All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Studio Vero transform a Notting Hill townhouse with vibrant colour
‘We felt really excited after our first talk with these clients’ says Venetia Rudebeck one of two founders of Studio Vero. ‘We had a getting-to-know-you meeting’ says Romanos Brihi, her business partner, ‘finding out how they wanted to live and looking through their inspo images. We knew then they were going to be great to work with. We saw they love 1960s Italian design and they were not scared of colour, which is why they came to us’. Its previous owner had left the Victorian stucco house in Notting Hill in good condition, though with bland, ‘very vanilla’ decoration. Their clients had no furniture of their own, so Studio Vero sourced everything for the project, re-using the existing white linen curtains, fabric walling and a sofa.
Open the front door and the transformation is striking. All the woodwork, from the hall up, is painted in aubergine gloss. The walls are pink, and an abstract Gideon Hatch rug and a green and white Pale Fire lamp make quite an impact. ‘They had showed us a pink room in their inspiration images’ says Romanos, 'and we suggested putting the colour right up the stairs, the aubergine woodwork makes the pink less girly’. ‘All our friends love the aubergine’ says their client.
It is a vibrant introduction to a house, which, for the moment, is very much a place for entertaining. ‘They wanted a glamorous house for partying, with potential for family life later on. We made sure there was, for example, a coat cupboard big enough to take a buggy and, thinking ahead to toddlers’ needs, we installed a small bath in the former shower room’ says Venetia.
The aubergine woodwork continues in the blue-painted sitting and dining rooms where its dark colour frames views to the garden, and provides a contrast to the existing white curtains, which have been hung on new poles and edged with a patterned braid. ‘We wanted to give them lots of seating for entertaining’ says Romanos ‘The curved sofa is a good solution, it stretches into the alcove, and you can see everyone in the room’. Two different rugs – geometric and Bauhaus-inspired for the sitting room, more rustic for the dining room – define both spaces. A dining table seating eight, commissioned for the room, is placed off-centre, surrounded by Howe chairs, and a banquette in dark green leather. ‘Placed here it feels a bit less formal when just the two of them are eating’ he says.
The paint colour for the ‘perfectly good’ existing kitchen cabinets, ‘a happy mustard’ he calls it, was controversial. The clients were doubtful, they asked their parents, and the nervous consensus was ‘It’s bold… very bold’. But the owners bravely agreed with Studio Vero’s colour advice, and now they love it. Some equally bold Balineum tiles took attention away from the existing work surfaces.
Far from boring is the transformation of the tiny workstation on the upstairs landing, now made memorable with a Ferrick Mason wallpaper. Studio Vero called in a seamstress to invisibly mend some small flaws in the blue fabric walling in the main bedroom. The long burgundy headboard behind the bed, with lighter olive behind the mid-century bedside tables, provides a sober backdrop for a red-striped bedspread made from a C&C Milano fabric. ‘Off the peg bedspreads are just too small’ says Venetia ‘we nearly always make our own’. Other touches of red in this restful room include a strong Raoul fabric on the bench, a traditional floral design for the bed cushion and a burgundy lacquer chest of drawers. The blue of the bedroom is reprised in the panelled bathroom next door, with the dark olive used here too, on the vanity unit.
‘I work from home and my favourite room is the bedroom which doubles as a study, especially the 1960s Italian desk’ says one client. Its bright blue is echoed in the woodwork and the Common Room wallpaper, whose touches of orange are taken up in the headboards and a custom-made bobble trim to the white linen curtains. ‘Bobble edging can seem a bit childish,’ says Venetia. ‘But we felt it would work well here’, and indeed it does. Laptop and papers can be whisked away to join the printer and files in nearby storage. The room can be used as a double bedroom, or for two singles, when friends stay overnight. Another strong blue is used, with green wallpaper this time, in the other spare bedroom, to great effect.
Down in the basement TV room the existing navy linen walling is contrasted with terracotta from a glorious Studio Ashby patchwork rug and Farrow & Ball’s ‘Terre d’Egypte’ gloss paint on the window and a vivid selection of cushions on the existing, now recovered, L-shaped sofa. This mix of practical solutions and a truly original eye is typical of the Studio Vero ethos. Venetia and Romanos, best friends since the age of 14, celebrate ten years of Studio Vero this year, busy with several projects in Chelsea, as well as Primrose Hill, Brook Green and Berkshire. Both say this was a particularly happy project. Their Notting Hill clients return the compliment ‘We love our house!’
Simon Brown1/10Three bar stools in leather and dark bronze from Rose Uniacke stand at the custom-made kitchen island which narrows towards the French doors, as do the walls of the room. The existing kitchen units were painted in ‘Middle Buff’ by Little Greene which offsets the colours of the Hanley Tube wall tiles by Balineum. The blue and white lino checkerboard floor is from Sinclair Till and the Roman blinds are in Open Sky from Woodnotes. A trio of Lucia Pendant lights by Hector Finch hang over the island.
Simon Brown2/10The original dark blue walls of the basement TV room were kept in place and offset by the terracotta window frames in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Terre d’Egypte’. The patchwork rug and the chunky central table is from Sister by Studio Ashby. An L-shaped sofa, which came with the house, was recovered in Christopher Farr’s ‘Japura’ green stripe. A side chair is upholstered in ‘Marais Stipple’ from Thomas Callaway Associates. The tall green lamp is from Axel Chay.
Simon Brown3/10The designers kept the main bedroom’s original duck egg fabric walling and offset it with shades of red. The bedspread is custom-made from C&C Milano Marina Rigatoni fabric. The bench is upholstered in Raoul Textile’s geometric ‘Bernard’ fabric. The lacquer chest of drawers in burgundy from is from Chelsea textiles. The painting above the chest of drawers, by Fergus Hilton, was found at 8 Holland Street. The existing curtain were trimmed in ‘Tutsi’ trim by Schumacher.
Simon Brown4/10The burgundy is taken up in the George Spencer velvet headboard paired with an olive fabric ‘Storr’ by Bute. A pair of 1970s Danish rosewood bedside tables were sourced from Vinterior, and set with vintage travel lamps from Bert Frank. The bed cushion is in ‘Hot House Flowers’ by Schumacher.
Simon Brown5/10The walls and woodwork in the main bathroom have been painted in ‘Aquamarine Mid’ by Little Greene to match the colour of the bedroom walls. The drawers of the existing vanity unit were replaced with these simpler ones. Balnea lights from Hector Finch were mounted on the mirror. The roman blind is in Nuphar fabric from Zak + Fox and the small rug is from Peter Page.
Simon Brown6/10In the tiny landing work-station Ferrick Mason’s vibrant Kinkead Cinnabar wallpaper sits well with Farrow & Ball’s ‘Brinjal’ paint, on the desk and sliding door, and the mid-century chair from RKade.
Simon Brown7/10The dash of orange in the wallpaper was matched for the headboards using ‘Rocky Performance’ velvet from Schumacher. The twin beds can be linked to make a double. Samuel & Sons matched the orange of the headboards for their custom-made bobble trim for the existing white curtains. The wall light is by Beata Heuman for Original BTC. The bedspread fabric was found in a vintage shop.
Simon Brown8/10This guest bedroom with its ‘Poppy Sprig’ paper by GP&J Baker and blue bespoke paint colour ‘25-18D’ from Papers &Paints was designed to be suitable for children later on. The headboard by Trove by Studio Duggan is covered in Hector fabric from Vanderhurd. The mid-century chair is upholstered in Compton by GP&J Baker and the fabric for the custom-made bedspread is Morgana from C&C Milano.
Simon Brown9/10This small bathroom, made from a former shower room has an equally diminutive Labette bath, from Bette. The star shaped handles on the vanity unit are by Matilda Goad.
Simon Brown10/10The tiles, by Elisa Passino, are non-slip on the floor, shiny on the walls.
