Soane's Lulu Lytle and Olivia Outred collaborate on a colourful London flat
It feels like a house in the country, doesn’t it?’ says the owner of this flat in London. And, standing in the spacious hall, with its high ceilings, woven jute matting and delightfully aged rugs under foot, I can only agree. The walls are papered in Blithfield’s ‘Pineapple’ design, a 20th-century block print by the painter Peggy Angus, custom-coloured in chartreuse, which immediately establishes a country-house-meets-bohemian-artist feel. ‘The place was very dark when we first came to view it,’ she adds. The ‘we’ includes Lulu Lytle, co-founder of the chic design firm Soane, whom the owner had approached to decorate the flat, and Olivia Outred, Soane’s (now former) head of interior design.
Olivia was brought up in a creative family in Norfolk. ‘My mother made everything from bread to curtains. She painted furniture; my parents built our catamaran; we kept hens,’ she says. From the age of 18 to 21, she worked to save for university fees: the degree in interior and spatial design at Chelsea College of Arts made it worthwhile. ‘My heart soared on that course,’ she says. On graduation, following a stint at a kitchen-design firm, where she relished the nitty-gritty of electrical and plumbing layouts, Olivia joined Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler as assistant to Philip Hooper. After two years, she moved to Soane. ‘I learnt so much from Lulu,’ she says. ‘She has an incredible sense of colour and scale, and a great respect for architectural detailing.’
Lulu paired Olivia with the owner, while keeping a watching brief on the project herself, making suggestions and providing solutions to some tricky dilemmas. ‘The owner spends part of her time in a hot country, so light is really important to her,’ Olivia explains. The walls of the sitting room were scumble-glazed in ivory to provide a good background for pictures: ‘We gave a lot of thought to making it a friendly room,’ she says. A pair of sofas was custom-made with a seat depth designed to be comfortable for both the petite owner and her very tall husband. The sofas are covered in white Belgian linen, with softly gathered skirts, and the same fabric was used for the curtains. It was Lulu who suggested the tambour-fronted cupboards on either side of the fireplace – the sort of expert joinery for which Soane is renowned.
Apart from a huge antique dresser that came with the flat, all the joinery is bespoke in the kitchen, which is painted in Edward Bulmer’s ‘Jonquil’ plaster pink. ‘The style is deliberately un-kitchen-like,’ says Olivia. The frilled chair covers are in the same white linen as was used in the sitting room, which Olivia found at a wholesaler. ‘I like being creative with sourcing, opening up a pocket in the budget so that a client can invest in an antique or a picture.’ A pair of hand-painted lampshades by the artist Cressida Bell stand on a wine cabinet below a painting by Cressida’s Bloomsbury grandmother, Vanessa.
In the main bedroom, a Farrow & Ball ‘Drag’ wallpaper in green is teamed with Robert Kime’s ‘Dandelion Clock’ linen on headboard and curtains. Lino prints of leaves, a Swedish marriage cabinet from Brownrigg in Tetbury and a pair of glass lamps complete the calm room. ‘We wanted the flat to look as though things had been collected over time,’ explains Olivia.
At Lulu’s suggestion, three tiny rooms with different ceiling heights were united to create a chic bathroom next door. The architect Simon Hurst made it work. ‘It feels luxurious having a large bathroom,’ says the owner. ‘My husband also has his dressing room in here.’ But the vanity unit, with tapered legs and tambour doors, created logistical challenges of its own. ‘The tambours travel round to the back of the unit – and taps need pipes, but we didn’t want them to show,’ says Olivia, whose love of plumbing layouts came to the fore here.
The owner always has a bedroom ready for each of her three grown-up children. Her daughter’s serene room takes its tone from the browns of a handsome wall-hanging. And the ubiquitous linen was dyed raspberry pink to cover a sofa in the study, where the family can watch television together.
Olivia has had her own firm since 2014, designing interiors for houses, offices and even a superyacht, as well as working on other projects for this owner, who sings her praises. ‘Olivia is so efficient and calm, and everything is beautifully finished. I wish I changed houses every week to have the experience of working with her.’ Quite a compliment considering that moving is supposedly one of life’s greatest stresses.
Olivia Outred Studio: oliviaoutred.com | Soane: soane.co.uk
Simon Hurst: schd.co.uk
MAY WE SUGGEST: Meet Lulu Lytle, the designer behind the Downing Street refurbishment
Paul Massey1/10In the sitting room, paintings by Ivon Hitchens are displayed above tambour cabinets custom-made by Soane.
Paul Massey2/10
Paul Massey3/10The Persian Ziegler Mahal rug is from Gallery Yacou. A vintage Indian fabric was used to upholster a Robert Kime ottoman. Soane’s brass ‘Shark’s Tooth Mirror’ was made bespoke in an extra-large size.
Paul Massey4/10In the kitchens, the walls are painted in ‘Jonquil’ by Edward Bulmer Natural Paint. The antique dresser came with the flat and Olivia had it painted white to go with the kitchen cabinetry designed by the architect Simon Hurst. The curtains are made from an antique textile from Robert Kime, who also supplied the vintage yellow silk seen on the lampshade. The striped lampshade is one of a pair made by the artist and designer Cressida Bell.
Paul Massey5/10A reed and leather woven Tuareg mat from Morocco adds geometric pattern. The fabric gathered inside the cabinet doors is ‘Green Antelope’ cotton by Brigitte Singh from Aleta. Soane’s ‘Gallery Chairs’, brought from the owner’s previous house, were given new loose covers in white linen. A gilt-framed ‘Circular Hand Beaten Mirror’, also from Soane, fills the space above the turquoise-tiled chimneypiece.
Paul Massey6/10In the corridor, the wallpaper is a custom chartreuse-coloured version of ‘Pineapple’, from Blithfield’s collection of designs by the 20th-century block printer Peggy Angus. Tim Page Carpets supplied the plaited jute matting. The white linen cupboard on the right is from Core One Antiques.
Paul Massey7/10In the main bedroom, Farrow & Ball’s ‘Drag’ wallpaper in colourway 1252 is similar in hue to Claremont’s ‘Antique Serge’ linen, which was used to upholster the banquette by the window. It also picks up on the muted green tones of ‘Dandelion Clock (Faded)’, a patterned linen fabric from Robert Kime, used for the curtains and headboard. The flat’s owner bought the blue-painted antique chest of drawers from Brownrigg in Tetbury, Gloucestershire. The blue glass lamp base is one of a pair from the London-based dealer Christopher Butterworth.
Paul Massey8/10In the bathroom, the walls are painted in ‘Duck Egg’ by Edward Bulmer Natural Paint. All the joinery is by Soane. Mirrors designed by Olivia were crafted by Soane’s cabinet maker.
Paul Massey9/10The palette was inspired by curtains in Robert Kime’s ‘Jardinieres’ cotton, which came with the flat.
Paul Massey10/10The wall hanging in the daughter's bedroom is from the owner’s previous house. The blind is in Vaughan’s ‘Skyros Embroidered Linen’.
