British Tastemaker Lucinda Chambers’s London Home Is Delightfully Curated
The former Vogue editor travels the world to find one-of-a-kind objects for her home.
Rachael Smith
I have worn lampshades on my head just to get them through economy class,” Lucinda Chambers admits. “My husband asks, ‘When will we be able to go somewhere without you begging the airline to let you bring on your inappropriate luggage?’ The problem is, I love everything! I love white ceramics. I love colorful ceramics. I like glittery things. And I like really dull things, you know?”
But Chambers’s home in Shepherd’s Bush, London, is no mere repository for her stuff. It’s a celebration of it, a display of odds and ends she’s picked up in faraway markets in Marrakech and her regular haunts on Portobello Road. As a former fashion director for British Vogue and cofounder of online marketplace Collagerie and luxury clothing brand Colville, her eye is second to none. Chambers makes the boldest moves work—nonchalantly recalling when she painted her sitting room primary red and yellow based on her youngest son’s suggestion that it match his Lego bricks, or the time she rescued an antique bed from a nearby alleyway.
When Chambers first saw her house 30 years ago, it was “shabby and uninteresting, with a minuscule kitchen almost entirely filled by a great AGA,” she says. Though the place didn’t have much going for it beyond its good size and prime location, the garden won Chambers over. She’s spent the past three decades turning the humdrum house into a fascinating home, enlarging the kitchen, then working within the existing “hodgepodge” 1900s layout, using little more than paint and her collections to transform it.
Among the eye-catching items are the many curtains she began gathering at age 12 (“I don’t know where I thought I was going to live with so many windows…Buckingham Palace?”), now sewn into cushions and lampshades and scattered about for a cozy effect. Plates clustered on the bathroom and kitchen walls add texture alongside paintings and pH๏τographs from her travels.
The home may appear to be a happy mash-up of everything Chambers loves, but when it comes to decorating, her approach is methodical. She carries a notebook to sketch different options and test swipes of paint until she lands on the right combination. And she’s not afraid to make mistakes. “A room can take a long time, and that’s fine,” she says. “Like fashion, it’s trial and error. You can always start again or repaint—it’s basically just posh dusting.”
Entryway
Sitting Room
Pictured below.
Lucinda Chambers filled her London house with finds from all over the world. Pendant: Honoré Décoration. Rug:Colville. Cushions: vintage and Colville. Wall art: OKA (set of 12 prints), Clare Packer (collage above mantel).
Kitchen
Chambers configured the kitchen so that “from any corner you can chat with the person cooking.” Lighting: vintage, with various shades, including Rosi de Ruig. Metal chair: La Redoute.
Dining Room
“This Sanderson paint is the perfect yellow,” Chambers says. “I have the longest code for touch-ups as they no longer make it.” Table: vintage, The Old Cinema. Love seat: custom, in Cabbages & Roses fabric. Vase and cushion: Collagerie for The Conran Shop.
Primary Bedroom
Pillowcases made from vintage textiles and a “very old” Victorian quilt create a calming space. This “headboard” is two twin versions pushed together. Headboards: vintage, eBay. Lamps: Marrakech souk. Nightstands: Myriad Antiques.
Bathroom
