An antique dealer's treasure trove of a house in west London
Ask Sara Fenwick to point out a particularly beloved possession in the cornucopia of the house she has lived in for 64 years and, without hesitation, she will show you a Chelsea ‘red anchor’ plate: ‘It was broken into 365 pieces and glued together, and it was my first husband David’s favourite thing. No one could have cared less that it was in pieces.’ That, in a nutshell, is the magic of this house – a cabinet of curiosities full of the delightful results of a brilliant eye for uncelebrated but wonderful objects and serious antiques, coexisting in perfect harmony.
Other eclectic treasures include a collection of turn-of- the-century pepper grinders, faux-bamboo furniture amassed over a lifetime and beautiful bone-china coffee cups. There is also a small floral basin that Sara pounced on in a market stall close to her family home in Norfolk when she was 14 and already on the trove trail. She had been shopping with her mother, Betty Jewson, an artist and sculptor from whom she inherited her passion for collecting. That basin is now in the downstairs loo. ‘Even then, I knew I would find a place for it one day,’ says Sara.
The west London home was bought by Sara and her late husband David Nickerson in 1959. ‘We’d been looking for a house in Notting Hill and were introduced to a wonderful man called Frank Howse, who was then chief music critic of The Times and whose house was on the market. The moment I walked in, I knew – even though everything was grey and covered in dust with endless 78 rpm records stacked everywhere – this was going to be my home.’
Built in 1812, the house has remained for the most part structurally unchanged. Set back from the street, it has steps that lead visitors – of which there are many, as the family love to entertain – up a small winding path to an elegant pillared porch. The wide, welcoming front hall has a sweeping staircase that swirls up an open stairwell flooded with light from an atrium. The original wooden floors remain throughout the ground floor. Late-Georgian-style arches invite you into well-proportioned rooms with large sash windows and generous fireplaces.
There was nothing conventional about the way in which the Nickersons set about decorating their new home. While David loved antiques and learning about the hand of their creator, Sara dove headlong into her passion for visiting junk shops and markets. ‘I loved getting up at dawn to rummage round Portobello on a Friday, then Bermondsey and Islington on a Saturday,’ she says. ‘I would pile things onto the roof rack of my old Volvo and bring them home.’
Sara’s love for found objects led her, as a busy mother to two small children (a third was to follow), to open the antique shop Myriad on Portland Road, W11. Inspiration was everywhere; David was at the time director of the long-established antique business Mallett at Bourdon House, which specialised in English and Continental furniture.
The house and its large, sheltered garden was perfect for the young couple, whose three children grew up to inherit their parents’ creativity. Their eldest son, William (known as Willie) Nickerson, who has had a hand in the evolution of the house, is an interior designer with the same flair as his parents for creating eclectic, individual homes. Their other son Jamie loves the land and lives close to the childhood homes of both his parents by the Norfolk Broads, and daughter Camilla is a successful fashion stylist.
As the children grew up, Sara branched out to France and Belgium, and her nose for a good find became well known among traders. She scooped up anything that appealed to her aesthetic, each piece finding its way into either her home or her shop. ‘We never minded if something was broken or cracked,’ she says. ‘We just liked how it looked.’ She explains that she paid one shilling for a large sofa in the drawing room, found at a sale in Kent. Above it is a Portuguese hanging of exquisite gold threads found by David at a sale in Buckinghamshire. Next to the sofa is a Chippendale-style set of shelves that is thought to have been painted black during the Victorian era, and which David had restored by Titian Studios.
Sara delights in recounting how the walls of her dressing room are covered in old sacking, with a striped border cut from the edge of a roll of wallpaper from Cole & Son. The pretty wrought-iron bedstead was picked up at a market for sixpence and, like so many of the unique things in the house, was hand-painted by Sara. It is the juxtaposition of good antiques and her felicitous junk shop and market finds that makes this house so special. ‘My idea of hell is having matching pairs of things, or buying everything new,’ she says.
This is a house that has never changed, yet is constantly evolving. The downstairs kitchen has been expanded and Willie has transformed the former children’s nursery into a smart new kitchen-dining area for Sara and her second husband, Charles Fenwick, who shares her passion for style. Willie helped Charles turn what was originally a small formal dining room at the front of the house into an inviting study that overlooks the tree-lined street.
These days, there are long lunches in the romantic, rambling garden. The children, plus their children and all their friends, who have been made so welcome in this glorious home over so many years, love nothing more than coming to enjoy this house – and its contents, which reflect the passions of its owners over a life truly well lived.
ALICIA TAYLOR1/13Walls dragged in yellow by interior decorator Renato Cristofoli, with a contrasting border from Osborne & Little, provide the backdrop for a portrait painting, a Regency mirror restored by Sara’s late husband and a Portuguese wall hanging above a sofa in Lewis & Wood’s ‘Oaksey’ linen.
ALICIA TAYLOR2/13The antique sofa in its original fabric sets off the patterned Bessarabian rug.
ALICIA TAYLOR3/13Second-hand curtains from The Curtain Exchange tone with walls in a coral shade from Papers and Paints, which was painted over silk wallpaper. The original chimneypiece has been overpainted by specialist decorator Lisette de Roche to create a stone effect; above it, antique papal shields from Andrew Bewick flank a gilt mirror. A Montgolfier chandelier serves as an elegant centrepiece above a 19th-century mahogany table. The rug was from the late dealer David Black.
ALICIA TAYLOR4/13‘We wanted it to feel very connected to the garden,’ says Willie of this area of the kitchen, which is furnished with a table designed for outdoor use – ‘Sara put layers and layers of oil on it until it got a lovely patina’ – and rattan chairs, all from The Chelsea Gardener; the lights above it are from Morocco. The oak floorboards with hornbeam infill strips, lightly washed with diluted ‘Cornforth White’ paint by Farrow & Ball, enhance the beautifully light and airy feel of this space.
ALICIA TAYLOR5/13Walls stippled by Renato Cristofoli in an earthy cinnamon shade – inspired by an old jumper of Sara’s – bring warmth, depth and texture, while a Westex velvet runner with a linen trim adds softness.
ALICIA TAYLOR6/13A runner picks up on the vintage Cole & Son wallpaper.
ALICIA TAYLOR7/13A theatrical Italian wall sculpture creates an eye-catching focal point above a headboard in a French paisley fabric.
ALICIA TAYLOR8/13The tortoise-shell paint effect on the walls and ceiling, created by Lisette de Roche, complements the reclaimed tiles. ‘In the early 1980s, everyone was getting rid of these sorts of tiles and “totters” – who collected unwanted items and sold them to merchants – would bring them to me and I’d snap them up. They later became very fashionable and sold like hot cakes in my shop,’ Sara remembers.
ALICIA TAYLOR9/13The antique panel hanging behind the faux-bamboo bed is one of a pair bought from the late dealer Christopher Gibbs.
ALICIA TAYLOR10/13The blue-painted bed and wardrobe provide a contrast with the bathroom walls lacquered in red by Titian Studios.
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ALICIA TAYLOR13/13A whimsical table-and-stool set and a pair of sheep sculptures are permanent features in this ever-changing space.
