TOM FORD'S SPECIAL RECIPE - The fashion designer unwittingly inspired this luxurious kitchen in a refurbished townhouse
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INTERIORS
TOM FORD’S
SPECIAL RECIPE
The fashion designer unwittingly inspired this luxurious
kitchen in a refurbished townhouse
Photography Ray Main Words Stephanie Murphy
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TO BE AN INTERIOR DESIGNER IS TO BE
constantly on the lookout for fabrics, furniture and ideas.
Every shopping spree is a scouting trip, every venue visited is
assessed and filed away in case it should be required in some
future project. And so it was that, while out sniffing perfume
in Selfridges, Sophie Paterson came across the perfect look for
a client’s kitchen.
“I got the idea for combining macassar ebony with smoked
mirror and marble from Tom Ford’s makeup boutique,” she
laughs. “Initially, the client wanted walnut and stainless steel
but I felt this would be too industrial for the sole dining area.
I urged her to consider more glamorous options.” As soon as
she spotted the fashion designer/film director’s lush beauty
concession, she knew she had found the combination she was
[Above and left] The kitchen was made bespoke by Sophie Paterson
looking for. “I sent the client a picture and immediately we
Interiors. It has arabescato marble worktops and macassar ebony high-
gloss cabinets. The Bergen Makassar lamp is from Heathfield, and the both knew we had the perfect materials for a dream kitchen.”
stools are upholstered in blue faux leather. [Below] The leather sofa,
velvet ottoman and marble side table are all from B&B Italia, and the
Sophie has spent the last two years immersed in the
curtains are made from Sanderson’s Taormina fabric transformation of this five-storey white stucco townhouse that
once belonged to David Bowie. An espresso cup’s throw from
London’s King’s Road, it was built in the 1860s and has been
a fashionable address since the first foundations were sunk.
When her Scottish clients, two high-powered international
lawyers, called her in, they had already been living there for
about 18 months.
They loved the super-central location, on a beautiful street
between the Thames, Chelsea and Knightsbridge. The lush
architecture and the lavishly proportioned rooms were all in its
favour. But they wanted to live in it, to learn their way around
and get a feel for the way they would ideally like to use the
space, before they started stripping the wallpaper.
“It was in an acceptable state of repair but it hadn’t been
renovated to a very luxurious standard,” Sophie recalls. “The
basement was a warren of small, unusable rooms, and the
main bedroom was too small and its bathroom was too large.”
The couple found Sophie via their project manager, who
had heard of her from a manufacturer. “They wanted to work
with a designer who would understand their taste and interpret
their ideas without giving them a standardised look,” she says.
“They wanted the furniture to look as if it had been collected
over the years rather than all installed at once, reusing some !
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existing pieces in an interior that was cohesive without Andrew Selby from Heritage Group, specialist
being overly contrived.” remodelling contractors B&G got stuck in.
It had to be a social home, welcoming for guests Walls came down, cornices and fireplaces were
and equipped for the kind of dinner party that brings reinstated and new bathrooms, kitchens and floors
people from as far away as Brazil. They wanted to were installed throughout. The warren that was the
incorporate elements they loved from their exten- basement became a guest room with en-suite, utility
sive travels, such as ebony, bronze ironmongery and room and cinema/snug. There is also a wine room
leather upholstery. Family treasures and contempo- and a dumb waiter to the first floor, to send up extra
rary art would also be part of the mix. bottles during those famous dinner parties. The first
While it was immediately clear that much of the floor is one spectacular drawing room, and upstairs
existing interior was for the skip, the clients hummed the master bedroom is now bigger and its bathroom
and hawed over the kitchen. “It was the one space they smaller and more like an extra boudoir than a func-
weren’t sure if they wanted to change,” Sophie recalls. tional washing space. Together with the dressing
“It was Shaker style, painted in cream, and aesthetically room, it also takes up the entire floor.
it wasn’t too bad. But it didn’t maximise the space The property is not listed (unlike the ones on the
and I warned them that once I had redesigned all opposite side of the street) which allowed Sophie the
the other rooms in the house, the kitchen would feel leeway to reconfigure the interior as well as adding [Opposite] The dining table was left behind by
comparatively inferior.” new lighting to the front door and recladding the the previous owner but Sophie and the clients
loved it and decided to keep it. [Above] Sophie
The couple bowed to her superior knowledge, stone steps. sourced the hall mirror from an antiques shop
in Petworth. A Roger Oates runner leads up
decamped to a rented property nearby and the ripout With around 3000 south-facing square feet to play the stairs, past the Jamb pendant light
began. Under the watchful eye of project manager with, the challenges were ones of practicality: scale, !
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[Left] The clients brought the Chesterfield
from their previous home. The rug and
cushions are from Sophie Paterson interiors.
The Louis Vuitton trunk is an antique, and the
wall lights are from Heathfield
proportion and working the owners’ existing furniture and art
into the interior scheme.
And unlike other clients who agree mood boards and then
leave the designer free to pick everything from the bed linen to
the light switches, this enormous renovation was completed
without the use of a mood board. Instead, every single detail,
from the high concepts to the tiniest change of paint colour,
was signed off by the client, via thousands of emails.
Once it was clear that the Shaker kitchen’s days were
numbered, the search was on for its replacement. On one
scouting trip, Sophie and the owner headed to Chelsea’s KX
Gym. “It must be the most glamorous place in the world for a
workout, with exotic woods and finishes throughout,” explains
Sophie. But while the gym’s industrial-luxe works well for
ladies in lycra, Sophie decreed it too harsh for a whole floor.
Then came the eureka moment in Selfridges. “The materials
on the Tom Ford counter – macassar ebony, arabescato marble
and smoked mirror – just combined so harmoniously.”
Once they alighted on the Tom Ford look, those luxury
materials became the main features of the space; the Gaggenau
appliances blend almost into the background of the bespoke
carpentry. “The macassar ebony makes it feel more like a bar
than a kitchen. I complemented this with low-level lighting
and separated the dining area from the kitchen area with faux
shagreen wallpaper on the chimney breast. This ties in with the
powder-blue faux leather bar stools that were inspired by the
ones at the Arts Club in Mayfair.”
There was the added issue of an antique table left behind by
the previous owners. In the end it remained while everything
round about was transformed. “I have no idea how they got
that table into the house,” says Sophie. “It doesn’t fit through
the door or any of the ground-floor windows. Fortunately, I
loved it and so did the client, so it stayed.”
Other problems were luxurious ones. “A vast amount
of light floods in from the large sash windows,” Sophie !
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[Below and right] The formal lounge is full of rich textures and finishes, with
cushions and lamps from Andrew Martin, a Rug Company rug and a Heathfield
chandelier. The mirrored cabinets are from Birgit Israel, and the sofa and
armchair, upholstered in Lizzo Aberdeen tartan, are from Poltrona Frau
“I TRY TO PUT PEOPLE’S FAVOURITE
ARTWORK IN PLACES WHERE
THEY CAN SIT AND APPRECIATE IT”
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explains. “To ensure the sunlight wasn’t uncomfortable in the silk chandelier in the drawing room from Heathfield. The mirrored,
summer we added traditional pinoleum blinds in the orangery. The antique brass and ebony cabinets on both sides of the fireplace
grey colour has a contemporary look and they create the perfect emphasise the sense of symmetry and grandeur in the room.”
amount of dappled sunshine that allows the space to be bright The macassar ebony that is such a powerful feature in the kitchen
but not dazzling. In the darker areas, such as the snug and guest pops up elsewhere: in a console table and shoe storage cabinet in the
bedroom in the basement, I didn’t fight against the lack of light. hall, for example, and a sideboard in the formal living room. This,
Instead I embraced it, using darker, warmer accent colours such as Sophie claims, ties the kitchen in with the rest of the house without
aubergine and burgundy to create a cosy and warm interior. being matchy-matchy. “It is cohesive but not overly co-ordinated.”
“With such a spacious and grand townhouse we were able to Marble is also a recurrent theme. The master bathroom is clad
incorporate larger pieces without worrying about space. I made the in emperador marble, while Sophie picked a purple-and-white tile
most of the high ceilings with over-sized chandeliers, such as the for the guest bathroom, with white quartz floor slabs.
bronze lanterns in the entrance hall from Jamb and the glass-and- Importing ipe hardwood flooring from Brazil added an extra !
[Below] The guest bedroom has soft neutral
textures, thanks to throws from Johnstons
of Elgin and Ralph Lauren Home, Porta
Romana bedside tables and lamps and
Andrew Martin cushions
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[Above] A Ralph Lauren Home bed takes centre stage in the master bedroom, alongside a Poltrona Frau armchair
and an antique rug. The throws are from Hermès and Ralph Lauren and the lamps are from Heathfield. The cushions
layer of pain to the refurbishment. “Although a beautiful are covered in a Manuel Canovas fabric. [Below] The bathroom was deliberately designed not to feel like a bathroom,
wood, it is notoriously easy to scratch,” Sophie explains. “It with a damask wallpaper from Zoffany rather than tiles, and bronze Heathfield lamps rather than spotlights
arrived damaged. Fortunately, our build team was able to
re-sand and seal the wood to get a perfect finish.”
Furniture is a comfortable mix of B&B Italia, Birgit Israel
and Ralph Lauren, mixed in with the clients’ own antique
tables and bits from their previous home. Sophie sourced
antique mirrors and the Louis Vuitton travelling trunk that
serves as a coffee table. Much of the occasional lighting is Porta
Romana, with some pieces by Andrew Martin.
When it came to the soft furnishings and fabrics, Sophie
had a careful balancing act to pull off. “We have a few signature
touches that clients tend to see in previous projects and request,
but we make a strict rule of never repeating the same fabric
in another project. We like each project to be bespoke and
unique, so our clients know their designs will not be repeated.
“This project had a particularly strong input from our
client and it was very important to create a house that reflected
her specific tastes and didn’t feel generic.”
But one or two Patersonisms did creep in. “We have used
a few signature touches, such as the luxurious silky rugs in !
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The utility room is an
organised and well-ordered
space, thanks to Fired Earth
tiles and generous limed
oak cabinets. The handles
are by Turnstyle Designs.
[Opposite] The master
bathroom and the guest
en-suite are full of luxurious
touches, such as tiles from
Mandarin Stone. The towels
are by Missoni and the lamp
is another Heathfield design
the formal sitting room and the taupe silk wallcovering, in
different colours, in other homes. The client saw them in our
portfolio and loved them.
“She also loves leather and velvet, so we incorporated these
as much as possible as well as introducing other textures, such
as cashmere and wool, to soften and ground them.”
That translated into Johnstons of Elgin for the woollies,
plus Lizzo, Threads and Harlequin fabrics for upholstery and
blinds. Throws from Hermès, Ralph Lauren and a mixture of
old and new rugs add to the feeling that this is a house that has
evolved, rather than being installed.
When it came to picking art and objects, there was
something of a role reversal. Instead of Sophie guiding the
owners of the house through galleries and auction houses, she
sat back and took notes.
“They both have exquisite taste,” she insists. “They taught
me so much about mid-century antiques and their particular
style of art. They chose some beautiful sculptures from a gallery
in Mayfair and paintings from a gallery in Pimlico. ”
Where Sophie’s skills came into their own was hanging !
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Alexander Rose furniture has been used to create a restful haven on the roof terrace.
The cushions are from Sophie Paterson Interiors, made using a Harlequin fabric
these treasures. “I was heavily involved in all the It all adds to the personal nature of a house that
positioning of the art. I like to put people’s favourite could so easily be indentikit grand. Instead, Sophie
pieces in places where they can sit and appreciate feels that this property now “perfectly reflects the
them, rather than just pass them by. My mother-in- owners. For me it is a success, because I know how
law is an exquisite homemaker and hostess, and she happy they are with it. I don’t just want to do a job
taught me to always ensure there is somewhere to that looks good in a portfolio. I want my clients to love
sit opposite the painting to ensure it can be properly living in their homes.”
appreciated.” And this is not the kind of job that is ever really
As well as an enviable selection of art, sculptures over. Sophie still has keys and is still interviewing
and other objects, the couple wanted to include family prospective rugs and auditioning vases and cushions.
heirlooms of a more personal nature. The client’s “Even now that the house is finished, if I see some-
late father, Scottish Daily Express editor Ian McColl, thing I know they’ll appreciate I’ll take a photo and
left her a wonderful collection of framed letters and send an email. We meet up for dinner or lunch every
photographs. In among the lush bouquets and scented six months or so. We enjoyed working together so
candles are photos of her dad with Muhammad Ali much, and they have such exquisite taste, that I enjoy
and Express owner Lord Beaverbrook. Some of his sending them items that I spot on my travels. I know
letters now hang in the guest loo. what they’ll love.” "
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