Case study

Wellington Residence

The founder's own house, in Wellington, Florida, worked over successive phases. It is the place where the practice's doctrine was tested first: architecture leads, styling follows.

Chapter one

Living Room

Panelling and tall arched openings set the order of the room; the black-and-white marble checkerboard floor carries it across the plan. Furniture answers that structure rather than competing with it.

A deep magenta sofa and a dark patterned rug hold the centre, with the arches left open so the room reads as part of a sequence rather than a sealed box.

Double-height foyer with white panelling, a palm-leaf ceiling fan and a black-and-white marble checkerboard floor, with an arched opening through to the kitchen. — The foyer, with the arched opening through to the kitchen.

Mustard velvet tufted sofa against white panelling, with fiddle-leaf fig leaves in the foreground, a brass floor lamp, a floral armchair and the black-framed office doors at the edge of the room. — Panelling, velvet and a brass lamp beside the office doors.

Chapter two

Dining Room

Plum walls and painted panelling give the room its weight. Patterned wallcovering above the rail, green velvet curtains at the windows and a crystal chandelier over a dark timber table keep the colour from flattening.

The room is read through its threshold as often as from inside it: from the table, a tall arched opening frames the panelled living room beyond.

View from the plum dining room through a tall arched opening into the panelled living room beyond, with a crystal chandelier in the foreground.

The arched opening between dining and living rooms, with the chandelier in the foreground.

Plum-walled room under a sage-green tray ceiling, with a crystal chandelier, green velvet curtains, a white sofa and a white sculptural table on the checkerboard marble floor. — The green tray ceiling over the plum room.

Coral, indigo and cream patterned wallcovering above plum panelling, with two framed prints and the arm of a crystal chandelier. — Wallcovering above the rail, with the chandelier.

Chapter three

Kitchen

Black cabinetry runs to the ceiling, with brass hardware as the only bright note. A dark stone peninsula counter with brass bar stools sets the working edge of the room.

The checkerboard floor returns here, tying the kitchen back to the living room, and an arched opening repeats the shape used elsewhere in the house.

Chapter four

Family Room

A curved rose-coloured sofa sits beneath a tall black-framed window, layered with velvet cushions over a deep blue botanical rug. The curve softens a room otherwise built from straight lines and dark frames.

Daylight and planting outside the glass are treated as part of the palette.

Wide view of the curved rose-coloured sofa with velvet cushions beneath tall black-framed windows onto palms, beside a timber coffee table and flowers. — The family room, wider.

White sectional sofa with rust and burgundy cushions beneath double-height black-framed windows onto the garden, over a patterned rug, with a crystal chandelier above. — A white sectional beneath double-height windows onto the garden.

Carved gilt mirror above a small wall shelf with twisted candles and books, framed by hand-painted multicolour floral stencils on a white wall.

Details

Ornament against restraint

A carved gilt mirror set against a hand-painted floral stencil, drawn straight onto plaster. Gilt against bare wall, ornament against restraint: the two hold each other in tension rather than matching.

Character accumulates this way, one deliberate decision at a time, each answering the one beside it.

Begin with a reading of the house.

Tell me about the property and what you want it to become.

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