Mood Indigo - Part 4

Reception Rooms

Some houses were made for hosting great events and parties, and the principal rooms on the ground floor here could happily accommodate receptions of an ambassadorial scale. The drawing room could easily double as a ballroom; the  grand piano is already in position. And it would be no surprise to find yourself sitting next to a crowned head of state in the dining room.

Drawing Room

Dining Room

Study

And when the party's over, there's a more informal space to retire to.

 Architecture & Interiors by Studio Indigo

Up on the roof

The second shoot of my trip to St Tropez, was an apartment right in the middle of the old town. Sandwiched between the lofty citadel and the harbour packed with expensive yachts, the old town is a typically picturesque mediterranean confection in shades of ochre and terracotta. Once inside the apartment, which occupies the top two floors of an old building, the interior is reassuringly cool, with white walls and sheer white drapes enveloping the main living spaces. 

The real strength of this apartment is in its layout. On entering, the first rooms you encounter are the bedrooms, tucked away along a corridor furthest away from the inter-connecting living spaces. One space draws you on to the next, finally leading up via a curving stair to the dining room on the upper floor. This space is perfect for entertaining, and feels like a exclusive private dining room in a smart restaurant, with the added bonus of opening onto a magnificent roof terrace.

Out on the terrace, with the cool interior behind you, the ochres and terracottas of St Tropez now feel richer and more saturated than ever.

Irish Journal - Part 1

Studying German to A-Level at school, required me to read "Irisches Tagebuch" (Irish Journal) by Heinrich Böll. It recounted a period in the 50s and 60s, when the German author moved his family to County Mayo in the west of Ireland, in search of a different and perhaps more fulfilling way of life. This was the time of the "Wirtschaftswunder" in Germany, while Ireland was struggling with a falling population and comparative poverty, so the contrast must have been stark. Then as now, the attraction was the landscape, the peace and tranquility, and the slower rhythm of life.

These attractions could apply to many of the parts of Ireland I have visited in the past, but last week was my first visit to Mayo. I was there to photograph a couple of houses on the coast for Interior Designer, Philippa Devas. Her clients' much extended Georgian property is surrounded by water on one of the many inlets that line the Mayo coast. The interiors are classically decorated with vibrant old fashioned colours such as coral pink in the drawing room and bottle green in the library.

The hall and the dining room opt for lighter shades of yellow and eau de Nil. While there are many things to love about this house, the piece de resistance has to be the shell encrusted chandelier over the dining table.

Unlike Heinrich Böll and his family, my stay was all too brief, but the same things that drew him there fifty years ago, will pull me back there soon, to be sure.

If you are interested in Heinrich Böll's book, there is a website, alas only in German! Alternatively you can find out more about him on Wikipedia.

Spring at last!

After the long hard winter, the vibrant colours of spring are welcome relief. Here's a small apartment designed by Adrienne Chinn. Created on a small budget, from a developer's standard shell, and only a stone's throw from Tate Modern, this simple scheme banishes all thoughts of winter with its vibrant mix of retro wallpaper, Orla Kiely prints and Anne Kyyro Quinn's signature felt cushions, and is as colourful as anything on offer down the road at the Tate.

All Mapped Out

The humble Victorian terraced house has been revolutionised over the last decade. For much of the last century, it was in decline; bombed by the thousand during the war, and many more destroyed during the fifties and sixties, by planners, eager to create a brave new Britain. Of those that remained, many were ravaged by poor quality conversion into flats and bedsits, often with any decorative features removed. However, throughout this period, the terraced house survived as an ideal housing model for many, despite the draughts, and the rattling sash windows. Any modernisation was often small-scale and cosmetic, with the general layout and style remaining fixed, bar the odd loft conversion and period style conservatory. Since the nineties, all that has changed, with the embracing of open plan living, contemporary glazed extensions, basement family rooms and roof terraces.

A few years ago, I was asked by Grand Designs magazine, to shoot one such reinvigorated house in north London, and, just recently, was approached by the architect to shoot one of his latest projects in south London. Pasquale Amodio, and his company, Map Projects, are expert at creating relaxed but elegant homes. Small Victorian rooms have been swept away, to create flowing, light filled spaces. Beyond the glazed extension, the garden is very much a part of the whole scheme, allowing inside and out to fuse into one continuous space.

No longer so humble, the terraced house has been given a new lease of life, which should see it through the next century and beyond.