A sophisticated and expanded family home hidden from the hustle and bustle of South Kensington, London
Internationally acclaimed interior designer Katharine Pooley is delighted to announce the completion of a Kensington mews house after three years of extensive building works. The traditional, honey-toned brick mews house has been transformed into a light-filled family home edged with Virginia creeper positioned on the corner of a pretty South Kensington cobble-stoned street.
Owned by Katharine’s client for many years who hoped to extend the space for their growing family, the five-floor house has seen the creation of a basement, a feature wine cellar, a new enclosed garden terrace, an ‘orangery’ style living room and even an additional top floor added to the building. Katharine teamed up with the most talented British craftsmen and women to carefully curate the timelessly elegant interior design which embraces classical detailing and luxury finishes, married with an informal and contemporary feel.
The re-designed entrance hall with its light limestone flooring immediately sets a gentle yet welcoming tone upon guests’ entry. The new linear, black, wrought-iron banister draw the eye beautifully with its striking form and is balanced by a soft-toned herringbone staircase runner woven especially by Sinclair Till.
Double doors lead to the new orangery, open-plan kitchen and dining room which feature a pretty carved mirror, along with hanging clover-shaped lanterns and oak dining table. With a vision of white with elegant soft grey and blue accents, the blue-toned fabrics from Colefax, Victoria Bain and Bernard Thorp present the ground floor kitchen in a fresh and youthful feel whilst exuding effortless comfort and elegance. The ‘orangery’ style space and windows allow natural light to generously flood in, resulting in a warm ambience for tranquility throughout.
Katharine sophisticatedly designed the property with her eye for detail in soft tone shades. Featuring pretty fabric, beautiful hand-painted wallpaper and mementos from the family’s unique background and many years of traveling help add interest and layers of detail to a calm and peaceful design. The powder room is graced with a hand-painted silk wallpaper by De Gournay, featuring simply divine flowers, butterflies and hummingbirds, whereas each bedroom of the family showcases magnificently beautiful and botanical wallpapers from De Gournay and Fromental and hand-embroidered cushions.
Pretty touches in the Guest bedroom regarded as Katharine’s favourite include eye-catching hand-painted wallpaper from De Gournay, called “Earlham” as well as embroidered, geometric, trims to the ottoman and roman blind edge from Katharine’s favourite haberdasher Samuel & Sons. Meanwhile, the dusky peach hued patterned fabric on the bed cushions from Altfield adds a subtle dash of colour. Katharine’s team carefully matched the warm tones of the cushions in the bedside accessories and added bespoke woven stitching to the bed linen and pillowcase borders.
In another Bedroom, Katharine also chose one of her favourite silk wallpapers, “prunus” by Fromental Design with its elegant cherry blossom motif into the adjoining dressing room joinery, adding a sophisticated yet characteristically feminine feel to the room.
