Natural connection

It may be a London townhouse but the raw materials used in its renovation give this gorgeous family home the look of a lovely laid-back idyll

- Juliet Benning

After eight years of living in New York City, Tina Orlando and Ian Waring made the call to return to the UK, choosing Chelsea as their new base. ‘We’d only intended to stay for two years but we loved life stateside then discovered Shelter Island in the Hamptons, buying a holiday home there and becoming transfixed by it,’ says Tina. The island, surrounded by thick forest and sandy beaches, was to have a resounding impact on the family’s values as they searched for a new home in London.

Opting for a tall, narrow, five-storey Victorian townhouse – in stark contrast to their old Manhattan loft apartment – Tina and Ian enlisted the help of Tom Rutt of TR Studio to refocus the property for a young family. ‘A huge driver for the renovation was to recreate a sense of the Shelter Island house in London,’ says Tom. ‘Inspired by a connection with nature, it had to feel warm with materials influenced by driftwood and fossils. Often, Chelsea houses can seem traditional or overly slick and we wanted to avoid both those things.’