Lonika Chande brings cheerful colour and much-needed practicality to a family house in Stoke Newington
When the owners of this Stoke Newington house called in interior designer Lonika Chande and her team, the brief they gave her was, essentially, to undo the decorating decisions they had made when they moved in six years earlier. Over those six years, the family of three had turned into a family of five (plus a dog), and it was increasingly challenging to make the house work for everyone. The husband was in desperate need of a workspace, and the much-used family bathroom was dark and oppressive, divided down the middle by a stud wall.
“Brightness was a big thing,” explains Lonika of the scheme she set about putting in place. Her mission was to fill the tall, early Victorian house with punches of colour and a vibrancy that was lacking before. Some things didn't need touching, such as the master bedroom and the Berdoulat kitchen the owners had installed when they moved in, but the rest of the house was to be given a fresh persona. Cheerful primary colours now appear in every room, sometimes on the walls themselves, or else popping up in the upholstery, window dressings or painted furniture.
Pretty it may be, but practicality was a major concern for the family. The fact that there are three children in the house became a key factor in the design, and elements were put in place to accommodate their presence without detracting from the overall sophistication of the interior. The rug in the main sitting room, for example, is a custom piece from Shame Studios, designed to be soft for tiny people falling over and at a price point that won’t cause pain if little hands cause any damage. The ottoman, designed by Lonika’s team, doubles as storage for toys and where some might have added curtains, Lonika put in blinds, which can’t be dangled from. “People gravitate towards nice fabrics,” explains Lonika, who herself has three children, “so it’s a balance to bring those into the space in the right way, but also a way where sticky hands won't get on them. They need to be easily moved out of the way and be able to adapt to family life.”
A lot of family life happens in the bathroom, which just so happens to be Lonika’s favourite room in the house. “Whenever you go into a house at the start of a project, you get a feeling from the rooms and I had it from the bathroom,” she details. “It had so much potential.” The potential was being wasted by a bad colour choice and an awkward stud wall that broke it into two sad spaces. It was the room they worked hardest on, reconfiguring it completely to create a large, luxurious space that “feels not just like a bathroom, but a room you want to spend time in.” Ultimately though, it had to work for the family. A built-in bath with lots of ledge around it provides a home for bath toys and can fit all the children in, “and it’s much easier to haul them in and out of than a freestanding option,” Lonika concedes. She didn’t want too many tiles in the room, but the encaustic tiles surrounding the bath provide protection against inevitable splashing, as does the Swedish rag rug that doubles as a bathmat.
The house was already filled with useful pieces, which Lonika and her team took care to refresh and repurpose, rather than starting from scratch. The gloss pink linen cupboard and blue vanity were already in place, and the husband had some hand-me-down antiques from his parents “in places that simply weren’t working for them,” as Lonika explains. She and her team overhauled them, reupholstered them and put them in places that the couple hadn’t considered. One such piece is the jaunty orange striped sofa in the shared children's bedroom, which provides “a place for them to read, but also to launch themselves off at bedtime,” Lonika laughs. In the sitting room, a wingback chair that was previously upholstered in leather is now covered in a Soane woven stripe, adding further colour and texture to the room. Practicality is also at the fore here, with the seat cushion made up in a plain fabric to accommodate the family dog, who sits in the window so he can watch the comings and goings of the street.
While the children and the dog have certainly benefited from the renovation, one of its main driving factors was to provide a workspace for the husband, an author who works from home. In order to work on his novels he needed a quiet space away from the noise of family life, and somewhere with space for him to lie down and read. The top of the house is now his domain during the day, with his own study next door to the children’s bedroom, complete with custom red-painted bookshelves and a bespoke daybed that doubles as a sofa bed when the couple have guests. It is a highly appealing room, which encapsulates the aesthetic of the entire project: neutral walls offset by bold colour in the artwork, joinery, fabrics and furniture, which are a smart mix of antiques and new pieces.
“They were a really lovely family to work with, and it was a super enjoyable project for us,” concludes Lonika. “They both have a really good eye and trusted us to run with the scheme – in fact, they didn’t really take anything out of our initial design”.
Milo Brown1/12The Swedish Harlequin mirror was sourced from from 8 Holland Street and paired with mid-century Spanish wall lights which echo the red of the woodwork.
Milo Brown2/12The sitting room was already painted in Farrow & Ball's ‘Setting Plaster’, the perfect backdrop for the couple's art, but it was given a fresh coat of paint to help it feel new. The sofa was already in the house and Lonika had it recovered in Pierre Frey's Cheyenne linen.
Milo Brown3/12The study sits at the top of the house, with a bespoke daybed designed by Lonika upholstered in ‘Gustav’ by Howe. It houses a trundle underneath the valance, and so can be made up as a double bed for guests if needed. The woodwork is painted in ‘Pimlico Green’ by Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler, paired with a blind in Adam Bray's ‘Fela Original’ fabric.
Milo Brown4/12The joinery and wall are painted in ‘Baked Cherry’ by Little Greene, with Circle Line Medium wall lights by BTC. The vintage striped Berber cushions are by Arbala.
Milo Brown5/12On the other side of the room, is an Ike desk from Graham & Green, an antique desk chair and vintage Conran desk lamp. The blue artwork is by Alexander Massouras.
Milo Brown6/12The walls in the children's bedroom are painted in ‘School House White’ by Farrow & Ball with gloss woodwork in Breakfast Room Green. The red wrought iron bedsteads are by Bobby Rabbit and Lonika paired them with green double-sided bedspreads by Society of Wanderers and custom name cushions by Big Little Store.
Milo Brown7/12The fireplace is also painted in Breakfast Room Green, with a print sourced from Glassette above it. The antique painted chest of drawers is from Pamono.
Milo Brown8/12In the playroom, Lonika chose ‘Green Smoke’ by Farrow & Ball for the fireplace and cupboard, with walls and woodwork in ‘Slipper Satin’.
Milo Brown9/12The nursery may be small but it's full of colour and pattern, starting with Vanderhurd's ‘Ophelia’ wallpaper, which is paired with woodwork in ‘Sky Blue’ by Little Greene. The blind is made using ‘Brera lino Verdigris’ by Designer’s Guild with terracotta tape by Samuel & Sons,
Milo Brown10/12The custom bookshelf is painted in ‘Gambodge’ by Paint & Paper Library.
Milo Brown11/12In the family bathroom, Lonika painted the walls and woodwork in New White by Farrow & Ball, bringing in colour via the pale green zellige tiles from Mosaic Factory and repainting the existing linen press in a gloss paint – Rhubarb by Paint & Paper Library. The bath surround is a honed carrara marble. The brass wall lights are from Mullan lighting and the framed print above the bath is by Hugo Guinness.
Milo Brown12/12The vanity is painted in ‘Tea with Florence’ by Paint & Paper Library, with a pair of orange wall lights from Hector Finch on either side.
- The mirror was custom made for the project by Reid & Wright.
