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10 Rooms

Starting off this week with a very beautiful house which may be familiar to some of you from Instagram – I never know how many of you are on there. It’s the Holiday House which was founded in New York by Iris Dankner, a survivor of breast cancer who set up the first house to showcase high end interior design and raise money at the same time. Its strapline is Decorating for a Cure.

de gournay wallpaper in the holiday house raising money for breast cancer
de gournay wallpaper in the holiday house raising money for breast cancer

You can buy tickets to go and see it from now until 10 December or buy tickets on the door – there are two houses at Hamilton Terrace, NW8, and they are also both for sale for £23m should you feel, you know, inclined. These are just two of the rooms you will see, both decorated with de Gournay wallpaper.

de gournay wallpaper in the holiday house raising money for breast cancer
de gournay wallpaper in the holiday house raising money for breast cancer

The top room was designed by Amelia Carter, whose work is also shown below. I love the unexpected addition of the wallpaper in this kitchen. I’m always saying you should bring in pattern in surprising ways and this is exactly that. Kitchens, despite being the heart of the home, can be full of cold surfaces and straight lines and this extravagant wallpaper is the perfect foil.

interior design by Amelia Carter Interiors
interior design by Amelia Carter Interiors

In contrast what about this very architectural and also elegant kitchen by Humbert et Poyet, a studio that was also responsible for the Hoxton Hotel in Paris, newly opened and already deeply fashionable with the Instagram crowd.

grey and marble kitchen by herbert et poyet
grey and marble kitchen by humbert et poyet

I particularly like the way the marble comes down over the front of the cupboards in this stunning, and clearly earbleedingly expensive, effect. Or what about this kitchen below by the same team? I have always fancied a ladder in a kitchen but sadly my ceiling isn’t high enough to need or justify one.

kitchen with ladder by humbert et poyet
kitchen with ladder by humbert et poyet

Moving over to New York and the work of the Jesse Parris-Lamb studio, which may be my new favourite. Below is an industrial workspace they have created – note now the plants and wooden floor work to soften the concrete while the fragile paper lampshade also contrasts with all the tough materials used.

concrete and wood by jesse parris-lamb
concrete and wood by jesse parris-lamb

But it’s their interior schemes which I love. Look how this grey bedroom comes alive with the warm blinds behind the curtains. It also comes back to the idea of using pattern and colour in unexpected ways. It would have been easy, and predictable, to throw a couple of cushions on the bed or a throw. But by using it in the blinds it instantly adds more personality to the room.

black and white bedroom by jesse parris-lamb
black and white bedroom by jesse parris-lamb

These days you don’t have to look far to find a gorgeous navy blue kitchen and this is no expection. The leather stools bring warmth and tactility to the space in much the same way that Amelia Carter has done with the wallpaper at the top and a few plants never did any room any harm.

navy blue kitchen by jesse parris-lamb
navy blue kitchen by jesse parris-lamb

Next up for anyone thinking of painting their hall and going only halfway up the wall or just around the architraves. You don’t have to have panelling to pull this look off. It will work just was well if you decided where to stop painting on a flat wall. It will probably look more contemporary in fact, whereas this room has created a modern space by using a non-traditional colour for the woodwork and played with our perceptions that way. Note also that orange wall at the back. A small detail that makes a huge difference to this space. Huge.

the williamsberg paint collection by benjamin moore
the williamsburg paint collection by benjamin moore

Finally back to the cool, calm shades of grey of another new opening in London, the Pilgrm Hotel in Paddington (and yes I’ve spelt it right). This could be pavilion grey by Farrow & Ball, which is already a warm shade but look how it loves the natural wood. If you have grey and want to warm it up then take this room as your inspiration. Some black for definition and some wood, preferably old, for warmth and character.

the pilgrim hotel london
the pilgrm hotel london

And with that I shall leave you for now. I hope you have been inspired by today’s 10 Rooms.

Kate Watson-Smyth

The author Kate Watson-Smyth

I’m a journalist who writes about interiors mainly for The Financial Times but I have also written regularly for The Independent and The Daily Mail. My house has been in Living Etc, HeartHome and featured in The Wall Street Journal & Corriere della Sera. I also run an interior styling consultancy Mad About Your House. Welcome to my Mad House.

6 Comments

  1. I have found the 10 Rooms very inspirational this week – and so delighted you featured Holiday House. I cannot wait to go and see it in December and all the gorgeous rooms by incredibly talented designers!

  2. Hi Kate – my take is that the kitchens are fantastic, would agree to ditch the ladder, but my fave is the white bed with the grey walls.

    Debs

  3. Following the sincere act of generosity, may I be generous too?
    Ladders are to be avoided. They are dangerous and not a thing to covet Kate. I fell from one 4 years ago and continue to suffer the consequences. Better to covet the “earbleeding” marble!!!

  4. I like the (presumably) handmade tiles as the splashback for the earbleedingly expensive kitchen 🙂 that marble is lovely, but it is slightly out of alignment for the dishwasher or whatever it is, which would irritate me beyond measure. Just a slight perfectionist here!

  5. hi Kate – thank you so much for the coverage on holiday house london – as the co-chair and creative director UK we are thrilled with the response to our first DESIGN SHOWHOUSE FOR THE BREAST CANCER RESEARCH FOUNDATION!!! all the funds we raise in the UK will stay here to help support the funding needed for the research grants – it would be my pleasure to meet you and show you around the house – the entire space is SHOPPABLE! 20% of proceeds goes to the BCRF – so lets walk around together and find 10 perfect holiday gifts in the houses.

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