The project: The room is the library of a newly built house in a small town on the coast of northern Connecticut.
The designer: Roger Jones (020–7493 2231; www.sibylcolefax.com) graduated from Cambridge before qualifying as a barrister. After practising as a senior government lawyer for a number of years, he was invited to join Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler in 1994 to run the company’s antiques business. For the past 12 years, he has also had his own interior-design team.
Roger has worked on projects in the UK and Canada and currently has three schemes in America.
Giles Kime says: The house was designed by a local architect for an American couple who were clients of the designer when they lived in London. Because they were keen that the house should look discreet, they asked the architect to make it appear smaller from the outside than it actually is. The house is traditionally built in clapboard but the internal layout is sophisticated. This room is away from the from the main, busy art of the house and is used as a quiet informal living room.
The aim throughout the house was to create an interior reflecting the couple’s traditional tastes, but with a light, contemporary touch—and to ensure that, although there are many English antiques, the overall character of the house should be American. The proportions of the rooms help achieve this, as does the choice of fabrics and colours, which was dictated by the location, not least the bright, clear east-coast light.
How to get the look
Lighting Vaughan at Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, G1 Chelsea Harbour Drive, London SW10 (020–7349 4600; www.vaughandesigns.com) sells a wide range of classic lighting designs similar to those in this scheme
Fabrics The linen fabric on the sofa and two chairs is Sommersby from Claremont, 35, Elystan Street, London SW3 (www.claremontfurnishing.com; 020–7581 9575). Colefax and Fowler, 110, Fulham Road, London SW3 (020– 7244 7427; www.colefax.com) also sells a wide range of classic fabrics and wallpapers
Furniture Kingcome Sofas is a great source of traditional upholstery, including sofas, armchairs and stools. It’s at 112–114, Fulham Road, London SW3 (020–7244 7747; www.kingcomesofas.co.uk)
-
A £15m Kensington penthouse with a Mediterranean-style ‘garden in the sky’Arranged over the fifth and sixth floors of a Victorian mansion block, the immaculate apartment has views that stretch as far as Battersea Power Station.
-
Curious Questions: Pruning roses in winter has become the norm, but why do we do it – and should we?More roses die from over-pruning than any other cause so what’s the reasoning underpinning this horticultural habit?
-
Injecting colour, pattern and character into a once-plain sitting roomBooks, art and textiles transformed a once-characterless space into a warm, inviting sitting room.
-
Say no to boring walls: Six choices of paint and paper which will get people talkingAmelia Thorpe picks out some glorious alternatives to just painting everything white.
-
'Not cheap... but cheaper than a divorce lawyer': Why it pays to hire a consultant to choose the perfect paint colourDriven to distraction by paint charts? A colour consultant could be the answer for anyone befuddled by choosing the right hue, says Giles Kime.
-
Room with a cru — how an 'enduring legacy of lockdown' is the latest must have in interior designLong gone are the dusty cellars of the past. Now is the time to make the place you store your wine as pleasurable as drinking it.
-
The secret to transforming an awkwardly shaped roomCave Interiors turned the awkwardly shaped sitting room of an Edwardian house into a warm and welcoming space.
-
A gloomy kitchen entirely re-created as a cosy living spaceWhen Nicole Salvesen and Mary Graham were asked to redecorate a country house in Berkshire, the first task was to turn a dark space into a colourful sitting room.
-
A living room that's a lesson in how to restore lost character in a historic spaceNicola Harding used rich colours and textures to enhance the historic character of a Jacobean house in Berkshire.
-
The slipper chair: How one of America's great designers produced a classic of armless funThe slipper chair might have its roots in the 18th century, but it owes its compact, convivial appeal to Billy Baldwin, a giant of 20th-century American interior design.
