An imaginatively eclectic yet eminently practical London house by Rachel Chudley
Designer Rachel Chudley’s first encounter with the owner of this Victorian terraced house in Dalston, east London, got off to a bit of a false start. The client – a woman in her thirties, who runs her own production company – was living in a flat round the corner at the time and asked Rachel to zhoosh it up before she put it on the market. ‘I told her that it would be a waste of her funds,’ says Rachel. ‘I’ve learned from previous experience – our studio is all about delivering the whole package and having control over every detail.’ Wisely, the client listened, sold up and then got back in touch with Rachel a year later, in 2019, when she had found her dream house – this time a project that required a total overhaul. ‘It’s one of those lovely, classic terraces in Dalston,’ Rachel says of the early-Victorian three-storey house. ‘I could see it had great potential.’
The client called on Rachel while she was still in the process of buying the house. ‘It was a good way to do it, because it gave us time to develop ideas together,’ Rachel explains. Along with rewiring and replumbing, the first priority was to open up the space – especially downstairs, where a poky sitting room was knocked through to create an entrance hall. This now functions as a glamorous antechamber to the sitting room at the front of the house. At the back, the kitchen and dining room previously occupied separate existing extensions of different sizes, which were opened up and their walls brought into alignment to create one large space. Four bedrooms, spread across the two upper storeys, became three. The first floor now consists of a main bedroom with an en-suite bathroom and dressing room, and the top floor accommodates two spare rooms.
When it came to the decoration, the owner’s collection of Biedermeier and antique Austrian furniture – inherited from the Austrian side of her family – were Rachel’s first port of call. In the pale blue antechamber, the starting point was an antique daybed, which belonged to the owner’s grandparents and was reupholstered in pink silk. An open fireplace (reinstated by Rachel), a round Biedermeier table and a large Tomo Campbell canvas – all Impressionist pinks, greens and blues – add to the drama of the space. Inspiration for the scheme in the sitting room next door came from the striking antique mirror, which hangs majestically over the existing marble chimneypiece. ‘It’s a pretty piece of junk from Golborne Road, off Portobello market,’ explains the owner. ‘I’ve had it in all my homes since my twenties.’ This room is a confection of pinks, with a velvet sofa and curtains, and walls in a bespoke colour developed with New York consultant and Rachel’s father-in-law Donald Kaufman, who designed the paints for the whole house. ‘I loved the bohemian air of the Austrian pieces and wanted to weave that feeling throughout,’ says Rachel, gesturing to voile blinds in the sitting room with antique lace fringing.
Blues and pinks are the main tones used throughout, including in the open-plan kitchen and dining area. For the kitchen, Rachel referenced the owner’s heritage, looking to old Austrian cabinets for her inspiration. ‘I wanted to incorporate the little turrets and fun details found on those old pieces, but recreate them in a fresh way,’ she explains. ‘It is a bit of a flight of fancy,’ she adds, gleefully pointing out the upper glazed cupboards, lined with marbled paper, which frame the oven while also providing extra storage. Even the cooker hood is neatly concealed within a finial-topped pediment.
