KEMPS HOUSE TRANSFORMATION WITH FARROW & BALL

“When I walk into a house, it’s all about the feeling and what our client is going to feel comfortable with and as I was walking towards the house I was thinking all about soft greens. That’s what it sort of feels like this lovely country home should have.” Joa Studholme, Colour Curator at Farrow & Ball

Kemps House is the UK home of Maker&Son, but it’s a very special home to our founder, Alex Willcock. Thanks to the opening of our Sussex Showroom next door, Alex has been able to reclaim some of his personal space and put his heart into some of the rooms that have been a little bit overlooked as family space.

We had originally planned to just paint Song’s (Alex’s daughter) bedroom and we looked to the colour expertise of renowned heritage paint company, Farrow&Ball. With the help of their colour consultancy service and the extraordinary talent of Colour Curator Joa Studholme. Inspiration flowed from the moment that Alex and Joa met and walked through the house, and the original ‘let’s re-decorate Song’s room’ plan was thrown aside and we set about creating a beautiful path from the front door up the stairs and down the hall to Song’s bedroom.

One of the things that Joa remarked was so extraordinary was the feeling of coming up the path at Kemps House – ‘which is so beautiful with the surrounding trees, stone wall, twig gate and then the shapes of the topiary really inviting you in’. With the right colour, some of that drama could continue as you enter the front door. If the porch could close inwards it would feel more enveloping, which would then make the living room feel bigger and lighter. So, the colour she chose for the front porch is Farrow & Ball Chine Green, an earthy dark black green from the Archive Collection. Taking its name from steep sided coastal gorges, it beautifully plays back the surrounding foliage and provides a dramatic pause before entering the living room.