Words Sophie Sims
Photography Clàudia Padrosa and Morgan Pollard

Melding a proclivity for “squashy English” design with a love of all things Barbican, textile designer Charlotte Peters and her husband, Simon, have cultivated a home that carefully straddles tradition and modernity. With their house now on the market, Charlotte shows us around her transformed warehouse, where her “box of treasures” and antique-informed patterns have been patiently woven into the home’s “clean-lined” fabric.

Time slows when you enter the home of Charlotte and her husband, Simon, which sits down a quiet, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it mews in Islington. Despite its proximity to the bijou buzz of Upper Street, it is astonishingly quiet and peaceful. On entry, a line of sight extends towards a rear courtyard, where a mature Japonica stretches its tendrils towards the blue sky above. In front, multicoloured plants create a buffer from the outside world, giving the illusion of stepping into somewhere else altogether.

The fact that greenery embraces the house is fitting given Charlotte’s line of work. A textile designer and founder of Charlotte Peters Designs, she takes much of her artistic lead from patterns seen in nature. She cites the Bloomsbury Group, in particular Duncan Grant, as a source of inspiration, but there is a timelessness to her work, which takes antique patterns as its starting point. Her prints would seem at home in almost any context, whether that be her architect-converted house on Purley Place or what she calls the “squashy English” aesthetic: the “almost chintzy, but not quite” look that she describes as her “natural style”.

Charlotte studied at Chelsea College of Art, a fine art foundation that is palpable in her practice today. She then worked for acclaimed international designers Alidad and Guy Goodfellow before setting up her own eponymous brand. She recalls first seeing the house: “The previous owners hadn’t done much and Simon had been thinking about redecorating, but never really got round to it. Simon asked for my help, but it was quite tricky, because I wasn’t sure if I was decorating for him, or for the future me to move in!”

Simon had previously lived in the Barbican, the spirit of which is embodied in his collection of mid-century furniture and exhibition posters. “It was a collaborative process,” Charlotte adds. “I was living in an Edwardian flat in Balham when we met, which was the polar opposite of this. I wasn’t out of my comfort zone, but it wasn’t what I would consider my natural style. But I suppose that’s what an interior designer does: they go out of their own style and listen to the clients and the house. I wouldn’t want to stuff this house with great big pillows: you have to respect the clean lines of the structure.”

Once the site of a fruit warehouse for local greengrocers, the home’s fundamental structure has a modern, light-filled feel. This open atmosphere has made it a willing receptacle for both Charlotte and Simon’s tastes. When it came to choosing fittings and finishes, Charlotte was able to draw on her industry intel. “We made a real effort to use natural paints and natural fibres for the upholstery,” she says. Soft, natural carpets from Tim Page run underfoot in both of the downstairs bedrooms, while a warming brown (‘Mummy’ by Edward Bulmer) has been applied to the walls of the entrance hall.

Throughout the house, Charlotte points to different sources of inspiration. Hung on the neutral hallway walls is a striking turquoise painting, bought from Battersea Art Fair: “We’d just been on holiday to Ischia and we’d seen this colour in the sea and in the tiles at the hotel we’d stayed in.” As a designer, Charlotte collects a memory bank of patterns and textures. She recalls a trip to Kenya this summer (“we saw swathes of zebras and I thought how amazing it is that a pattern like theirs can be repeated in so many unique ways”), as well as childhood memories of collecting shells on the beach in Brittany.

Her travels have informed her textile collection: a recent design, ‘Granada’, was inspired by a trip to Spain. Charlotte has also found inspirations closer to home: “I adore ceramics and spent a lot of time in the V&A ceramics gallery when I was designing the first collection. I’d go up there with a sketchbook and sit for hours and hours. I love how intricate the designs can be. It’s a feast for the eyes.” This idea of patient and thoughtful observation trickles into Charlotte’s decorative approach, too. “I drape my fabrics around the house, wondering what it would look like if we used one for the headboard or a chair. I think living alongside them, before making any decisions, is the best way to do it,” she suggests.

For their next steps, Charlotte and Simon are considering a move to the countryside – but their peaceful retreat on Purley Place will be missed. “There are tons of things we love locally; we’re in Trullo so much that I’m almost worried the staff think we can’t cook! The Almeida Theatre is close and there’s always something on at Union Chapel and the Estorick Collection. But we also love the quiet, cosy things nearby: getting pastries from The Dusty Knuckle or taking our supper out to Highbury Fields and watching the world go by. We’ve also loved hosting: lunches with light streaming through the big window, and dinners with candles reflected by the reeded glass. Being so close to the station we feel so well-connected – you can really make the most of city life,” Charlotte concludes. “The move is part of a bigger plan, but gosh, we’ll be sad to leave.”