An Evolving Story

Parents may mourn the end of their offspring’s early childhood – but on the plus side, it can mean that they can reclaim a bit of space at home. For one north London couple, young children moving on to the next phase of their lives meant their toy-filled living room could become a more adult domain, with an adjacent dining room transformed into calm entertaining space. Interior designer Annie Harrison of Fare Inc has worked magic to bridge the gap between practical and polished.

“It’s one of those projects that’s developed in stages. I started working with them in lockdown, when they were just looking to do their snug/bar; it was mainly done over Zoom,” explains Harrison. That in turn led to a commission for a more thorough refurbishment of the rest of the house, with a first phase to tackle the ground floor adjacent living and dining spaces (a rethink of the loft, as well as opening up the first-floor master bedroom and bathroom to create a luxurious mega-suite, is starting soon).

The Edwardian house had some original features that it was prudent to keep: the ornate fireplaces, which have been painted a muted grey, and the wide timber floorboards, which “were in really good nick, but they had quite an orange tint, and were a bit shiny. We just sanded them back to make them lighter, and finished them using Osmo oil.” Harrison says that a hallmark of Fare Inc’s work is “texture over colour,” here demonstrated by Form & Refine’s woven dining chairs, paired with sinuous rattan chairs (sourced from Vinterior) and an abaca-fibre Soren pendant from Pinch hanging over the table. The dining table itself is made from travertine, a custom-made piece that Harrison designed for the project, made by Atelier278.

“It’s got quite a Zen feel. It’s almost spa-like, especially with all the rustic textures we’ve put in” says Harrison of the aesthetic. “It’s quite a structured Edwardian room, but that’s been contrasted with lots of organic shapes, like the pendant, or the mirror over the fireplace” – the latter is another bespoke piece. The designer also points out some of the nice dialogue that happens between the living room and dining room, such as the custom-made travertine-topped coffee table, echoing the amorphous shape of the mirror, or the travertine block that serves as a side table, picking up on the dining table’s right angles.

Careful to make sure that this was still a family-friendly home, the corner sofa (made bespoke to exactly fit the room’s angles) hides storage, and the cream ottoman, although not child-compatible at first glance, has had a heavy-duty stain-resistance applied, and is also washable. The larger sofa from Andrew Martin, upholstered in a dark, inky blue velvet, “is one of the most comfortable sofas I’ve ever sat on,” says Harrison.

Accessories bring everything together. “They’re pretty much all vintage pieces, because I think that’s a really nice way to kind of add a bit of character when you’re specifying a lot of new furniture,” says Harrison. “We have some lovely small dealers that we work with.” Small but important updates have been made throughout the rest of the house, such as upgrading sockets and hardware, to make the whole project feel cohesive, even though it has in fact unfolded in a piecemeal way.

Harrison’s style plays around with the contrast between robust materials and strong, angular outlines, and something more ethereal – like her choice of Colin Chetwood’s floor lamp, with its flower-like aluminium shade suspended near invisibly from a curving stem. “I really love brutalist things,” she says. “I’m always drawn to chunky central pieces with more delicate touches around them.”