Leoma’s Awe-Inspiring Home | Downstairs

After the chaos of Christmas I imagine most people are craving clean lines and clutter-free living spaces which is why we have a treat for you today. Leoma Harper from the very aptly named Style The Clutter lives with her husband and two children in one of the most incredible homes we’ve ever had the pleasure of sharing on RMS.

Over the years and as the family has expanded we gradually edged our way out of London and bought this house in 2015. The first house we purchased was in Fulham, we then moved to Richmond after I unintentionally fell in love with a house there. However my husband was still keen on having a larger garden and more living space so we starting looking and finally agreed on Hampton Court. I was totally blown away by this beautiful detached victorian villa and its potential! It was built in the late 1800s and originally owned by one of the main land owners in the area, who the road was named after. It was surrounded by the orchards of Hampton Court Palace in its day, but has over time become a residential road. The previous owners had lived in it for twenty years and had basically created a blank canvas to sell, so it needed some character injected into it. The house has well proportioned rooms and a generous ceiling height throughout. The layout is well balanced and gives a wonderful sense space yet presents the opportunity for each room to have its own identity.

The works included new wood flooring throughout, new radiators, opening up covered fireplaces and repainting as everything was grey.We spent the initial four months doing it up, while living on the top floor. I still can’t resist tweaking it a bit even today and have recently added a bit more colour…

The Entrance Hall.

I had panelling put on all the lower sections of the walls to add to the character, it already had beautiful coving and ceiling rose. We painted the stair bannister in F&B Black Blue paint and had a Roger Oates runner put down the stairs. Its an interesting shape but after quite a bit of research and managed to find a nice bench and sideboard that fit and the most recent purchase was the beaded chandelier. It has the new wood flooring from Original Timber Company.

Drawing Room

This is our childfree room and was the only room that I didn’t repaint as it was already painted in a nice shade of off-white, we hung a large statement chandelier sourced from One World which works beautifully with the ceiling rose and open fireplace. I have gone for a botanical theme in this room. Lots of plant prints and a few of my Harpers Bloom Flowers preserved flower displays. I love the pair of velvet sofas we have in this room. We installed beautiful shutters from The English Shutter Company.

Sitting Room

We painted this room in F&B Stifkey Blue which was quite daunting at the time as I had never gone dark with interiors before, but I love it! Its such an inviting cosy colour, I am now keen to also paint the skirtings in the same shade. This is the go to relaxing family/tv room and the most popular room on my instagram. The focal point has to be the stunning crystal chandelier we purchased from Rocco Borghese.

The Kitchen

The kitchen was in good condition and had a timeless style that I liked, so all it needed was a good lick of paint and a new white tiled backsplash above the cooker. We replaced the appliances and lighting. We also put up some shelving along side the island and one wall in chalkboard paint for the kids corner. The colours I chose are Farrow and Ball Railings for the island and rest of the units are painted in The Paint and Paper Library Slate III.

Conservatory

The conservatory is beautiful as it is, but felt disconnected from the kitchen area, to bring it together and and get more of a kitchen diner feel we painted the legs on the extra large traditional farmhouse style table in the same colour as the island and placed a cabinet on the far side that is also painted in similar tones to tie it all together. It is a large space, so we also managed to fit in a sofa and large wicker chair and I have just started filling it with plants to give it that outside feel and connection with the garden. With the play room and study feeding into this area it truly the heart of the home and where we all get together. There’s a view from here in to the play room which will appear on Rock My Family soon.

Study

This is my office I am thinking of getting some shelving built in this area but at the moment its an Ikea unit that actually fits like a glove that I revamped a bit with gold handles.

We’ll be back very soon with the serene upstairs of Leoma’s home and a peek at the kids spaces over on Rock My Family. Watch this space.