The use of natural materials gives this Victorian townhouse a warm and laid-back style, with a strong connection to the outdoors
It may be a London townhouse but the raw materials used in its renovation give this gorgeous family home the look of a lovely laid-back idyll
After eight years of living in New York City, Tina Orlando and Ian Waring made the call to return to the UK, choosing Chelsea as their new base. ‘We’d only intended to stay for two years but we loved life stateside then discovered Shelter Island in the Hamptons, buying a holiday home there and becoming transfixed by it,’ says Tina. The island, surrounded by thick forest and sandy beaches, was to have a resounding impact on the family’s values as they searched for a new home in London.
Opting for a tall, narrow, five-storey Victorian townhouse – in stark contrast to their old Manhattan loft apartment – Tina and Ian enlisted the help of Tom Rutt of TR Studio to refocus the property for a young family. ‘A huge driver for the renovation was to recreate a sense of the Shelter Island house in London,’ says Tom. ‘Inspired by a connection with nature, it had to feel warm with materials influenced by driftwood and fossils. Often, Chelsea houses can seem traditional or overly slick and we wanted to avoid both those things.’
While the house had been renovated 10 years previously, Tom was conscious that the space and flow needed to be reorganised. ‘It had lost some of the hallmarks of a period house and the modern changes looked dated. We replaced the clunky staircase with a sweeping new version with a curved wooden handrail that unites the house from top to bottom,’ he explains. One of Tom’s other priorities was to give both the ground floor and lower ground floor a strong connection to the outdoors. ‘The garden sits at a meeting point between floors so we added a gentle set of steps to lead you out from both levels.’
‘Going from a loft on one level to a five-storey vertical townhouse was something we had never done before, but it was within walking distance of the children’s school and the space felt different, enabling us to have plenty of separate spaces as the kids grow up,’ says Tina. ‘We deliberated for ages over the lower ground floor, ultimately designating it as a library-cum-playroom space that I use for my coaching.’
Giving the house a cohesive identity is the warmth of the crosssawn oak and the flawed look of the clay plaster walls. ‘One of the things Tom brought to the table that we’d never have known about was the wall treatment,’ says Tina. ‘I’m half Italian and it’s something of an ode to my family’s heritage. I love the way it resembles the aged walls of a palazzo with character, as though it has seen life.’
Despite its central location, the family have found the house and its walled garden to be a sanctuary. ‘Coming from Manhattan, where there’s constant traffic noise and sirens, it feels like a marked contrast and has a relaxed and tranquil feel,’ says Tina. While the architecture was by TR Studio, the interior design was in collaboration with Riley Brooks. ‘Shelter Island was our happy place,’ says Tina, ‘so to be able to evoke the spirit of it here has been a blessing.’