As soon as upon a time, there was a home that had seen higher days. Again in the midst of the nineteenth century, it had been constructed as a non-public residence in Notting Hill, one in every of London’s prettiest neighborhoods. By the Nineteen Twenties, it had come down on the planet, reconstituted right into a “women’ residential membership” (learn: boarding home for girls), after which, after the Second World Warfare, it had grow to be a lodge. The lodge was finally divided into flats, one occupied by a younger magician promoting for a ravishing assistant. At the moment, a distinct sort of sorcery—aesthetic, architectural, familial—has introduced it to home life once more, a life ringing with classes taken on an upright piano within the eating room, board video games in the lounge, and 4 vigorous kids dashing out and in of the backyard.
“Till this undertaking, I by no means thought I’d be so invested in bunk beds,” says Los Angeles–primarily based inside decorator Olivia Williams. The mother and father of the kids are Chantal Spanicciati, a former designer herself who now works as a therapist selling psychological well-being, and her husband, Mario Spanicciati, a software program entrepreneur. They’d met Williams again in California, however the designer’s schedule couldn’t accommodate them as purchasers. Nonetheless, neither Williams nor the Spanicciatis forgot the moment camaraderie.
“I liked her simplicity and aesthetic,” says Chantal, whereas Williams remembers the couple’s “calm and mild demeanor,” including that “on this enterprise, what’s vital is to work with folks you want.” A home in Montana for the rising household got here into Williams’s arms, after which, when the Spanicciatis ready to relocate to London, they knew exactly whom to name. Even when it meant having to conduct many duties at lengthy distance, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The couple had solely visited the home a couple of times earlier than the lockdowns started, and didn’t set foot inside till all the pieces was full.
