An oasis of peace in the maelstrom of Covent Garden

This Eadie and Crole designed drawing room is cool, calm and timeless.

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(Image credit: Patrick Williamson)

Five years ago, Sophie Eadie and Fi Crole joined forces to establish their own studio, pooling more than 20 years of design experience and a shared love of timeless design. This project required the overhaul of a large apartment that overlooks the piazza in London’s Covent Garden. ‘We made some structural changes, including removing part of the original kitchen and converting the remaining space into a study and television room,’ explains Mrs Crole.

Asked by the client to create a cool, calm and timeless scheme for this drawing room, the starting point was a rug in easy-going shades of rust red and grey. Its texture and the clean lines provided inspiration for the rest of the scheme.

The bookcase was designed in-house and allows the spaces to be used both for books and collected pieces. ‘We measured every piece to create a structure and arrangement that looked best. We wanted the book-case to be understated, so the sculptures and ornaments made a strong statement.’

The walls and joinery are painted in Sand I by Paint & Paper Library. Arsene by Pierre Frey was used for the sofa and the cushions are in a velvet by Rose Uniacke. The glass coffee table was designed so that it didn’t obscure the detail of the rug.

‘It wasn’t big and most of the detail was in the middle, so we knew it had to be glass. The overall feel of the room didn’t lend itself to a classic glass-and-brass design and the organic shape of the marble travertine base felt right alongside the ancient stone artefacts in the room.’


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Arabella Youens
Arabella began her career at Country Life on the website as an intern. She read Modern History at Edinburgh University and spent a year working (photocopying) for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Barcelona before moving to London where she still lives with her husband and two young daughters.