Kew, Alfred Street

Six people live in this house in Kew, and six people have opinions. The wish was for a home that is colourful and luxurious and that still works, every day, for all of them. The job was a partial renovation, decoration only, so the walls stayed where they were and everything that could be coloured, hung, upholstered or sat upon was in play.

The task was to let six tastes share a roof without any one of them winning. Each child was given a bedroom and a study where their own personality could show. The parents were given retreats of their own: the formal living and dining rooms, a cigar room and a formal library.

A handful of pieces carry the house. A screen of a willow tree, hand painted on gold leaf in France, so that the tree stands in late afternoon light at any hour. A dining table of gold filled travertine, its timber edge carved by hand, from Portugal. The bed frame and the dining chairs were drawn in our studio and made locally by a Portuguese artisan, which makes the quietest furniture in the house also the most personal.

The rest of the work was ours too: interior design, styling and decoration, lighting design, window treatment design, joinery, material specification, loose furniture and fittings, and project management. Elle Decor Spain later gave the house a feature of its own.