Time was key to this Brockley home’s design evolution
The owners of this Victorian villa in Brockley thought they knew what they wanted. But an interior designer’s skill lies in going deeper, which is just what Holly Canham did. She was working on a project locally, and when the couple – Emma, a lawyer, and Zac, who runs his own property-development company – realised she actually lived on their street, they came calling.
‘They wanted an interior that encapsulated their style and personalities,’ recalls Holly, as well as making the space fit for life with three young children and a dog.
The brief called for a contemporary aesthetic with Scandinavian influences, ‘but my job was to make them think outside the box and introduce them to styles they wouldn’t necessarily have come to themselves,’ she says. Starting in 2020, their collaboration was interrupted by multiple lockdowns and completed over three phases.
What could have been a frustrating, disjointed experience proved to be the project’s saving grace, as Holly and her clients built up a mutual trust over time, which allowed them to gradually become bolder with their design choices.
Phase one’s living room and kitchen align most closely to the clients’ fondness for Scandi style, albeit with a few subtle tweaks from Holly, who encouraged them to celebrate the heritage of the house. ‘I tried to create a contemporary interior that’s also functional within this lovely Victorian framework,’ she says.
That meant mixing design-led pieces with antiques and natural materials, such as marble, linen, wool and sisal. ‘It’s a more sustainable way of buying, it’s authentic and not too contrived,’ she explains. ‘The overall aesthetic is elegant, understated luxury – it’s not ostentatious, it’s all about the quality of the materials.’
Things get more decorative in the bedrooms and bathrooms, where Pierre Frey chinoiserie wallpaper and colourful tiles have a relaxed, playful charm. ‘Had I suggested that in phase one, they would have gone “absolutely not!”’ Holly says, laughing. ‘We became a bit more daring and adventurous in phase three.’
That ‘we’ is telling, because Holly admits the project’s long gestation and her open-minded clients encouraged her to be braver, too. ‘I like colour and I do like pattern, but in a restrained way,’ she says. ‘So it was fun for me to move away from my usual aesthetic and experiment with different patterns and textures.’
Holly worked on other projects between the three phases, seeing each one as ‘a mini project’. The time gaps made it important to ensure a coherence between the spaces. One trick was using a single colour – Paper & Paint Library’s ‘Slate’ – in two slightly different tones for the walls and woodwork throughout the house.
The material palette also contributed to the cohesiveness. ‘I don’t overthink it,’ she says, ‘but there are common threads; I used marble in the bathroom, kitchen and for the tables in the sitting room. We used a lot of linen on the curtains and upholstery.’
Naturally, Covid was the biggest logistical challenge. ‘But we overcame it,’ she says, smiling. ‘They were dream clients, very accommodating.’ Her favourite space is the sitting room, where her clients’ desires and her own taste perfectly align.
From her love of jute and marble to Gerrit Thomas Rietveld’s ‘Utrecht’ chair, as chic today as when it was released in 1935, it expresses her philosophy: ‘They will own those pieces of furniture forever, and that’s good design.’ This project might have taken its time, but the finished result is one that reflects the family who live in it and will never go out of style. hollycanhamdesign.com
