House of Wonders
Quirky fixtures and an out-there aesthetic are standard features for hipster couple alex and eloise
THE OWNERS Eloise Markwell-butler, head of programming for a music festival company, her husband Alex Hardee, a music agent, and their 21-month-old son Atticus, plus Miaow the cat. THE PROPERTY An end-of-terrace Georgian house in east London. In the basement, there’s a living/dining area and internal courtyard, plus a guest suite and utility room. On the ground floor, there is a hall, double living room, kitchen-diner and cloakroom. On the first floor, there are three bedrooms (one that is used as a study), with a bathroom and shower room.
‘Has anyone seen my phone?’
calls Alex Hardee, as he comes down the stairs. ‘I need to turn on the neon in the dining room.’ Not your standard opening gambit, but that’s because Alex and his wife Eloise Markwellbutler are certainly not fans of the ordinary. Their home Ð including the Tracey Emin-inspired artwork Ð is testament to the success of individuality and eclectic style.
‘I don’t like all modern or all old Ð I like a mix and things with a bit of eccentricity involved,’ says Alex, who has collected antiques, mid-century furniture, salvaged oddities, taxidermy and neon art for years. Eloise is a self-confessed lover of chintz and vintage French furniture, who joins Alex with a taste for pieces from the Fifties and Sixties Ð even some of the neon art Ð but she draws the line at taxidermy. ‘He still sneaks it in,’ she says with a sigh. ‘I opened the TV cupboard the other day and came face to face with two stuffed rabbits.’
Tempted to buy their Georgian home in east London by its elegant period bones and roses and wisteria climbing over the front door, Eloise fell in love with its ‘rather shabby and mismatched interior’. Alex, however, was less impressed. ‘I like things to work properly, so I replaced everything,’ he explains. Starting at the top of the house, he designed a new bathroom and shower room, redecorated the bedrooms and converted one into his study, even opening up the roof space to add some extra height. Then came the installation of period fireplaces in the living room, plus new shelves to display the couple’s burgeoning collection of Fifties ice buckets and curios in glass domes, ending up with a new kitchen. ‘To think that I thought that the house was just fine when we bought it,’ says Eloise.
And when she became pregnant with Atticus, Alex decided it was time to dig out the basement to create more living space, plus a guest bedroom, bathroom and utility room. ‘I think we rather underestimated the amount of work involved,’ Eloise admits. ‘Twenty builders tramping through the house and endless drilling wasn’t an ideal setting for life with a newborn.’
But it’s clear she usually takes a laid-back approach to Alex’s flights of fancy. ‘When he told me he was going to put a cocktail bar in the basement, I laughed, because, honestly, it’s probably not the most essential thing for a family house,’ says Eloise. But with one wall clad in a knockout, limited-edition Roy Lichtenstein print, a bar made out of marble and burr walnut and vintage Fifties furniture, the space is cool and glamorous and Eloise says she was totally won over. ‘Alex makes everything look beautiful, so it’s always worth it in the end,’ she adds.
The pair, who both work in music (‘We met backstage at Glastonbury, which must be the ultimate clichž,’ says Eloise, groaning), enjoy inviting friends over for dinner and relaxing at home, so they’ve put plenty of time into creating a welcoming space. ‘I grew up going round lots of vintage furniture shops with my mother, who’s an antiques dealer, so she taught me to have an eye for interesting things,’ says Alex. ‘I know what I like and I’m happy to take pieces from different eras and put them together. But I’ve got better at sending Eloise a picture first to check that she approves.’
Now pregnant with their second child, Eloise says they are considering making Alex’s study into the new nursery. ‘Obviously, we won’t be converting the cocktail bar,’ she quips. Happy that they aren’t digging out a basement this time, she’s looking forward to enjoying the house now that it’s finally finished. Alex might have other ideas, though. Mulling over both the family’s growing need for more space and his habit of spending any available free time browsing architectural salvage yards, art galleries and antiques shops, Alex is clearly itching to start another project. ‘Maybe we should move,’ he musesé