Page 26 - Ideal Home - UK (April 2020)

Welcome to my home

THE PROPERTY
A four-bedroom
Edwardian villa in
Streatham, south London,
bought in 2015.

“ There’s a sense

Sally Hobden, a teacher, of serenity in the
architecture of this
and her husband Greg,
a film producer, live here house that we tried
with their sons Otto, to retain as we
”
14, and Ivo, 13. made it our own

lad wall-to-wall in panelling, from the hallway
up to the bedrooms, and painted in soothing
shades of off-white, the interior of Sally and
CGreg Hobden’s Edwardian terrace is more Cape
Cod than south London. The house was built in 1906 as
part of an estate in the capital. ‘We have the original
Take a quick tour... sales brochure, which gave buyers a choice of features,’
says Greg. ‘We were fortunate, because the first owners

chose some pretty fancy architraves and stained glass.’
More than 100 years later, the property’s spacious
hallway (described in the original patter as ‘large
enough to take tea in’) was still a unique selling point.
BEDROOM ‘We both fell in love with it because it’s such a change
LIVING ROOM
from the usual narrow hallways typical of these
properties,’ says Sally. The floorplan had barely changed

since the house was built. ‘There was a reception room
BEDROOM
at the front, plus another at the rear, with a dated
kitchen and a bathroom in the middle. Instead of
extending into the side return, we knocked down the
wall between the kitchen and front room to create a dual-
aspect kitchen-diner, with a bay window on to the street
and doors to the garden. The downstairs bathroom
KITCHEN-
DINER/ become a utility room.’ Upstairs, the couple turned the
LIVING AREA EN SUITE
fifth bedroom into an en suite for the main bedroom.
But it’s the acres of panelling, painted in a palette of
HALLWAY
creamy off-whites, putty and taupe that has been the
BEDROOM MAIN
BEDROOM
passion project for Sally. ‘The trend for deep grey walls
isn’t for me, but I do love that Farrow & Ball palette of
cool neutrals, like Cornforth White and Purbeck Stone,
mixed with the inky navy of Railings, which I’ve used

on the staircase. A neighbour walked in the other day
GROUND FLOOR FIRST FLOOR
and commented that our house always seems so calm.
I assure you, with two kids and a dog, it’s not!’

26 APRIL 2020 | IDEALHOME.CO.UK