House Style with Phoebe D’Arcy
After showing us around her renovated family home in north London, garden designer Phoebe D’Arcy shares her house style.
You’re happiest at home when…
The radio’s on, the back door’s open and there’s a big bunch of garden flowers on the mantel piece.
How would you describe the interiors of your house?
Relatively simple, but friendly. When there are three small children storming around it helps to keep things pared-back. A large clear empty table almost invites creativity, whether its building a pirate ship out of the recycling, or designing a flower parterre, a clean slate is an essential starting point.
We had all
our appliances built in to the configuration of the kitchen/laundry room, and have
as much discreet storage and hidden functionality as possible throughout the
house (to sweep all that Lego into when they finally go to bed!).
If you could only save one thing, what would it be?
An early John Hitchins landscape which has huge sentimental value, and I never tire of.
What was the last thing you bought for the house?
An Atollo 236 table lamp.
Top three coffee table books?
Humans and other animals by Elisabeth Frink. Arcadia Britannica: A Modern British Folklore Portrait by Henry Bourne and Robin Muir. Hand Puppets by Paul Klee.
If money was no object, what changes would you make?
I’d probably move it so it overlooks the Heath, add a large walled garden and orangery.
You’re having people over for dinner: what do you cook?
Phil regularly conjures a Moro ‘Chicken Fattee’, which adults and children all adore. It’s just the loveliest way to serve a roast chicken: with warm flatbreads to scoop up the thick spicy tomato sauce, dollops of creamy yogurt, and a fresh lemony salad on the side. I don’t think we’ve ever had any left-over, and all the plates look as if they’ve been licked clean prior to being folded into the dishwasher. Anything Sam and Sam Clark (of Moro) cook, or write, is heaven to me.
What does a Sunday here look like?
Obviously we’re in lockdown, so sometimes I can’t remember which day it is when I first wake up. But prior to this strange new existence, I enjoyed sneaking out of bed very early on a Sunday and escaping to Columbia Road flower market to grab a branch of something I can’t grow or buy anywhere else. A single palm leaf or a huge spray of mimosa look great anywhere in this house, and make me happy every time I look at them.
I’m always
home by 8.30 am and ready to embark on the rounds of breakfast, Lego building,
bunk-bed camp construction and the plethora of other activities you seem to
need to do with children from the second they wake up until you manage to
tumble out of the house four hours later.
What are the best things about the neighbourhood?
Our friends and neighbours; the proximity to green spaces and parks; and easy travel into London when we need to: two underground stops to Kings Cross means Europe and the rest of England are literally a train ride away. Phil’s studio is in Finsbury Park, so he walks through the park to work, and can bring us warm pizzas home from Pappagone on Stroud Green Road, which keeps our three little chicks happy.
How long will you be here for?
We spend a lot of time in Suffolk on the coast, which means that London feels very much like where we need to be for work and school. I think once the children are older and pursuing their own paths, we will move to Suffolk permanently and build ourselves a discreet home which embraces the landscape around it, and won’t have much in it accept a few pieces of great furniture, lots of paintings, and lashings of seaside light.
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