Consider a typical row of Victorian townhouses; behind their sober stonework, all manner of decorative excesses could be lurking. Nowhere is this more true than in this home on an unassuming east-London street, which has been filtered through the rainbow prism of interior designer Rachel Chudley’s imagination.
‘There is nothing on the outside that warns you of the madness you’re about to encounter!’ she says gleefully of the topsy-turvy world of zigzags, circus stripes, electric blue and shocking pink.
This magical house belongs to a couple with two young children. Homeowner Kate explains that, after selling her business in 2020, they were looking to buy a home on which they could put their mark. ‘I’m very aesthetically motivated – I wanted a layout that worked for us, but also styling that made my eyes happy,’ she explains. Kate browsed properties online, noting architects and designers credited on the listings of the projects she admired. That’s how she found Rachel. ‘I got really excited by Rachel’s style – her use of colour and pattern and her creativity,’ she recalls.
The house had been renovated by the previous owners. ‘It was very tastefully done,’ Rachel recalls, noting wryly that she then spent three years ‘dramatically changing it’. The couple had one child when they bought the house and their second arrived a week after they moved in, so flexibility was key. ‘I was thinking about how we’d use the space in five or 10 years, not just now,’ explains Kate.
‘I wanted bedrooms that could switch between spare rooms and children’s rooms as they grew, and a living area that could work as a play space for little ones and then for older kids, but could also be an adult space in the evening. The sitting room had to do a lot: board games with the family on Friday, a cosy evening with a friend and a glass of wine, or be opened up for a drinks party.’
‘We were a bit spoilt, because the layout was there,’ says Rachel. ‘Really, it was us asking ourselves how we could bring these people’s dreams to life so they could live in what they would consider a work of art. We were let loose. That was the brief: delight us, do your worst!’ And Kate was even willing to dial things up further: ‘“More disco” was my feedback more than once,’ she says. ‘I was after spaces that make your eyes sing.’ She had a strong preference for clean, saturated colours – a far cry from the ‘muddy’ tones Rachel tends towards. ‘Whenever they crept in, I’d immediately call them out. It became a bit of a running joke,’ she recalls.
What's everyone reading?
For Kate, the lovely problem with her house is there are so many rooms she enjoys being in. ‘On the rare evening I have to myself, I often can’t decide: do I light the fire in the sitting room and curl up with a book and some music on, watch a film in the cinema room or take a book up to our bedroom, which is such a beautiful, calm space?’ Because she was so involved, there wasn’t a ‘ta-da!’ moment at the end of the project. What has surprised her, however, is how much the house has changed in the time she and her family have been living there. They did a second phase of work with Rachel, making alterations to the sitting room, hallway and the kitchen-living area and turning the spare room into a bedroom for their oldest daughter. ‘The surprise was realising the best version of the house wasn’t a single “done” moment, but something that could keep evolving as we live in it,’ she says.
Creating an interior that combines so many strong elements and still feels ‘right’ requires a strange alchemy – part art, part science. Ultimately, ‘when it comes down to it, it’s full blown gut instinct,’ Rachel says. She studied history of art and puts her ability to conjure up fantastical schemes down to her teachers, who instilled the importance of studying great pictures. ‘It all goes into the compost heap of my imagination, then comes out as something else,’ she says of her process.
The approach is in keeping with her 19th-century predecessors, as she discovered while renovating her own home. ‘Victorian houses looked the same from the outside, then you’d walk in and people would have all sorts of colours and wallpapers,’ she explains. ‘We’re taking off a load of layers and it’s fascinating. They were not holding back! Even though this house is surprising when you walk through the door, I guess you expect the unexpected with these spaces.’ A stiff upper lip often conceals a creative soul. rachelchudley.com
