Cosmopolitan calm

THE LONDON LOOK A palette of blush pink, polished concrete and pale wood creates a peaceful oasis amid the urban regeneration of New Cross, south London

This urban home has a peaceful palette of blush pink and concrete – we show you the easy way to get the look

Blush strokes

The walls resemble raw plaster but are in fact painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Setting Plaster’, an on-trend blush pink applied in sweeps to create this distressed effect. ‘The colour palette was inspired by a trip to Marrakesh,’ says the architect Merlin Eayrs of Chan + Eayrs. The chair, designed by his grandfather, is a treasured family heirloom, as is the rug – try 1st Dibs for similar furniture and The Orientalist for rugs. By the window, there’s a four-metre-long seat cast from poured concrete and covered in a bespoke linen cushion (try Tinsmiths for a similar fabric). Stockist details on p290

This 90-square-metre loft-style apartment,

a former garage in London’s New Cross, Lewisham, is a symbol of the creative energy that is reinvigorating the area. The suburb is the latest gentrification hotspot, thanks in part to the East London Line overground trains linking it to Shoreditch and the City, and the growing impact of the art school, Goldsmiths, which is just around the corner. Completed earlier this year, this building is the vision of architects Zoe Chan and Merlin Eayrs of Chan + Eayrs. ‘ We used to live in west London, which is very beautiful, but we were drawn by the raw pulse of the south-east and the chance to add something to the urban fabric of the area,’ says Zoe.

The exterior of the property, which is clad in grey Belgian bricks arranged in a herringbone pattern, looks contemporary amid the tall red-brick houses that surround it. Yet it has a softened aesthetic that somehow suits the neighbourhood. ‘ You can’t just build an alien-looking box in the middle of a street, you have to consider what is around it,’ says Merlin. ‘ We used brick to reflect London’s vernacular architecture, but we didn’t want to pretend that the house had been here a long time, which is why we chose the herringbone design.’

There is an aura of calm inside the apartment, thanks to the light that floods in from windows on three sides of the building. A pale yet warm scheme of plaster pink paint, polished concrete (used on the staircase) and oiled oak floors complements the couple’s pared-back, mostly 20th-century, furniture. ‘London is urban, frantic and largely artificial, so we wanted to counter the chaos with a calm, natural palette,’ says Zoe. ‘This apartment is simple and luxurious.’ chanandeayrs.com

Into the groove

Tongue-and-groove panelling clads several of the walls and complements the painted Shaker-style kitchen units by British Standard. The wood panels have been painted using ‘Rolling Fog’ by Little Greene, a warm neutral tone that works wonderfully with the dusky pink on the walls. The floor is oiled engineered oak, which echoes the lines of the wall panelling – try Dinesen for a similar design. The dining table is a vintage piece (try The Old Cinema for similar), as are the Bavarian chairs, which were unearthed at Townhouse, a gallery and antiques shop in London’s Spitalfields. For a similar industrial-style light, try Trainspotters. Stockist details on p290