Houzz Tour: Industrial Rococo Style in a London Courtyard Flat
http://www.decor-ideas.org 02/22/2015 04:13 Decor Ideas
“We love this industrial space. It’s so clean and big,” says film and creative director Harvey B-Brown of the east London Victorian warehouse flat he and husband Steven Riseley share. They moved in together from their respective former homes — B-Brown from “a chic townhouse in Hampstead,” he says, and Riseley from a flat above the gastropub he had opened.
“We treated this place as a fresh start, and almost everything here is new to us,” B-Brown says. The decor in the raw-edged, open-plan courtyard space ranges from metal pieces with a factory feel to furnishings with curly, rococo surfaces. “It’s almost like a film studio, and we have created small sets in the open spaces,” B-Brown says.
The apartment is on the ground floor of a three-story building sensitively converted by Gideon Purser of Chris Dyson Architects. “When we started work,” Purser says, ‘the building had been used as offices, but it was originally a warehouse, early to mid-Victorian, though we’ve never been able to discover what was stored there. It was quite untouched inside, so there was lots of character.” Purser and his team worked almost entirely with oak, concrete and brick. “Just three materials in the palette,” he says. “We kept our work to a light touch and let the original, old materials sing rather than compete.”
Photos by Peter Landers Photography
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Harvey B-Brown and Steven Riseley
Location: Shoreditch, London
Size: 2 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms
One detail that isn’t original to the building is the enticing courtyard garden, which, with its lush living wall, acts as a huge green artwork for the open-plan living area.
“The original warehouses had a small set of loos where the courtyard now is,” Purser says. “When the building was converted [into an office space] in the 1980s, the loos were removed, leaving a semiderelict, dark space covered with a polycarbonate roof. We removed it, exposing the area to the sky, and this formed the outside space.”
Dining table: Boston, Timothy Oulton; pendant lights: Benjamin Hubert
Purser’s team removed a wall and put in a large steel beam — which you can see here — as support. “This allowed us to open up the room to the kitchen-diner as well as to the courtyard,” he says.
The figurines decorating the beam were a gift from B-Brown’s brother, who was working for a design company with a bulldog as the logo. “We just loved the logo,” B-Brown says, “so he bought us a whole set!”
B-Brown describes his and Riseley’s style as eclectic. “I tend to be a minimalist but with maximal tendencies, while Steve is a brutalist but with sentimental tendencies,” he says. “But we’ve found a middle ground: We both love order. Our work as freelancers is so chaotic that we really need a sense of calm in our home life.”
The couple chose the vast green leather sofa, which dominates the living space, because they wanted somewhere big enough for entertaining lots of people. “We loved the acid olive,” B-Brown says. “The style and color remind us of a traditional gentlemen’s club, but with a twist.”
Sofa: custom, Ligne Roset; fashion artwork: Sharon Pinsker; coffee tables: Cute Cut, Roche Bobois
The kitchen countertops are all Silestone, a quartz composite that looks similar to concrete. “Concrete isn’t great for a kitchen, as it’s sensitive to stains and acid,” says Purser, “but we wanted the worktops to visually match the concrete floor.”
The giant Wizard of Oz photograph on the far wall is not quite what it seems, either. “Dorothy is a photograph of drag queen Vanity Fair, by photographer Magnus Hastings,” says B-Brown. “All the builders were saying how fit she looks. We didn’t have the heart to tell them she’s a man.”
Vase: Jonathan Adler; refrigerator: Samsung
The wall here looks like a giant mirror but is, in fact, glass. It creates a separate study area but one still connected to the main living area, from which it borrows light. The ornate desk was an eBay find.
“I wanted to write my feature film in our new home,” B-Brown says, “and was looking for a big desk that had an aura. This desk screams, ‘Sit here and write something important,’ and that’s exactly what I’ve done.”
Chair: Louis Ghost by Kartell, available at Made in Design; chandelier: vintage, Follies of Folkstone; pendant lights: Decode
Another trick to bring more light into the flat is the skylight above the kitchen area. It is, in fact, a section of the upstairs neighbors’ terrace. “There’s a clause in their contract that states they aren’t allowed to put any furniture over it,” says Purser. The large, oak-lined internal window, which doubles as a little seat, also lets light flood into the hallway behind it.
To upgrade the insulation, Purser had the building insulated from the outside and then rendered — it meant they were able to leave the brickwork inside visible. The bricks are the original warehouse walls, and the unpainted ones, in the kitchen, have been treated with a clear matte sealer to make them easier to wipe clean.
The courtyard has several details that make it really extend the size of the living area, as well as create a calming urban outdoor retreat. When the doors are open, the green living wall “functions as a lung,” says Purser.
In addition, one wall of the courtyard is entirely mirrored — very thick glass attached with battening — and this gives the illusion of more garden. “When it went in, the amount of daylight also increased hugely,” Purser says.
“The living wall is self-watering and is a joy,” says B-Brown. “We grow a lot of herbs in the wall, which is always great for cooking and giving that amazing smell when we’re dining alfresco.”
Furniture set: Oceans; living wall: Treebox
B-Brown and Riseley’s grand piano is a 1901 Bechstein that has been reveneered in American walnut and sycamore wood. Riseley is learning to play, and B-Brown is using it to write a musical feature film. “We also know lots of musicians,” B-Brown says. “As the piano is such a large piece of furniture, we decided to buy something that looks beautiful and sounds fantastic.”
The hallway is dominated by a bright yellow bust the couple bought on a whim in Tel Aviv. “We both agreed it was ‘ugly beautiful,’” B-Brown says. It’s standing on an old ceramic pillar found in nearby Spitalfields market. Harvey is well known for his music videos, and the mirror was a gift from Boy George.
The floors are polished concrete throughout. Chilly? Not with the underfloor heating Purser installed. “They’re very warm,” he says.
“The matte gray bathroom tiles continue the language of the concrete floor in the rest of the apartment,” Purser says.
Subway tiles: Tower Ceramics; bath and shower fixtures: Roca; sink: Duravit; sink faucet: Hansgrohe
With the original brickwork to consider, Purser didn’t want to start cutting into walls to rewire the place. The solution was to surface-mount the wiring, encasing it in galvanized metal conduits. “There was already a lot of that here,” he says, “and it was in keeping with the building.”
The metal drawers were found at the Kempton Park market, while the wardrobe just visible in the hallway, which is used for guest coats, was a market find from Paris. “I’ve always wanted one since being a child,” B-Brown says. “It’s a doorway to Narnia!” Riseley wired in hidden LED lighting, which gives off a soft, romantic glow after dark.
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“This is the most comfortable bed on the planet,” B-Brown says. “The headboard is designed like pilot seats in a fighter plane. Because the bed is so huge and low, it tends to collect a pocket of warm air from the underfloor heating, so it’s always cosy in winter!”
Bed: Tomcat, Timothy Oulton
The couple also has a walk-in closet to keep the bedroom clear of clutter.
The apartment as it looks from the outside. “The street has more warehouses on it, all quite well preserved,” Purser says. “This was the largest in the row.”
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