A serene, refined and artfully simple London house by Jessica Summer
Many designers seek to preserve the magical stage in decorating. It is that liminal moment when the scaffolding comes down, the builders have left and the furniture is yet to be installed, when a house feels completely at peace with itself. ‘I often think that the most successful projects are the ones in which a room looks beautiful before you put anything in it,’ says interior designer Jessica Summer. Decorating with restraint requires skill and confidence but, as she explains, ‘it cannot happen successfully without investing in the fabric of the house’.
This level of artful simplicity is clearly showcased in a recent project of hers, a Victorian house in south east London, on which she worked alongside its owner to bring the property back to life. Jessica studied interior architecture at the Inchbald before going on to work at Mlinaric, Henry and Zervudachi, followed by five years at Rose Uniacke. There, she says, ‘I learned to work to a meticulous level of detail. If there was a functional element that had to be used, we were taught not to hide it but to make it sing. Every detail – from hinge to hook – had to be beautiful.’ It was while working for Rose that Jessica was also schooled in the value of good antiques and well-placed furniture, and a stint with architecture studio P Joseph stood her in good stead for this project, where she designed and oversaw all of the interior architecture.
‘The house was in a bad way,’ explains Jessica. ‘But it had a dishevelled charm. The owner wanted to update it, but he didn’t want to lose that sense of age, time and character.’ Having seen a small kitchen project of Jessica’s, he was confident that she would be able to preserve the spirit of the house.
In some cases, the damage had gone too far. A beautiful pine floor was riddled with woodworm: ‘After a painstaking process, we installed reclaimed boards.’ In a pleasing stroke of luck, these came from an old school down the road. The brief was to create a space that felt like a sanctuary. This was achieved through the cohesive palette of hard materials. ‘A space feels good to be in and stands the test of time visually when there’s a rich, layered canvas to work with and restraint in the palette,’ explains Jessica.
The sitting room is a case in point. Painted in the same chalky white that carries on up the stairs, it combines architectural detailing with antiques and contemporary art. Jessica drew and set out the plaster moulding, arranging it in single vertical panels to accentuate the height of the room and frame the artwork. The skirting, doors and egg-and-dart cornice were also drawn from scratch to give a rich architectural fabric. The study across the hall is equally restful, with bespoke reclaimed pine joinery, a desk from Max Rollitt and a Pierre Jeanneret chair in the window.
‘London houses can be quite pinched and narrow,’ says Jessica. ‘But by knocking through the old kitchen and dining room at the back of the house, we created a generous lateral kitchen-dining space.’ The garden beyond, which was designed by Sarah Price, slopes upwards and has an enormous weeping willow at its heart. The result is magical and provides a soft, green backdrop.
Jessica and her client knew they wanted a pink kitchen from the outset. The colour was created on site by a paint specialist, drawing out tones from the reclaimed terracotta floor. ‘He and I stood together and gradually built up the colour,’ says Jessica. ‘It has so much more depth and life than traditional flat paint.’ The kitchen itself is pared back, with an antique butcher’s block from Gallery BR in Tetbury and a pine bench from The New Craftsmen.
Even the downstairs loo shares the same level of calm restraint. Inspired by the hand-drawn effect of Jean Cocteau’s murals at Villa Santo Sospir on Cap Ferrat, the owner commissioned artist Joe Gamble to create a set of drawings for the walls, using the taxidermy at the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill as his starting point. The result is a joyful cornucopia of birds and beasts realised in scratchy black paint against a clean white backdrop.
Upstairs required a complete reconfiguration. A series of rooms were opened up to create the main bedroom, dressing room and en-suite bathroom, linked by Shaker-style panelling throughout. The walls are painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Smoked Trout’, a rich mushroomy colour that allows the natural materials and textures in the room to sing. These include a Bauhaus rope chair by Erich Dieckmann, a pair of pale linen curtains and a jute rug. Next door, a large, rectangular teak bathtub sets the tone for the space. The Japanese-style vanity unit, designed by Jessica, was made by James Bowyer using Japanese joints for the legs, with a lower shelf made of woven abaca inspired by a tatami mat.
These rooms appear deceptively effortless, but are unified by Jessica’s research-led approach and rigorous attention to detail. The space is serene, refined and – through the thoughtful use of natural materials and quality antiques – appears timeless. Put simply, this is a house you want to spend time in.
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Jake Curtis1/4Jessica designed the panelling to line up perfectly with the chimneypiece. A painting by Aythamy Armas hangs above an antique demi-lune table from Gallery BR. The olive green armchair is from George Smith.
Jake Curtis2/4The panelling is in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Smoked Trout’, chosen to allow the teak bathtub from Zen Bathworks ‘to sing’.
Jake Curtis3/4An Erich Dieckmann rope chair from Dorian Caffot de Fawes Antiques sits in a corner beside linen curtains from Scandinavian company Astrid, while Porta Romana wall lights are framed by roundels within the panelling, again in ‘Smoked Trout’. A jute rug from Tim Page Carpets grounds the scheme.
Jake Curtis4/4Jessica Summer.
