A classical Hampstead house cleverly reconfigured for modern family life

Keen to give this early-20th-century house in north London a more youthful and convivial feel, owners Sophie Henderson and Jaime Williams called in the experts at architecture firm Powell Tuck Associates |||The traditional red-brick house in Hampstead.||| Built in around 1920, this double-fronted, red-brick house offered plenty of character and much-needed lateral space, with three main floors. ‘Our son is severely autistic and our old house in Islington had too many stairs,’ explains Sophie, who was delighted to find a period property with a more practical layout. However, there was a catch. ‘It had a funny L-shaped kitchen at the back, with a breakfast area at one end that felt like a corridor, and two downstairs loos,’ recalls Sophie. If the house was going to function properly for them, their son Ralph and their daughter Letty, a reconfiguration was in order. For this, they turned to architecture firm Powell Tuck Associates, whose work they had seen at a neighbour’s property in Barnsbury. ‘The house is quite unusual in that it doesn’t have a back as such, because it adjoins another property,’ explains Angus Shepherd, director at Powell Tuck. Instead, there is a garden to the right, with doors from the sitting room, and a garage and courtyard on the left, with a side gate. Now, a glazed extension provides an enclosed walkway right from the gate to a country-style boot room, which is perfect after walks on the Heath with their dog Bunny. The extension then segues into an existing side porch, which has been transformed into a beautiful space in its own right. A roof light illuminates the steps down to the basement, which have been opened up to create a striking architectural feature, and one of the downstairs loos has become a smart new pantry. It is enclosed by elegant oak-framed glazing that extends to form the outer wall of the kitchen. ‘They didn’t want that Crittall door look, so we referenced a more historic design with the wood,’ says Angus. This is Sophie’s favourite part of the kitchen, especially when the light bounces off the glass. More light filters through a nearby window, which looks straight onto the next-door house, but has been cleverly disguised by a glass-fronted cabinet built directly into the wall. Despite its position at the back of the house, the kitchen is now very much at the heart of things. It’s just a hop, skip and a jump along the corridor – the breakfast area is long gone – to the garage-turned-playroom, where Ralph and Letty are always within easy reach of their parents. Here, and between the kitchen and dining room, the walls have been replaced with an innovative system of sliding panels for a flexible, ‘broken-plan’ layout. ‘We wanted it to feel like a family home, but keep the character and make it a bit more interesting,’ says Sophie, which is true of every decision they made with Angus. His work did not end here, though. He also masterminded a conversion of the loft, developed the roof garden on top of the garage (and improved access by installing french windows in the main bedroom), designed new bathrooms and created some bespoke pieces. One notable example is the display cabinet in the sitting room filled with colourful glass bells, which were collected by Jaime’s mother over the course of 50 years. Much of the art in the house also came from Jaime’s mother and father, while some of the furniture was inherited from Sophie’s parents. In the wrong hands, this eclectic mix could quite easily have appeared disparate and poorly conceived, but Sophie and Jaime have created distinctive yet coherent schemes. Like the earlier stages of the project, the decoration was very much a collaborative process, with Sophie and Jaime working alongside upholsterer Andrew Miller and Angus’s wife Sarah Shepherd, who is a colour specialist. ‘We started with our love of pattern and Arts and Crafts,’ says Sophie, pointing out the William Morris wallpaper in the sitting room, which showcases antique oil paintings and Warhol prints, high-street and vintage finds, and even lines the back of the bell cabinet. While some fabric choices were clear cut – the Josef Frank design on their headboard, for instance, had long been a favourite – others took a little more consideration. Andrew joined Sophie on trips to Chelsea Harbour to assist with last-minute decisions, before making up the blinds and curtains and re-covering pieces of furniture. When it came to paint colours, Sarah was always on hand with excellent suggestions for a sympathetic and harmonious palette. ‘Now that I think about it, it’s quite exciting that we threw a lot of different stuff together and it stuck,’ reflects Sophie. ‘It just shows that you can celebrate all the bits of your life and it really can work.’ Powell Tuck Associates: powelltuckassociates.co.uk Dining chairs from Vinterior repainted in ‘Sudbury Yellow’ by Farrow & Ball, and one of a pair of red Ercol chairs from the Primrose Hill Antiques Fair, surround an inherited glass-topped table. A John Lewis armchair in Penny Morrison fabric, and with a Penny Morrison cushion, provides an inviting spot in the corner of the room. A painting by Rachel Ross is flanked by works by Ivan Jordell and Åke Thorpe, all sourced from Panter & Hall. An Italian ceiling light from Vinterior stands out against the panelled walls painted in ‘Skylight’ by Farrow & Ball. An Enzo Mari apple print from Twentytwentyone is displayed above the fireplace. The European oak herringbone floor was sourced from Hakwood. A view from the dining room across the corridor to the playroom beyond, where sliding doors allow a completely open-plan layout. To the left of the door, a painting by Simon Quadrat hangs above a chest from 1stDibs. The blue vase is by Venetia Berry and the lamp is Penny Morrison. The bespoke joinery is painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Sudbury Yellow’. A pendant from Mullan Lighting, a Ruggable rug and a corner sofa from Sofa.com create a playful, comfortable feel. On the wall is a mix of new and vintage prints, Michelle Carlslund works and artwork by Ralph and Letty. A view of the corridor leading from the kitchen to the playroom from the top of the basement steps. The walls here are lined in H&E Smith’s ‘Eco-Glazed Brick Slip’ tiles in oyster white. ‘In the Oak’ wallpaper by Boråstapeter by the front door is complemented by woodwork painted in Edward Bulmer’s ‘Drab Green’. The lamp and lampshade on the console table are from Pooky. The pendant light in the main entrance hall is from Pooky. Sophie and Jaime both use this upstairs study, where the walls are in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Cord’ and the blinds are in William Yeoward’s ‘Kerala’ stripe. Powell Tuck had the bespoke shelving made for Jaime to store his records. A Soho Home pendant light hangs over a vintage Danish partner’s desk and an antique chair, both from 1stDibs. The pen pots are from Pentreath & Hall and the marble paper in-trays are from Harris & Jones. On the walls is a mix of promo posters from Diagonal Records events (Jaime’s record label), National Theatre posters, Keith Haring prints, gallery posters and an original photo of Jaime’s father. ‘My dad collected bird and duck ornaments so we have loads of those too,’ adds Sophie. The elegant curtains in the main bedroom were made by Andrew Miller in De Le Cuona’s ‘Pure 3’ linen and trimmed in ‘Tula’ braid by Manuel Canovas. The sisal carpet that runs throughout much of the upstairs is by Crucial Trading. A headboard in Josef Frank’s ‘Aralia’ fabric for Svenskt Tenn is complemented by a bright Lisa Corti quilt. ‘Wendle Leaf’ wallpaper from Colefax and Fowler showcases antique paintings above the bed. A sideboard made by Talisman showcases a collection of pieces including an inherited silver box, a pair of Scandinavian chicken sculptures, a yellow Murano box from an antiques fair and a ‘Triumphal Arch’ by Parvum Opus for Bridie Hall. A vintage lamp is paired with a new Pooky shade. The painting above is by Renzo Matteucci. Angus had the idea to develop a more substantial roof garden on top the garage. It was planted by landscape and garden design practice Stuart Craine, which also maintains the main garden at the house. Drummonds’ ‘Double Locky’ stand with a white Arabescato marble basin was sourced by Powell Tuck Associates for the main bathroom. A roll-top bath painted in Edward Bulmer’s ‘Persian’ and walls in ‘Temple Garden II’ by Schumacher give the bathroom a fresh, verdant feel. The display of art includes a Tate print by Edwina Sandys, an ink sketch by Jaime’s cousin, Venetia Berry, a pair of fish and duck prints from the Golborne Road, a set of works by Orson Kartt, and a collage by John Henderson, Sophie’s late father. Walls in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Setting Plaster’ create a warm, inviting atmosphere in one of the spare rooms. A collection of botanical prints inherited from Jaime’s mother hangs above a headboard covered in ‘Nympheus’ fabric by GP & J Baker by The Headboard Workshop. The cushions on the bed are from Oka and the bedside tables are from Graham & Green. A jib door opens onto the adjoining bathroom. Pooky wall lights are teamed with pink-trimmed Alice Palmer shades. ‘Daisy’ wallpaper in strawberry fields by Morris & Co lines the lower walls in the en-suite bathroom. The wall light is from Pooky. A vintage pendant light from Vinterior hangs on the first-floor landing, where the art on display includes a set of Roman Emperor prints from Odyssey Fine Arts and a ropework textile piece by Axelle Gosse. The window on the stairs has a clever fabric frame in Morris & Co’s ‘Flowers by May’, designed by upholsterer Andrew Miller to block out light and add an almost architectural detail. The stairs and woodwork and textured wallpaper below the dado – ‘Elizabeth’ from Lincrusta – are painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Vert de Terre’. In Ralph’s room, a bed frame, wardrobe and chest of drawers from Great Little Trading Co are painted in ‘Palma Gray’ with walls in paler ‘Skylight’, both by Farrow & Ball. The yellow rug is from John Lewis. In one of the spare rooms, Colefax and Fowler’s ‘Sudbury Park’ wallpaper is the backdrop for a mix of pieces by artists including Steven Spurrier and Rachel Ross. The quilt is from Pendleton and the bedside table is from Graham & Green. Letty’s bedroom is one of Sophie’s favourite rooms in the house, with walls in ‘Chintz Constance’ lemon wallpaper from Ottoline. The existing wardrobes have been softened with panels of Colefax and Fowler ‘Betony Trellis’ fabric and painted in Edward Bulmer’s ‘Verdigris’. The blind and light-reducing frame are in Jane Churchill’s ‘Linhope Stripe’. Zellige tiles from Mosaic Factory line the walls of this shower room. ‘Hanna Werning Hoppmosse’ wallpaper by Boråstapeter and a blind in Jane Churchill’s ‘Linhope Stripe’ fabric bring colour and pattern to a bathroom on the second floor. Angus and his team designed a new staircase into the converted loft, where a collection of London transport posters are now displayed on the walls. The front door is painted in ‘Brinjal’ by Farrow & Ball. The front garden. The main garden at the side of the house.