A SMART ACT

Interior designers Turner Pocock have created a home that functions for family life, but also has a grown-up, sophisticated side

- JO LEEVERS

Seamless, open-plan living has become something of a holy grail in interiors, but it also presents its own challenges, as Bunny Turner and Emma Pocock of design studio Turner Pocock discovered when they were asked to create a style for this handsome villa in London’s St John’s Wood.

The home belongs to a couple with three young children, so the joined-up living and dining space made practical sense for them. However, as Bunny points out, ‘Once walls are removed, the downside is that a space has the potential to look and feel busier.’ Another consideration was that the couple wanted spaces that could also be ‘smartened up’ for grown-up entertaining. ‘The overall style needed to be sophisticated but not precious,’ adds Bunny.

To make the contemporary layout work, Bunny and Emma were particularly careful about their choice of furniture, fabric and colours. ‘We realised it was vital for furniture to look good “in the round”,’ Bunny says. She explains that in a traditional Georgian or Victorian living space, the vantage points are actually quite limited: ‘You are most likely to view the room by looking towards the window or the fireplace. But in a space where walls have been removed, there are myriad angles and sight lines.’