Octavia Hill was a remarkable woman. Born in 1838, not only was she one of the founders of the National Trust, but she also protected and enlarged many of England’s parks and woodlands – and held strong opinions on the need for all those living in urban environments to have access to green spaces within easy reach of their front doors. To this end, she was a pioneer in improving the quality of housing for the working classes, and this Arts and Crafts flat is on one of the London estates that she helped to be built.
The Irish owner of this ‘small but perfectly formed’ flat, as he describes it, was a first-time buyer. Since moving to London 10 years ago, he had lived in rented accommodation and, as a result, didn’t feel completely rooted in the city. In early 2020, just as the first lockdown hit, he decided to make the move south of the river, renting in a street that held doorstep drinks and outside meetings. This allowed him to get to know his neighbours and to discover that this was the place where he wanted to settle. ‘The area is honest and mixed, and there is still some grit,’ he explains.
The flat was the first one he viewed and, even though it was tired and its walls were covered in woodchip, the quarry tiles in the back hall were among the period details that immediately charmed him. As Octavia Hill had decreed, each flat in the street has its own front door and a small back garden that leads into allotments. ‘For someone from the west of Ireland, there is something reassuring about having your own vegetable patch,’ the owner says with a laugh. Today, he feels firmly part of this south London community, many of whom have lived here for 25 years. Each year, various people host Christmas drinks in their homes, and the street is closed off for a summer shindig.
When he moved in, he had every intention of carrying out the redecoration himself, but it slowly dawned on him that, although the flat is small, it presented far too many problems. ‘Decorating is like going to the gym,’ he says. ‘You get better results if you have a trainer.’
While scrolling through Instagram, he came across the work of interior designer Carlos Garcia, particularly falling in love with the inviting snug and the glorious pantry at Carlos’ own manor house in Norfolk (featured in House & Garden in December 2019). What appealed most to him was the feeling of it not being obviously decorated. And so began a weekly conversation. ‘Carlos listened to me – and then it was my job to listen, which was fascinating,’ says the owner. ‘Since there was some subsidence, it was obvious that a total overhaul was needed. But I knew that I was in safe hands.’
Carlos explains that the flat presented more challenges than some projects, since, in a small home, you have to balance beauty with pragmatism, not simply arrange lovely things. ‘The rooms have to be comfortable and relaxing, but storage is never far from your mind,’ he says.
Since the owner had few possessions, Carlos had a clean slate when it came to furniture and paintings. ‘You can do whatever you want in design, but you have to have a reason,’ observes Carlos, who, in this case, did not want storage to dominate the interior. So he made creative use of good antique furniture – a linen press in the bedroom, a Jacobean chest in the sitting room – and introduced storage under the bed and under the stairs. In the kitchen, blue and white check curtains conceal the washing machine and dishwasher, and he came up with the idea of putting the fridge behind a glass-fronted door in the adjacent corridor, which also houses the vacuum cleaner and other household detritus.
Underfloor heating was installed in the bathroom below reclaimed Victorian black and terracotta tiles, which echo the original tiles in the back hall. Due to the limitations of space in the bathroom – and also to provide additional privacy – a mirror has been hung from the window frame behind the basin, with the bottom half of the window covered by a bistro curtain.
In the bedroom, a fireplace was installed to create a focal point and to enhance the Arts and Crafts feeling. Carlos has used fabric from his own Compass collection – which, by chance, was influenced by that period – for the curtains in the sitting room to great effect. When it came to choosing paintings, he sent his client to Tat London to make his own selection. ‘I was flying on my own,’ says the owner with a laugh. ‘I took photographs of what I liked and sent them to Carlos, and between us we found exactly what we wanted.’
A small flat of under 50 square metres, which could have been rather claustrophobic has, under Carlos’s careful steerage, become a cosy, characterful and much-loved home for its owner, who thoroughly enjoyed the whole process. ‘I hope this doesn’t seem naive, but I believe that decorating should be fun,’ he adds. And, in this instance, it most definitely was.
Carlos Garcia is a member of The List by House & Garden, our essential directory of design professionals. Visit The List by House & Garden here.
Carlos Garcia: carlosgarciainteriors.com
