‘IT’S ALL FOR SALE - APART FROM THE DOG’
Owen’s maisonette sits above the showroom and restoration workshops... but in reality, he sells from his own collection, too. ‘Never buy anything you love,’ he says. ‘You never know when you might need to sell it.’
homeless and living in a squat in King’s Cross. Losing his flat ‘put the fear of God’ into him, says Owen. ‘I paid the mortgage off in ten years just through terror of losing it. Once you’ve been made homeless and you lose your house you never forget that. It was the most traumatic thing I’ve ever been through.’
He has been living ‘above the shop’ ever since. The Renaissance showroom is on the ground floor, and his three-bedroom home covers the top three floors. In the basement is the warehouse where Owen and his team do their restoration and reproduction work.
The showroom and Owen’s home upstairs tend to blend into one, much to Rachel’s despair. Often when she comes home, a mirror that was hanging on the living room wall that morning has been sold and shipped out; an antique Italian fireplace that was a resting place for keys and coats is on its way to a new home.
While everything you touch is a gorgeous, classical antique, the transience of the furniture and lighting adds to the relaxed, vintage aura of the place. ‘Don’t fall in love with something you buy because you might have sell it,’ says Owen. ‘I might be flush one day and starving the next.’ But it is virtually impossible not to fall in love with everything.
Mirrors seven feet high from the changing rooms of a Gucci store lean casually against the walls, while the grandiose Louis XVI bed upstairs is from the George V hotel in Paris and the tiles in the hallway are reclaimed from Spain. There are fireplaces from a 16th-century Italian monastery. The 1970s Sputnik chandeliers were sourced in Rome.
The floorboards were found in a salvage yard in Brittany. The wall of books came from a convent in Hertfordshire, from a ‘fiery nun’.
Owen says: ‘She was no mug and I paid a good amount of money for them. I don’t read them though, they’re too religious.’
These classic pieces intermingle with modern touches, such as the Squint Studio sofa – a favourite place for Owen to relax. The Ikea kitchen is brought up a notch by the marble work surface created by Owen.
Renaissance worked on Shoreditch House 20 years ago, putting a Georgian
fireplace next to a 1950s sofa and 1970s chandelier. Owen isn’t fussy about rules, he just knows what he likes. ‘It’s about trial and error and you’ve just got to give it a go. Don’t put more than three different periods together, though.’
An artwork by Scottish artist Calum Colvin hangs above the fireplace in the dining area, with its 1970s Perspex table and chairs from an antiques shop in Italy.
Everything has that effortless vintage chic. Owen casually recalls where he bought the leaf design Coco Chanel table that most people wouldn’t dare rest their coffee cup on. ‘I got that from France, from a dealer I know.’
Does Owen ever buy anything new? ‘Rarely,’ he says. ‘Last thing I bought was Scotch & Soda jacket. Antiques are all I know. It’s fascinating, taking something old and bringing it back to its former glory.’ Another thing that has fascinated him during lockdown is his big roof terrace covered in olive trees and passion fruit plants, with railings from a pub in Camden and, of course, a fireplace. ‘It has been my saviour,’ he says. ‘It’s an oasis. I’ve been getting some good tips from well-heeled people on plants and plant feed. I put a fireplace on the roof terrace and it looked amazing. Now I’ve bloody sold it.’
Is everything for sale in the house? ‘Everything but the dog. And one Gucci mirror.’
Effortless period styling: