatively small alteration is conversely huge, says Alastair: ‘The added comfort and enjoyment has been enormous. There’s nothing nicer than sitting in the sun with a morning coffee–it feels as though you’re in the garden.’
Kime’s flair for sourcing is similarly in full effect in the kitchen, where an antique billiard light is suspended above the island. ‘Who else but Robert would think of that?,’ asks Alastair of the quirky counterpoint to the room’s chrome worktops and Egyptian stone floors. In the long ground floor hallway, a series of arches were installed to bring visual interest, whilst skylights and windows were decorated in mashrabiya–the carved wooden lattice screens that are a feature of Islamic architecture. Leading the eye towards the De Gournay decked jib doors, the effect is of softened, filtered light and rooms that envelop and cocoon.
It’s well known that Kime held down-lighting in disdain. This Kensington interior is no exception. In lieu of spotlights every room is replete with a multitude of desk and standing lamps, as well as wall lights, lending a warmth of atmosphere. On the floors, sisal was installed throughout, layered, naturally, with Kime’s signature antique rugs.
More than a decade after its completion, Alastair’s home remains timeless in its appeal. The palette is gentle, allowing the quality of the textiles, art and antiques to quietly come to the fore. Kime’s intuitive, lightness of touch gives rise to rooms with a sense of purpose and permanence. ‘It has aged beautifully,’ says Alastair. ‘The interior has the feeling that it has always been there.’ Ensuring that, even after the decorator’s shop skipped across town to the Pimlico Road, the Kime magic endures in Kensington.
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Simon Upton2/17A view from the foyer into sitting room.
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Simon Upton4/17In the sitting room Kime installed an octagonal ottoman clad in Suzani.
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Simon Upton6/17In typically mismatched style, a Kime sofa is upholstered in French linen in a beautifully faded 19th century design.
Simon Upton7/17In the snug–now known as the Japanese room–a six legged Kime stool is upholstered with a Turkish fringed blanket.
Simon Upton8/17Kime worked with much of the owner’s existing hard furniture, including this elegant corner cabinet.
Simon Upton9/17Flanked by Kime’s lamps a desk becomes a focal corner in the sitting room.
Simon Upton10/17In the hallway a jib door is clad in two style of De Gournay paper.
Simon Upton11/17The landing and stairs are carpeted in Stars & Stripes from Robert Kime– a design inspired by the border of a Turkish rug, and traditionally loomed, which has been recently revived and is back in production.
Simon Upton12/17More picture railings on the landing showcase the owner’s wonderful collection of paintings.
Simon Upton13/17The headboard in the main bedroom is covered in an antique Afghan
marriage shawl. The valance is a Pale Andijan Pink ikat from Kime. Everything is distinct, not uniform–even the bedside tables. In typical Kime style there are both Paris Lights for reading, and table lamps for a softness of ambience.
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Simon Upton16/17A shagreen mirror hangs in the bathroom, where Kime employed antique Anatolian tent hangings as curtains.
Simon Upton17/17Kime displayed a series of pots Holberton picked up in Jerusalem on the mantlepiece in the guest bedroom. The curtain is hand screen printed Hydrangea fabric.
