THE JOURNAL
brought to mind the vibrant moss or lush spring foliage of the countryside. With sustainability front of mind, Sophie Ashby’s
Sitting Room for United in Design took an ingenious approach to the fireplace as focal point. Her fire surround was a patchwork of mismatched marble offcuts and samples, given new life for WOW!house.
MUTED AND MATTE Dusky, knocked-back colours were the hues of choice for many designers, lending the house a sophisticated ambience. The Jamb London Primary Bedroom was upholstered in a plaster pink silk, creating a soothing backdrop that did not complete with Jamb’s selection of antique and reproduction furniture, and picking up on the tones of a 19th-century Ziegler rug. Tactile matte finishes made these muted shades feel
even more alluring, with several designers using surface specialists to create walls with a subtle play of colour or texture. Both the House of Rohl Primary Bathroom and the Home Bar by OZA Design used a natural, breathable clay plaster from Clayworks on the walls (the former a creamy nude, the latter a more textured dark saffron);
while Studio Vero called on the services of Henry Van Der Vijver to create the paint finish in the Martin Moore Kitchen, in a red wine shade that complemented the zellige tiles cladding the kitchen island.
BOOKSHELF WEALTH While the 2023 edition of WOW!house saw bar-carts and cocktail glasses in nearly every room (including both bathrooms), this year it felt like many of the rooms had been designed for quiet introspection rather than all-out entertaining. Books brought many rooms to life, helping to suggest the rich inner lives of the imagined occupants of each room, and their tastes and passions. Bookshelves were naturally a key feature of the Chase
Erwin Library by Andrea Benedettini, where the books on the shelves, colour-matched in muted buff and nude linen jackets, could keep you busy for months, from The Complete Works of Shakespeare to The Pilgrim’s Progress. Lucy Hammond Giles’ Colefax and Fowler Morning
Room included tables piled with coffee table books, suggesting passing a lazy day in the company of a few favourite tomes. And Guy Goodfellow filled a bespoke Rupert Bevan bookcase with art and design
titles, courtesy of Potterton Books, the specialist design bookshop that has a London base within the Alexander Lamont + Miles showroom at the Design Centre. Alidad had a specific ‘client’ in mind for the Watts 1874 Legend Room,
the architect (and Watts co-
founder) George Gilbert Scott Jr. Antique compendia of Punch filled a bookcase, just one of a myriad of small details that together built a compelling picture of its historical occupant.
STARRY EYED The design direction that no one saw coming? Astrology. Three designers wove zodiac-themed items into their design schemes: there was a magnificent circular chandelier in the Watts 1874 Legend Room by Alidad; horoscopes met horology in the antique marble black clock with hand-painted porcelain panels in The Rug Company Dining Room by Ken Fulk; and Suzy Hoodless’ Dining Space was adorned with a circular lacquered 1950s table, a different zodiac sign in each of its radial slices. Was it coincidence? Or was it written in the stars? At WOW!house, you never know what magic is at work.
OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: A mid-18th-century fireplace sits against a mirrored chimney breast in the Schumacher Courtyard Bedroom by Veere Grenney Associates; Anahita Rigby’s Study borrowed Japanese books from Japan House London, a finishing touch for her east-meets-west theme; thoughtfully placed books, ready for a lazy day’s reading, in the Colefax and Fowler
Morning Room by Lucy Hammond Giles; Andrea Benedettini draped the walls of the Chase Erwin Library in soft Ultrasuede ABOVE, LEFT TO RIGHT: Matt, textured walls featured in several rooms, including the Martin Moore Kitchen with Studio Vero; an unexpected astrological theme emerged at WOW!house, including Suzy Hoodless’ zodiac-sign vintage table in the Dining Space
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