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Brimming with cues to take, for when you are looking to masterfully decorate your home, Indian designer Shalini Misra's recent project is a lesson in artful curation. “My client loves beautiful things,” says award-winning interior designer by way of explaining the impressive and worldly collection of art, objets, and ceramics in one of her latest projects, a four-bedroom Victorian terrace just a stone’s throw from the leafy sanctuary of London’s Hampstead Heath.
Misra’s globetrotting client, who has called several continents home, had been fortunate to amass an eclectic treasure trove over the years in the home she had lived with her family for a decade. While Misra, who has offices in London, New York and Dubai, had been called upon to give the period property a full refurbishment, it was clear it needed to act as a foil for all the much-loved pieces without rendering rooms to museum status.
“She had a lot of stuff but didn’t know how to arrange it all,” says Misra. “She needed someone to curate it all to give each piece enough space to enjoy it. Collections are important – they give a home a lived-in feel and also remind you of the years that you've had them and from where you sourced and bought pieces. As interior designers, we can place them very cleverly so they all work together in each area.”
This is precisely what Indian-born, London-based Misra has done, embracing a rich art-led scheme which fuses vivid hues with sumptuous textiles inspired by the client’s extensive travels. But at the beating heart of this design narrative is a celebration of art in all its various forms. Rooms act as feasts for the eyes; various art mediums adorn the walls while interesting curios, with a focus on materiality, are liberally presented in each space.
With so many items and artefacts to find a home for, Misra had to walk a delicate tightrope to ensure each room felt cosy and cohesive, rather than cluttered.
“It is about the curation,” she says. “If something is crafted and designed well, keep it. Otherwise, throw it out. You want everything in your space to have meaning and value and you really want to enjoy looking at it. Your senses have to be joyous.”
The entrance hallway needed to be “very welcoming, interesting, intriguing and dynamic”. Existing art and pieces such as the large amber vases informed the colour palette while vintage finds like the console, bench and chandelier give the space soul. The chevron Rosso Levanto and Carrara floor raise the glamour ante, helping to elevate the whole display.
The large living room is visually divided into four spaces with different functions – sitting, dining, TV watching and playing areas. One of the first tasks was to anchor the sitting area with a large bespoke coffee table. “I am a big fan of a large coffee table,” says Misra. “This large volume was missing so we managed to add one which gave us another opportunity to display some of the collectibles.”
The intensity of the collection is broken with natural elements like branches and flowers and Misra deployed several tricks to keep the eye interested. “Once you know the pieces you love, then arrangement is important. Put different heights together to give variation. Books are absolutely amazing decorative objects - apart from reading them, they can be used to pile up things, and depending on the colour of the cover pages, they can go with the interiors superbly well.”
Items on the table are displayed as singles and couples, according to shapes and materials, while the cushions on the curved Hamilton Conte sofa take their colours from the collectibles.
“This was actually one of the first pieces we finalized for this project because we felt that it defined its interiors,” says Misra. “It's an unusual shape and fitted right into what our concept was, which was about mixing everything together. The sofa was unusual, but also very comfortable, large, and inviting.”
Sourcing was largely in the UK with the ‘Lily’ side table by Tom Faulkner, for instance, available on Curio, Misra’s own digital platform which sells furniture, lighting, accessories and objets from global artisans.
When looking to decorate your home, rich textures are an important element. “Tactility is important to us – you want people to get pleasure from holding the pieces,” says Misra, on creating the resulting look. This even extends to the handrail going up the stairs, which is wrapped in hand-stitched leather by Bill Amberg.
While earthy tones are prevalent in the living areas, Misra grasped other opportunities to inject more saturated hues. Take the powder room, which is painted a rich Yves Klein blue, accentuated with gold accessories. “It is a very Indian colour and also used a lot in the Middle East,” says Misra. “It's very contemporary, but quite historic in nature.” Even the otherwise muted kitchen is given a shot of energy with a blue, oversized glass chandelier. The bathrooms, in the meantime, centre around vibrant patterned tiles.
Indian designer Shalini Misra’s considered and sensitive curation has meant she has shaped a home that is an authentic reflection of her client’s aesthetic. But perhaps more importantly, the designer has delivered a confident assurance that this is a space the family can now enjoy for a lifetime.
