The door into the study is painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Hopper Head.’ A mock façade of a Georgian house leans against one wall, while at the back of the room is a banquette surrounded by bookshelves (and a cocktail bar).
Christopher Horwood
The doll’s house metaphor particularly comes to life downstairs in Jane’s study, where a Georgian façade leans against the wall. On the adjacent wall, a reading nook with a squishy banquette has been built into a wall of shelves. Jane’s desk is a writer’s dream, overlooking the garden, its ancient oak tree, and that essential swing. ‘It feels like the garden is in constant conversation with the house,’ explains Jane.
Jane’s desk overlooks the front garden.
Christopher Horwood
‘When you walk down the path to the garden and the house, you’re totally in another world,’ says Butter. It really feels like the countryside in the middle of west London.’ Butter explains that lots of the ‘country garden feel’ comes from the ‘magnificent brick wall’, which she worked to soften: ‘it already had a jasmine growing up it, but we softened it further with climbing roses and wisteria,’ she explains. ‘We also wanted to lean into the circularity of the garden, with curved beds creating a flow between the front and back gardens, which are so neatly joined by a side passage,’ says Butter. They removed an existing pond, which broke up the continuity of the garden, and instead added stepping stones, which move you through the immersive planting.
‘Really, it’s hard to convey the specialness of it all,’ Butter muses. ‘It’s wild and overgrown and fun, but with moments of structure amongst all the wildness.’ As Jane puts it, the garden has ‘some structure for Stephen, and some bee-loving wildness for me.’ It’s an analogy well suited to their whole magical home.