A classic Victorian house in Oxford revitalised by Charlotte Boundy
There are those projects where it is all all about knocking down walls and jumping through planning hoops. Then there are those, like this four-storey Victorian house in Oxford, that are rather less messy where energy and funds can be focussed on the really joyful bit – the decorating. Interior designer Charlotte Boundy has done more than her fair share of the former, but thankfully, this was one of those rare and wonderful projects where the fabric of the building was good and it was a matter of bringing beautiful furniture and colour into the house. Add to that the fact that Charlotte had worked with the clients before on a house in London and had already developed a great shorthand with them, and it is not hard to see why this was such a treat for her. ‘I knew exactly what sort of furniture and colours they liked,’ Charlotte explains. ‘Our aesthetics are very much aligned.’
The owners, along with their two boys and whippet, moved to the house in 2020, attracted by the fact it was a stroll from Oxford’s water meadows and had a lovely big wisteria-clad garden. ‘It gave them the best of both worlds as it was less urban than London, but still commutable,’ Charlotte explains. Luckily, the previous owners had done the really gritty work, converting it from a boarding house for a local school into a family home, with the kitchen in the basement, a drawing room and study on the ground floor, and bedrooms and bathrooms spread over the upper two floors. The layout worked well, but it was crying out for colour and character. ‘It was all greys and whites, with a plum bedroom that made it feel really quite dark even though the house has fabulous light,’ Charlotte recalls. ‘We wanted to soften and lighten things up by bringing colour in.’
While the owners brought little furniture with them from London, they did have a collection of art, which provided Charlotte with a starting point for many of the schemes. A painterly Italian scene was earmarked for the main bedroom, which Charlotte paired with plaster pink walls (Edward Bulmer’s ‘Jonquil’) and a pretty floral ‘Colette’ bed from Howe upholstered in Bennison’s ‘Pomegranate’ fabric. ‘We just wanted it to feel cosy and warm,’ says Charlotte who used a palette of pinks, yellows and blues throughout. Wallpaper proved a great vehicle to introduce pattern into the house. A sweet little single bedroom on the first floor is papered in Morris & Co’s ‘Seaweed’, while an attic bedroom is papered in ‘Meadow Sweet’, a pretty green and yellow floral pattern on a white ground, also by Morris & Co. In the ground floor study, the walls are enlivened by a yellow version of the brand’s renowned ‘Willow Bough’, recoloured by designer Ben Pentreath. ‘These papers just felt so right for the house and tap into that late Victorian aesthetic,’ Charlotte explains. The loo is no exception, tapping into Victorian Egyptomania and papered in Pierre Frey’s ‘Sur Le Nil’, where cattle, ibis and cats parade across the walls.
Refreshingly, Charlotte and the owners agreed to keep a lot of what was there. The kitchen was well made and worked well in the space, so it was a case of sprucing it up. ‘All it needed was colour and new handles,’ explains Charlotte, who had it painted in ‘Oval Room Blue’ by Farrow & Ball. ‘It would have been crazy to rip it out.’ The kitchen leads through to a family room – in fact the wall originally dividing them was the only one to be removed in the house – which ties in with the kitchen colours thanks to the blinds in Claremont’s ‘Drap de Soie’. Herringbone floors, installed by the previous owner, remained, but Charlotte had them re-stained to bring a bit of warmth in. A room that required a little more intervention, however, was the drawing room on the ground floor. ‘It just felt a little too plain, so we added panelling and painted it in ‘Milk White’ by Edward Bulmer,’ says Charlotte, who furnished the space with a blue sofa and ottoman made by Dean Antiques, dark blue velvet curtains and a rather lovely pair of Howard & Sons armchairs that the client brought from London.
Finding furniture was a big focus and where a good chunk of the budget went. ‘We had great fun finding pieces over the space of about a year,’ explains Charlotte, who started working on the house in September 2020. ‘ The layers just built up beautifully as we went along.’ Much of the furniture came from a handful of Charlotte’s favourite antiques dealers: a George III bookcase from Will Green, a glazed black cabinet from Lorfords, nineteenth century Penny seat Windsor chairs for around the dining table from Miles Giffiths and a Regency mahogany bookcase in the drawing room from Doe & Hope.
A lot of the lighting, including dish lights in the drawing room and dressing room and globe lanterns in the hallway, came from Jamb, which is a particular favourite of both Charlotte and the owners. ‘Getting the lighting right was a big part of making the house feel more of a home,’ explains Charlotte. In the drawing room, the mirror hanging above the fireplace was made bespoke by Jeremy Rothman. ‘We spent ages looking for the right one, but we ended up copying the Victorian one in my own sitting room because the owner’s loved it,’ Charlotte recalls.
The owners, quite understandably, were thrilled with the final result, and Charlotte is equally chuffed with how it all turned out. ‘It was one of those great projects that all came together beautifully,’ she says. We couldn’t agree more.
Paul Whitbread1/16The joinery in the kitchen is also painted in Farrow & Ball's ‘Oval Room Blue’. On either side of the range are two ‘Walter’ wall lights by Jamb.
Paul Whitbread2/16The ‘Orangery’ table by Matthew Cox is surrounded by 19th-century antique Penny Windsor dining chairs from Miles Griffiths.
Paul Whitbread3/16The green blinds at this end of the kitchen are in ‘Drap de Soie’ fabric in teal by Claremont. An ebonised hall chair with a rush seat stands at a Victorian mahogany writing table, with a ‘Baxter’ table lamp from Jamb on top.
Paul Whitbread4/16
Paul Whitbread5/16The office is papered in Morris & Co's ‘Willow Bough’ pattern in yellow. The curtains are in Claremont's ‘Plain Ottoman’ in petrol. A lamp from Cabana's collection for OKA stands on the desk, and a Rose Uniacke leaded lantern hangs above.
Paul Whitbread6/16In the drawing room, a ‘Kinross’ sofa made by Dean Antiques and upholstered in Claremont's ‘Plain Ottoman’ in petrol takes centre stage. An artwork by Grayson Perry entitled ‘Map of an Englishman’ hangs over the sofa. On the floor is a sisal rug from Peter Page. A Hadley tray from Sharland England provides a place to corral things on top of the ottoman, which was also made by Dean Antiques and upholstered in Pierre Frey's ‘Les Fleurs du Bengales’.
Paul Whitbread7/16A Regency mahogany astragral glazed bookcase circa 1820 from Doe and Hope stands to the right of the fireplace. The Howard & Sons armchairs are the client's own. A Fenghuang ceramic table lamp from OKA stands on the side table.
Paul Whitbread8/16The main bedroom has walls in Edward Bulmer's ‘Jonquil’, while the headboard is in Bennison's ‘Pomegranate’ fabric. The bed is the ‘Colette’ design from Howe, and a vintage Uzbek suzani from Nushka over bed is spread on top. The wall lights are Soane Britain's ‘Reading Wall Light’.
Paul Whitbread9/16A George III mahogany linen press from Georgian Antiques serves as a chest in one corner of the room.
Paul Whitbread10/16The curtains are in Lewis & Wood's ‘Rooksmoor Velvet’ in marmara with a ‘Cambridge Stripe Braid’ from Samuel and Sons. A ‘Silhouette’ bench from Howe stands at the end of the bed.
Paul Whitbread11/16An antique cupboard from Lorfords provides storage in the bathroom.
Paul Whitbread12/16Charlotte has used a ticking fabric from Ian Mankin for the blinds.
Paul Whitbread13/16Morris & Co's ‘Seaweed’ wallpaper forms an enveloping backdrop for this spare room; the blind is in Claremont's ‘Straub Twill’, and the ceiling light has a ‘Papyrus’ shade from Robert Kime.
Paul Whitbread14/16The bed is from the Cornish Bed Co. A ‘Dean Wall Light' from Robert Kime also has a ‘Papyrus’ shade.
Paul Whitbread15/16Another spare bedroom is papered in Morris & Co's ‘Meadow Sweet’ pattern. An Uzbek suzani from Nushka pairs with a cushion by Penny Morrison.
Paul Whitbread16/16The blind is in Claremont's ‘Armure Cannele’ in seafoam, and the radiator is painted in Edward Bulmer's ‘Lute’.
