The impressive four-storey home boasts generously sized interior spaces, including five bedrooms and five bathrooms, with a capacious, bright and airy central hallway at the centre of the property showcasing a two-storey gallery landing. Each space was specifically designed to accommodate the lifestyle and hobbies of the clients, a family with young adult children, so a basement gym was prioritised for the health enthusiast husband, along with a state-of-the-art wine room, and a verdant garden featuring tennis courts, an outdoor kitchen and a hot tub. 

The beating heart of the home is undoubtedly the wow-factor open-plan kitchen, living and dining space with its soaring vaulted ceiling. ‘The clients wanted a space where the family could be together but also spread out – one person could be cooking, another watching TV, and someone else sitting at the table. It’s a large room with an array of functions where the family can come together, but still have plenty of space to do different things,’ explains Gemma. A games-cum-living room, complete with a stylish home bar, meanwhile, provides a separate space for the children to entertain their friends. 

When it came to the décor, Gemma selected a light and pared-back palette to enhance the bright and breezy aesthetic, with off-whites and soft greys forming a serene and seamless backdrop. Against these more expansive tones, contrasting chocolate browns, dark greys, and jet blacks were deftly woven in to infuse drama, with pops of earthy hues and natural shades evoking warmth. ‘The scheme is quite neutral and natural with lots of different textures,’ explains Gemma, ‘and then we’ve added in fairly earthy accents such as olive greens and ochres, and we’ve tried to keep that palette running through the house. The rooms that the clients are spending the most time in are light and airy, following their brief.’ 

The deeper hues establish a moody ambience. The study, for instance, exudes executive chic, with walls swathed in textural dark vinyl paper by Casamance and showcasing bespoke dark blue cabinetry. A generous cross-legged desk instils further gravitas. ‘We wanted a really masculine room, that was for “him” as he works from there quite often,’ says Gemma. The voluminous kitchen, meanwhile, is drenched in natural light due to its floor-to-ceiling gable window and rooflights. Gemma chose contemporary, clean-lined, inky blue cabinetry here that tones with the black metal-framed windows. ‘We wanted to inject contrast and incorporate black units to create drama,’ she explains. In the basement, where there is no natural light, further nooks of darkness include the wine room and the gym. ’When there is no natural light, sometimes people paint rooms light to make them feel bright, but it doesn’t necessarily work - creating atmosphere is probably more successful,’ Gemma notes. Instead, she has augmented the ambience in the gym with oak slatted panels, vast mirrors and earthy green walls.  

The interior’s limited colour palette is enhanced with schemes that appeal to the senses by incorporating curated tactility. From the slatted oak panels in the gym, the reeded timber bar in the games room and the cladding in the kitchen to the woodgrain furniture, woven wallcoverings, plush velvet rugs and cosy boucle fabrics, Gemma has carefully conceived a wealth of different textures that inject depth and heighten the interest. ‘It’s the mixing up of texture that is the secret; certainly when you’ve got a limited colour palette,’ she explains. 

Sumptuous materials and finishes were paramount. ‘Quality was a key requirement in sourcing materials, alongside the use of natural materials where possible,’ Gemma reveals. The breathtaking powder room is a case in point, showcasing a beguiling custom Calacatta Vagli marble vanity, which was the starting point for the scheme. Gemma found the statement slab of stone with its exquisite veining and designed the scheme around it, pairing it with a complementary dark Elitis wallpaper. ‘The space has no natural light, so it had the potential of going dark to make it a little more atmospheric.’ Our Landmark Pure wall mounted basin mixer in Matt Black Chrome, with its alluring shaping and dramatic finish, proved the perfect partner. Gemma knew before she started the project that she wanted to use Samuel Heath products. ‘A sample was handed to the clients and they realised the quality of the design and the engineering,’ she explains. ‘There was just something about it - the tactility and the weight of it.’ 

Landmark Pure in City Bronze plays a leading role, too, in the luxurious spa-like master bathroom. The generous space was designed to offer a clean, calm and relaxed ambience showcasing natural materials. Simplicity is celebrated with a palette rooted in neutral tones and a pared-back aesthetic. Mindful of the clients’ preferences and working with the architect’s plans to plot the key areas, Gemma tweaked the plans to craft a scheme where everything fits and is perfectly positioned. The contemporary freestanding bath encourages indulgent soaking and is thoughtfully placed in front of the window, with a generous walk-in shower opposite, while the bespoke vanity featuring his and hers basins is positioned on an uninterrupted wall so that mirrors could hang above it. This also provides an attractive sightline from the master bedroom next door.  

The vanity was built bespoke to accommodate the wall mounted Landmark Pure basin fillers, while the Concealed Shower Set enhances the shower, and the Bath Filler elevates the bath. The pared-back design of Landmark Pure was perfect for the bathroom’s clean aesthetic. ‘Landmark Pure is quite simple and timeless,’ says Gemma. ‘The house is not an overly fussy house; it is fairly simple. It has lots of texture, but not intricate detail. We kept it similar for consistency and because that was the aesthetic that we were looking for.’  

Marrying form and function beautifully, this considered interior is a masterclass in fulfilling the clients’ brief and crafting an easy-on-the-eye, luxe aesthetic that celebrates textural materials and refined craftsmanship.