COOL curves

IT TOOK A LOT OF PLANNING TO TRANSFORM THIS TIRED 1950S PROPERTY INTO AN ULTRA-CONTEMPORARY HOME, BUT IRENE GUNTER HAS PULLED IT OFF

- JULIET BENNING/KAREN WILSON

Living room

‘The contemporary black steel doors reflect the modern windows to the rear of the house and allow a connection between the rooms at the front,’ says Irene.

BUY THE KEY PIECES

Wall painted in Sage Green, £52 for 2.5ltr, Little Greene. Isabella chair by Resident, £2,130, Monologue

HOME NOTES

WHO LIVES HERE?

A couple with two grown up children. The house was remodelled by Irene Gunter, who founded Gunter & Co in 2014, and her husband Ian Hazard, a co-director.

THE PROPERTY

Five-bedroom 1950s house in Chelsea, London.

When interior designer Irene Gunter’s clients bought a 1950s house in London, the confused layout was a riddle that needed to be solved. ‘It had a decent amount of square footage in a nice location, and the beautiful brick walled garden was like a childhood fantasy,’ she explains.

‘Unfortunately it was so compartmentalised inside that it never really took advantage of those features. With a kitchen the size of a small bathroom, it wasn’t suited to how we live nowadays.’ After a lick of paint and the installation of a temporary Ikea kitchen, the couple lived there for 18 months while Irene and her team (gunterandco.com) collaborated with McGuinness Architects (mcgarchitects.co.uk) to plan a new layout including two new staircases and a six-metre ground floor extension.