Little Red Rooster kicked off FOCUS/24 at the Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, with luxury bathroom client House of Rohl. The showroom hosted an intimate event with esteemed journalist, designer and author, Kate Watson-Smyth to discuss ‘Maximalism in Italy’. The conversation between Kate and Head of Communications and Marketing, Nigel Palmer drew in crowds from the interior design world who descended on the showroom to hear Kate talk about renovating her 24-room villa in Turin, Piedmont.
Kate explored topics from her inspiration for the design of the villa, colour and pattern, bathroom design and of course, maximalism.
As Kate explained, there is always a compromise somewhere along the line when buying a house. The compromise of this find was that it is MASSIVE. 24 rooms including six bedrooms, four bathrooms and two living spaces across three unusually configured floors. But once Kate and her husband fell in love with the 300-year-old property, as much as they tried, there was no going back. Rewiring, replumbing, replastering and redecorating commenced to make this Italian ideal into a working home.
Kate’s design was very much dictated by the charm and history of the house and its environment. Original features along with the flora of the grounds inspired the designs for each room, such as the 100-year-old wisteria from the garden which is expressed in the wisteria wallpaper and purple bath of one bedroom and ensuite. These influential features therefore kick-started Kate’s collaboration with environmentally friendly paint company, Graphenstone, to produce a collection of 12 paints.
Credit: Kate Watson-Smyth, Photographer: Carole Poirot
The conversation, of course, quickly came round to the topic of bathrooms. Working with House of Rohl, Kate used not one, but two colourful Victoria + Albert baths, given that the brand has 200 RAL colours to choose from. In one bathroom, a purple freestanding Lussari bath stands proud atop a tiled platform, covered by a purple ceiling. Kate explains that this was done to preserve the existing flooring but both elements also help to ground the look due to such high ceilings. However, this painted bath, painted ceiling effect is also a simple yet perfect way to bring some personality and creativity to the small bathrooms we have closer to home.
Credit: Kate Watson-Smyth, Photographer: Carole Poirot
The second bath comes in the form of a burgundy Cheshire. Another of Kate’s colourful bathroom top tips was utilising Victoria + Albert Baths’ capability to colour only the exterior of the bath, leaving the internal white to still give a bright, crisp and somewhat hygienic feel. There is no need to be scared by the seventies avocado bathroom suite … embrace this modern take on colourful bathroom sanitary ware!
