MERRY & BRIGHT

This relaxed and utterly cool home - complete with a hidden brass bar - is party-ready at all times of the year

- Mary Weaver

DINING AREA/BAR A brass cabinet opens up to reveal a bar, complete with a mixing station made from a marble offcut from the kitchen island.

With its beautiful blend of moody saturated pastels and pops of invigorating bright jewel tones, this magnificent double-fronted Victorian villa couldn't lend itself more to Christmas if it tried. A backdrop of luxe textures and enveloping textiles sets the scene, alongside opulent, stroke-me materials and cabinetry. Surprising elements keep it unpredictable: secret doors (hiding the downstairs cloakroom and a staircase to the basement); a brass pop-out bar; plus an indoor winter garden room and a bespoke indoor potting shed. Interest is further woven through the house with a salvaged cast-iron spiral staircase connecting the ground and basement floors, and a melt-in-the-mouth mint-green bathtub in the converted loft bedroom.

It's only really now that the owners can fully enjoy their finished home - last year, Christmas was somewhat subdued, thanks to Covid and they will be pushing out the boat with friends and family. The couple are both busy executives with hectic lives,' says Sophie Chapman of The Vawdrey House, who designed the house, and they wanted a restorative sanctuary where they could retreat and decompress, come home from work and leave their day at the front door.' Sophie and her team came on board when the couple snapped up the house, in a leafy part of southeast London, whilst living in a smaller home on the same street that the practice had also worked on.