A contemporary family home was created within a Grade II listed townhouse on a Chelsea Square with this extensive refurbishment and restoration. Luxurious contemporary finishes and art bring this period gem into the twenty-first century.
At Tollgard we often say that the entrance to a home is the handshake of the building. This hallway introduces the red thread that runs through the house. Geometric, twenty-first century shapes counterpoised against a listed, ever so slightly imperfect house. The Rhythm light by Vibia is a dynamic ribbon of light that’s true functional sculpture. The geometric work of art in the hallway is in fact a radiator disguising itself as sculpture from our friends at Four Steel.
This high-contrast kitchen from Bulthaup deliberately uses blocks of textured blackened wood and white granite to create energy and interest. The true, clean lines of the kitchen units as well as the intersecting XXL lights from Vibia are strong and dynamic. We love these Vibia lights as they increase the volume of light in this dark part of the house while adding contemporary zing.
Part of our architectural ID work on this contemporary Chelsea residence was the addition of the breakfast room, extending the footprint of the house out into the garden. We carved out a space into the adjacent room during the refurbishment to accommodate the breakfast bar from Bulthaup. Pocket doors allow the space to be open when needed and closed away for the rest of the day. A perfect breakfast room – the window out to the garden can get pretty bright so we used a super wide electric roller blind from Lutron to add privacy and shade when needed. Another piece of functional sculpture is this table from Emmemobili. A single Vibia XXL ceiling light adds volume and another element to the geometric composition.
Our clients fell in love with Ceccotti Collezioni early on in the project. The rest of the house is resolutely geometric, but on the first floor in the main entertaining area the shapes of the furniture are curvaceous and inviting. The Ceccotti 22 chair is one of our personal favourites: hand made just outside of Pisa and designed by fell in love with Jaime Hayon it is an heirloom piece. Special mentions also go to Apparatus’s Cloud chandelier – so atmospheric and elegant – as well as Luke Irwin’s Ravenna rug. It was one of the first pieces chosen for this room and well worth the five month wait while it was hand-knotted.
