BOX OF DELIGHTS

In the hands of this jewellery designer, a once quotidian terrace now pops with unexpected colour combinations and a clutch of Latino influences

Having grown up in a 1970s-house filled to the brim with tone-on-tone colour, pattern and collected artefacts, it’s no wonder that Barcelona-born Sandra Barrio von Hurter gravitated towards impactful interiors in her own home. When she and husband Felix moved into this London terrace, its mushroom-hued interiors needed a serious uplift. Thanks to the couple’s love of collecting, Sandra’s Spanish heritage and a passion for travel, it’s now populated with personal vignettes and playful colour combinations.

Sandra’s influences are diverse and unexpected. Regular childhood visits to the Boqueria market in Las Ramblas has given her ‘a lifelong passion for groceries’ evident throughout this home via clutches of ceramic lemons, a bowl of Murano glass fruit gathered and gifted by Felix, and plates of life-like plastic vegetables sourced from Tokyo. ‘I often joke that Carmen Miranda’s hat is my go-to,’ says Sandra. And that vibrancy is repeated on the walls too: the kitchen is painted in the perfect shade of knocked-back orange; the sitting room contrasts deep green gloss woodwork with a softer matte shade; the guest bedroom features terracotta walls framed by forest green and Sandra’s home studio is finished in a tone that sits somewhere between sunshine and lemon. ‘I’m used to colour,’ says the designer, whose love of fruit has also been transposed to her playful jewellery collections. ‘As I child, I grew up with vivid tones, from zingy mimosa to the birds of paradise flowers in the garden.’

However, choosing the right tones to uplift a classically Victorian space required a discerning eye. None of the colours here are rainbow hued; instead each is one or two shades softer or deeper than its primary colour counterpart. To get it right, Sandra took photos of every room before decorating, and made a PowerPoint slide of images. Then she used Photoshop to swap in various wall colours and Pinterest images to add furniture. ‘It was a great way to visualise the space,’ she says. ‘The key was to mix finishes and tones – matte with gloss; plaster pink with pomegranate, rustic textiles with classic British prints.’

This is a relaxed, loosened up home, inspired by the creative colour confidence of artists like Frida Kahlo and Georgia O’Keefe, whose work Sandra refers to often. But it’s also a personal representation of this couple’s approach, which never takes itself too seriously. In the sitting room, two generous vintage olive oil cans have been repurposed as playful lamp bases; a Brazilian headdress is framed above the fireplace; a ceramic salamander from Ibiza lounges lazily on the coffee table. Tomato tins filled with flowers or pencils are studded throughout the house and walls of ever-rotating art, prints and family photos create plenty of visual interest.

There’s a constant interchange of inspiration at play: the two-tone sitting room and main bedroom prompted the shades of a recent earring collection, while that love of groceries has recently resulted in a colourful fruit-inspired edition of homeware. ‘It’s always objects, books, museums and artists that inform both my designs and these interiors,’ Sandra says. ‘It’s all an extension of myself.’

As for the question of how the capital city has influenced this home, it’s clear that a sense of diversity has crept into these interiors. ‘Here, I mix things up in a way that I probably wouldn’t in Barcelona,’ reflects the designer. ‘I look around and see that metal co-exists with rattan, vintage pieces with abstract prints, ethnic textiles with floral. To me, that’s a very London thing and I’m glad I’ve been exposed to that ‘undone’ look. It seems to represent the layout of the city itself which merges Victorian architecture with modern; social housing with new builds for a slightly messy but culturally-rich feel.’