There are certain ideas that might spring to mind when thinking about a Californian interior – a beachy, whitewashed aesthetic, perhaps with a veneer of Hollywood gloss – but this rich, layered house by Henriette von Stockhausen of VSP Interiors explodes all of those clichés. Situated in the stylish coastal town of Montecito, it is the home of a client whose taste and aesthetic aligned beautifully with Henriette’s own.

As with so many of the best collaborations these days, their relationship began on Instagram. “My client, Annie, sent me a DM because she had seen the perfect off-white paint colour in a picture of a project that I had posted. It was a custom colour from Rose of Jericho, and the company couldn’t ship to the US, so I helped her out by sending her some samples, and after a few months of talking about paint, she said, ‘I need some help with my house, will you do it?’”

In the sitting room, an ottoman by Max Rollitt with custom embroidery by Namay Samay picks up on the colours of the antique rug from Farnham Antique Carpets. An antique Murano glass lantern hangs above for a golden glow. The glazed dresser is from Jamb, and the green sofa is from Ensemblier. The armchairs are upholstered in a Nicole Fabre stripe.

Paul Massey

The only slight hitch was that the pandemic was in full swing at this point, and so most of the project, remarkably, was conducted over Zoom. “She walked me through the house in the morning, afternoon and evening so I could see exactly how the light changed. We sent her millions of samples. And then eventually, when restrictions lifted, we filled two huge containers with antiques and rugs and flew over to install it.”

The coherence of the interiors make it hard to believe that things were done in this way, but Annie’s taste had a clear, specific direction that made it easy for Henriette to create schemes and find the perfect pieces. “She has a particular eye for beautiful things,” says Henriette, “and has nothing in her house that is not exquisite.” Italy, and particularly Sicily, has a special appeal for Annie, and there is a kind of Renaissance grandeur to many elements of the house, such as the spectacular Italian canopy bed in the spare bedroom and the Fortuny-covered sofa in the drawing room (“we call it the palazzo sofa”). Most showstopping of all is the Iksel wallcovering in the cinema room, which was inspired by a Sicilian palace and shades into a ceiling painted with stars. Antique rugs in each room, with their beautiful reds, golds and blues, were the starting point for the colour schemes, which also tie in with the client’s love of antique icons.

Henriette found the antique blue and white urns-turned-lamps at Julia Boston Antiques. The Spanish table is from Lee Wright Antiques.

Paul Massey