Uptown Chic

This Stylish Abode Tastefully Pairs A Monochromatic Palette With The Owners’ Eclectic Collection Of Art And Antiques.

- Ian Phillips

The married owners of this house in northwest London’s Belsize Park brought very little from their previous home—there’s just the copper bathtub in the black-and-white-checked bath room on the first floor and a slightly folksy tapestry of King Edward VIII (who became the Duke of Windsor after his abdication), which they bought several years ago at an antiques fair in Battersea Park.

“It’s what you could call outsider art,” quips the wife, a jewellery designer. “Everyone always asks, ‘Where the hell did you get that strange, badly sewn piece?’ I don’t know who it’s by, I don’t know why it was done, but we just both thought it was hilarious and had to have it.” The couple were, however, slightly nervous about showing it to their interior designers, Ariel Ashe and Reinaldo Leandro. “I said to my husband, ‘They might think it’s the most disgusting thing they’ve ever seen and want to burn it,’” she continues. Luckily, their concern was misplaced. “We saw it and loved it,” recalls the Venezuelan-born Leandro. “We thought it was so much fun.”

DREAM TEAM The New York-based firm Ashe + Leandro are one of the city’s hottest up-and-coming design duos. Among their clients are celebrities including actress Naomi Watts and comedian Seth Meyers, who is Ashe’s brother-in-law. This house was for another celebrity—the husband is a famous rock musician. Ashe and Leandro had previously designed a loft in Manhattan for the couple, who decided to work with them once more here.