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A rented flat in Chelsea filled with personality, art and antiques by Sally Wilkinson
‘We came with three suitcases each and they were just filled with clothes.’ For an interior designer, Sally Wilkinson travelled rather lightly when she relocated across continents. ‘We came thinking it would be pretty temporary. I also wanted the freedom to find stuff over here,’ says Sally. ‘In retrospect, I’m happy I didn’t bring a lot over – it would all be out of here by now.’
Sally is speaking to me on video call from the dining room table of her one-bed Chelsea flat. The designer moved here from Atlanta, Georgia with her husband Taylor, in 2020, after the pandemic left them with wanderlust. Texas-born, Sally lived in five different states before turning 13, but ironically the move across the pond was more straightforward than staying stateside. ‘We couldn’t decide on a city in the US. So we thought “why don’t we move to London?”’ For a year Sally worked as a senior designer at Salvesen Graham before setting up her own practice in 2022 – a company she runs from the dining room table.
Having searched across the city, they settled on this flat on a lively street filled with restaurants and galleries in a ‘younger, livelier’ area of Chelsea. The property – which they rent – appealed to Sally for its ‘bones’: white walls, big windows, high ceilings and good quality finishes. ‘It was a blank canvas for me to work with,’ she explains.
Sally approached her own home differently to those of her clients. ‘I gave myself the freedom not to design the place,' she says. 'I was working on this in conjunction with starting a business, so I didn’t want to take it so seriously – and to buy things I liked and see how it mixed together.’ Sally would stay up late scrolling auction sites for furniture, and has taken advantage of the abundance of antiques fairs and flea markets peppered across Europe. ‘The antique world over here is really fun and refreshing,’ says Sally. Key among her trouvailles has been an 11-piece botanical artwork found in the South of France, distributed between friends’ suitcases in order to get them back to London.
‘Art,’ says Sally, ‘adds the soul to a space.’ It is fitting then that one piece of artwork made it all the way from her native Texas: an abstract painting hung high in the entrance hall. ‘One day it clicked and I thought “that painting has to be in London with me."' The work's palette of yellows, greens and browns ‘carries through the flat,’ and is picked up in the olive sofa as well as various upholstery choices and soft furnishings. In the living room, a yellow drypoint of a camel they bought from local gallery Cricket Fine Art rhymes with the Texan painting, a decorative announcement of their arrival in London.
Whilst the flat looks like it could belong to an eclectic older gentleman who has accrued a lifetime of treasures, Sally admits it is more transitional as a home (as you might expect from young professionals who are renting). As a quick decoration fix Sally added curtains to the bathroom sink and slipcovers to the existing dining chairs. The galley kitchen, is, quips Sally, ‘my excuse not to cook… it’s more of a butler’s pantry’ The art and light-filled space contains an olive tree, however, that is ‘very happy in there,' she says. 'It has doubled in size.’ Sally and her husband, who travel back to the United States for weeks at a time for work, are similarly content when they return home. Small and low maintenance, the flat ‘is a good place to land and just rest.’
When in London, the couple’s favourite space is the terrace, which looks out onto the street. ‘It’s the biggest room, if you treat it as a room,’ says Sally ‘...we entertain out there all the time. Even on colder nights we’ll bundle up and eat there.’ The art on display inside is complemented by the al fresco exhibition of plants. ‘My mom helps me out there a lot,’ Sally is quick to add. The designer’s parents currently live in Richmond as coincidentally her father’s job also recently relocated to the UK. 'I have two sisters left in Texas who are like, “Why is everyone moving to London?!'” Handily, her mother can help with the interiors business a few days every week: ‘I call her my intern,' Sally jokes.
Whereas expats can often find themselves living in sterile, impersonal interiors, waiting for the return ‘home', even in a rental Sally has created a space which shows a commitment to their time in London – which is now indefinite. ‘Even though it’s little and we will grow out of it soon, it feels good to have a place that reflects us like it does. We are really trying to invest here and see where we end up,’ she says. Wherever that is, they will likely need more than a few suitcases. ‘We’ll have to figure that out later,’ says Sally. 'But who knows when that will be?'
Chris Horwood1/12Bamboo side tables are vintage. Bamboo pinch pin cabinet from Vinterior. Ticking stripe chair bought in auction, green vintage cushion by Howe London. Orange throw by Oka. White slipper chair is vintage recovered in fabric from The Cloth Shop. Trim is antique from a French flea market. The framed camel painting is a drypoint by Kate Boxer bought from Cricket Fine Art.
Chris Horwood2/12Above the fireplace is an antique mirror. Painted blue cabinet by Dean Antiques. Vintage textile cushion by Penny Worrall.
Chris Horwood3/12Abstract yellow painting bought from Round Top Antique Fair in Texas. Majolica plates mounted on wall from Ebay and Etsy. Mirror from Nick Jones Antiques.
Chris Horwood4/12The kitchen.
Chris Horwood5/12The office, with desk skirt custom-made from fabric by Chelsea Textiles, pin board also custom made from fabric by Décors Barbares. Chair is vintage from Petersham Nurseries. Wall light and shade are from Etsy. Floral Still Life is by Collins and Green Art. Wall shelves are from Ebay and rug is from Robert Stephenson Handmade Carpets.
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Chris Horwood7/12Wall light and shade by Howe London, custom-made vanity skirt in The Cloth Shop fabric, framed blue and white tiles by Brownrigg and striped hand towel by Zara Home.
Chris Horwood8/12Wallpaper by 36 Bourne Street, lamps are antique with Pentreath and Hall lampshades, large photograph by Kate Friend from Lyndsey Ingram Gallery, bedside tables antique by Tom Scott Antiques, bed linen by Volga Linen, custom sham pillows made from Claremont fabric and antique textile cushion from Penny Worrall.
Chris Horwood9/12Quilt by Les Indiennes - Cutter Brooks and window seat cushion by The Cloth Shop Linen with leather trim from 36 Bourne St.
Chris Horwood10/12Plant stand is from an antique market.
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