houseandgarden_december

the best in inter nationa l design a n d decor ation

december 2013 £3.99

A stylish Christmas

interiorS for All SeASonS A Suffolk houSe of treASureS modern elegAnce in cAliforniA A freSh tAke on A fAmily home

❆ inSpiring ideAS for the tree ❆ DecorAting With Subtle SpArkle ❆ 101 hAnd-picked preSentS

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A ScottiSh gArden in midwinter

Time travellers

Antiques dealer Tarquin Bilgen and his garden-designer wife, Isobel, have imbued this sixteenth-century farmhouse in Suffolk with an elegant, eclectic style, filling it with antiques sourced from round the world

Text Anthony Gardner | Photographs Simon Brown | Locations editor Lavinia Bolton

000 h o u s e & g a r d e n D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 3

OPPOSITE An eighteenthcentury portrait of an unknown man hangs in the dining room against trompe-l’oeil panelling painted by specialist Alan Dodd. THIS PAGE In the front hall, more trompe-l’oeil panelling in striking dark green and red frames a collection of Ottoman portraits that Tarquin inherited from his father. The dining room, with its Suffolk brick floor, can be seen through the doorway

S t ru c t u r a l

The architect owner of Parkhead in Scotland has spent 40 years creating a garden based on precision and Text Caroline Beck | Photographs Andrea Jones

000 h o u s e & g a r d e n D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 3

harmony

and perfection of form – perhaps best appreciated in winter, when its graphic lines are picked out by frost

Parkhead walled garden is shown in the dead of winter, with frost riming the three clipped yew circles that Ian McKellar laid out nearly 40 years ago

The owners of this west London town house enlisted interior decorator Henri Fitzwilliam-Lay to create a modern family home with a chic mix of colour and texture Text Lisa Freedman Photographs Jefferson Smith Locations editor Liz Elliot

The drawing room sets the tone for the combination of pattern and texture to be found throughout the house.

The walls are lined with ‘Vermont’ paper-backed linen in oatmeal, by Stereo, and are hung with mixed-media artworks bought at Galerie Olivier Waltman in Paris and a collection of starburst mirrors from various antiques fairs. The armchairs were found at the Decorative Antiques and Textile Fair in Battersea

Finding the right interior designer can be a tricky business. Often, you admire someone’s work, but recognise that it simply won’t match your lifestyle. However, the owner of this west London town house had no such qualms when she first encountered Henri Fitzwilliam-Lay. ‘I saw Henri’s work at a friend’s house,’ recalls Steffanie Brown, ‘and knew at once that I loved her style.’

Canadian-born Steffanie, co-founder of Notting Hill-based jewellers Laviandbelle, had lived in London for seven years before she and her husband finally made the leap from a polished neutral rental property to a home they could really make their own. When they did so, Steffanie didn’t hesitate before contacting Henri: ‘I never even considered someone else.’

Henri likes to be involved in the design process from the outset, working with a client’s existing possessions and helping them to think through their priorities. ‘This was Steffanie’s first proper family home and, though she already had a significant collection of art, she didn’t start out with lots of furniture and heirlooms,’ says Henri. ‘She was looking for something fresh and modern that could evolve with her.’

The four-storey terrace house is typical of the late nineteenth century, with a double drawing room on the raised ground floor, two floors of bedrooms above, and a garden level devoted to cooking and dining. Apart from enlarging some of the windows at the rear and replacing the D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 3 h o u s e & g a r d e n 000