An elegant house in Chelsea layered with soft colour and thoughtfully curated art
For Annabel Bevan, the renovation of this Victorian townhouse in Chelsea was just the sort of project she craved. ‘We’d been living in Bahrain for 9 years where the interiors were very beige and modern, and I was desperate to create something layered and a bit traditional,’ says the stylist and art buyer, who bought the house in 2016 and now shares it with her three daughters. Having settled on an area – in fact, a few streets with a wonderful sense of community just off the King’s Road – it was the first house that she looked at. ‘I fell in love straight away and knew exactly what I wanted to do with it,’ she explains.
Spread across four floors, the half-stucco, half-brick house had not been decorated since the Eighties. ‘All of the cornices and fireplaces had been taken out and the original rooms had been ripped apart,’ she explains. Fortunately, she could see beyond this, having overhauled her previous homes in Wales, Greece and London. ‘I’ve often taken on houses that have been ripped apart and returned them to their original form,’ she explains. The first task was to find an architect. It was, Annabel admits, an ‘exhausting process’, but she thankfully stumbled upon Russell Taylor Architects. ‘I was looking for someone who really paid attention to the finer details, such as the cabinetry and stonework,’ explains Annabel. ‘He just absolutely got what I wanted to achieve.’
And so began a thoughtful redesign. The basement was given a sense of grandeur by digging down a metre, which has created a beautifully elegant open-plan space that now accommodates a Plain English kitchen, a vast 12-seater dining table and a living area. A small courtyard garden spills out from the kitchen through wall-to-floor doors. ‘I was worried it might feel like a bit of a dark hole, but it’s actually given us amazing privacy and we added mirrors, which give it a sense of openness,’ explains Annabel. At the front of the house in the basement, the room that had been the kitchen became an elegant guest bedroom.
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On the raised ground-floor, the space was reconfigured to open up a view to the staircase from the front door, while walls were added to create an inter-linked sitting and music room, with a soft arch dividing the two. ‘It was a scary prospect to add walls into what had been an open-plan space, but it has actually made it feel bigger,’ explains Annabel. Fireplaces were opened up throughout and fitted with chimneypieces from Jamb. ‘I became fascinated by how originally there would have been a hierarchy of chimneypieces in the house and tried to respect that,’ explains Annabel, who chose discreet York Stone downstairs and the slightly grander Portland stone for the sitting room.
Upstairs, the first floor became Annabel’s own suite, with an inter-connected bedroom, bathroom (with a sunshine yellow tub) and dressing room. The addition of a door between the dressing room and the first floor landing brings much-needed light into the hallway, while also providing a glimpse of the outdoors. Key to the project were the builders, MH Costa, who went above and beyond to get every detail right – right from the major structural interventions to the shape of the wardrobe in Annabel’s dressing room. They even built four blue obelisk-shaped bed posts for her bed, working to a design by the architects. ‘I’m a bit obsessed with obelisk shapes,’ says Annabel, who also has a pair of antique display cabinets of the same shape in her sitting room, which came from the nearby Toad Gallery. The top floor accommodates her three girls’ bedrooms and a bathroom, complete with a bespoke triple vanity unit and a triptych-style mirror above, both of which were made to Russell’s design. Her youngest daughter’s bedroom is particularly charming, with a magical green and pink built-in bed that has been niftily designed to make the most of the space. These colours, Annabel explains, are a good representation of her palette throughout, which mixes blues, pinks and soft neutrals. ‘I wanted the colours to talk rather than shout.’
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Annabel wanted the house to feel like a much-loved family home from the moment the builder’s left. ‘Apart from a couple of chairs and tables that came with us, I started with a clean slate here,’ she explains. Having honed her online sourcing skills when she lived in Bahrain, she set about finding pieces that would work for the house, often using sites such as Selling Antiques or Antiques Atlas. ‘I’ve had the odd disappointment over the years, but you quickly learn what to look for.’ The starting point here was a long antique dining table that she found on Selling Antiques, which now runs parallel to the island and helped hone Annabel’s vision for the space. ‘I really wanted the house to be comfortable, relaxing and full of people,’ she says.‘It’s the largest table I could find.’ David Seyfried became a main port of call when it came to generously proportioned sofas and chairs – the ‘Rochester Sofa’ for the sitting room, for example, and the ‘Editor’s Sofa’ for her study – which are upholstered in joyful patterns. ‘His pieces are traditional and beautiful, but there’s always an element of fun,’ Annabel says.
Adding to the layered feel is the walls, which are bedecked with a thoughtfully curated selection of paintings. ‘For me, walls are my starting and finishing points,’ says Annabel, who started professionally helping clients curate their walls after a friend of hers saw her house in Bahrain. ‘I love to get a mix of things, whether that be a taxidermy fish with a contemporary abstract piece, or a traditional portrait with a plaster frieze.’ Here, pieces, which range from landscapes to nudes and abstract portraits, have come from everywhere from little shops that she stumbles upon to auctions. ‘I started putting pieces together very early in the renovation so that I could install everything on moving-in day,’ explains Annabel, who is currently working on a collection of large-scale wall art in collaboration with makers in Karachi, Pakistan, and hopes to show them in an exhibition at her home.
The house exudes a wonderful sense of calm, but also joy. One of Annabel’s friends calls it the ‘lovely abyss’, because she has been known to pop in for a cup of tea and then stay for days. I can see why.
Annabel Bevan: annabelbevan.com | Russell Taylor Architects: rtarchitects.co.uk | MH Costa Construction: mhcostaconstruction.co.uk
Paul Massey1/13The walls in the kitchen are painted in ‘ Great Hall Walls’ by Papers & Paints. The chairs are also by Plain English and painted in ‘Dead Salmon’ by Farrow & Ball. Annabel found the lights at O'Keeffe Antiques in Chester.
Paul Massey2/13The living area in the basement is a cosy space with cushions from Ben Pentreath and Fermoie. The ottoman is covered in Clarence House's ‘Eliot Crewel’. A lamp from Penny Morrison stands on the side table.
Paul Massey3/13The basement also contains a spare bedroom. Here the sofa is covered in Guy Goodfellow Collection's ‘Fez Weave’, while the blind is in Allegra Hicks' ‘Stripes’ pattern. The coverlet was an auction find.
Paul Massey4/13The sitting room opens into the hallway. The pendant light is from Carlton Davidson, while lamps from Rosi de Ruig stand on the console table.
Paul Massey5/13A view from the music room into the hall.
Paul Massey6/13On the first floor, an ‘Editors Sofa' from David Seyfried is covered in Nicky Haslam's ‘Winter Wheat’ fabric. The walls are painted in ‘Empire Grey' by Papers & Paints.
Paul Massey7/13
Paul Massey8/13Annabel's bathroom is painted in ‘Livid’ by Little Greene, while the Drummonds bath is painted in ‘Persian Yellow’ by Papers & Paints.
Paul Massey9/13Annabel's dressing room features a wardrobe bought from the nearby Lots Road auction house.
Paul Massey10/13Annabel's daughter's room has walls in Little Greene's ‘Bone China Blue Mid’, while the wardrobe is painted in a Papers & Paints' blue. Annabel has used fabrics by Fanny Shorter, including ‘Fig’ on the chair and ‘Birds and Beasts’ on the bed, to introduce pattern.
Paul Massey11/13The children's bathroom has wall's in Little Greene's ‘China Clay Dark’ and cabinets in Farrow & Ball's ‘Preference Red’. The bespoke triple vanity and triptych mirror were designed by architect Russell Taylor.
Paul Massey12/13Annabel thought up the design for the bed in her daughter's room, and Russell Taylor carried it out. It is painted in ‘Pale Egyptian Blue’ by Papers & Paints and Farrow & Ball's ‘Calamine'. Annabel found the Italian coverlet while on holiday in Greece.
Paul Massey13/13Annabel added mirrors to the courtyard garden to create a sense of space. The 18th-century patisserie table was bought at Violet Grey Antiques.
