Even design-savvy homeowners occasionally suffer from decorator’s remorse. Lisa Pierce will be the first to admit it. As the former PR specialist for Swedish brand Cos and now head of communications for responsibly made fashion brand Nobody’s Child, she is immersed in a world of color, pattern, and texture. Her husband, Danny Tudor-Jones, the founder of Walter Denim, is also constantly thinking about design. So it might come as a shock that when they moved into their North London Victorian in 2017, they painted every wall white.
At first it felt “fresh, minimal, and created a blank backdrop,” says Pierce. But fast-forward a few years through several lockdowns with two young sons in the mix, and “it started to look flat and cold,” she admits.
Pierce, who was seeking help to inject personality into the home, was drawn to interior designer Laura Stephens after spotting an image of a cozy green kitchen with tongue-and-groove paneling on her Instagram feed. “Something about it really struck me; it was just so simple but cool,” recalls Pierce.
Color is Stephens’s wheelhouse, and with this home, she frequently took a tonal approach. For example, in the old dining room, she painted the ceilings a darker version of the pink walls to warm the space up. “The ceilings are so tall and that added to the austere, cold feeling, so I almost wanted to bring them down to make it feel cozier,” she explains.
Swapping out the table (which the family never used anyway) for low, armless chairs in a diagonal stripe was her restrained way of bringing in pattern. She carried the hit of blue onto the French doors, painted in Farrow & Ball’s Lulworth Blue. “Sometimes bringing in something unexpected like that makes it feel more organic and less ‘designed,’ even though, of course, it’s all carefully considered,” says Stephens.
Pierce was ready to give up her Scandi-neutral tendencies and game for creating a bold entryway. Serendipitously, Stephens had just designed a bright yellow runner in collaboration with Bombay Sprout—it matched the buttery shade in the hallway’s original floor tile perfectly.
Another set of stairs to receive Stephens’s golden touch were those leading down to the basement cinema room. The space was a blank white box, but it did have one thing going for it: The steps doubled as stadium-style seating. Stephens recovered the existing cushions in a graphic Mulberry Home fabric and added compact bolsters for maximum comfort. Wanting to create a members’ club vibe, she limewashed the walls and used a curtain to section off the space from the dining area above. “It feels cocooning and warm, and the sofa fits us all for family movie time,” says Pierce.
As a vintage furniture aficionado, Pierce’s existing treasures helped spark the house’s new identity. In the couple’s bedroom, a small bobbin stool inspired Stephens to carry the detail onto the new built-in wardrobe, as well as the nightstands. The freestanding bath was already in place, “but it needed to feel purposeful and in its own area, so I added zellige tile to match the new wall color, and painted it chocolate brown to create a focal point,” says the designer.
Pierce officially said goodbye to the home’s all-white past when they renovated the windowless powder room. The space is technically a coat closet with a toilet, but the designer made it feel like its own secret, glamorous space by adding a dividing curtain and glossy red paneled walls that bounce light around. The family calls it the “disco powder room” because it has a groovy, 1970s vibe. What you can’t call it is boring.
