Why observe guidelines when you’ll be able to observe your instincts? Way more enjoyable that manner, we are saying. And so would longtime vogue stylist-turned-rising inside designer Sophie Rowell of Côte de Folks. Sophie was commissioned by the homeowners of a traditional Victorian terrace in Hackney, London, to create “a extra practical kitchen, extra mild within the hallway, extra storage (that’s on everybody’s want checklist!)—a home that felt extra like them.” She completed all this, plus weaving in sudden colour moments, by trusting her intestine. “No guidelines!” she says. “That’s the important thing, I believe. It’s all carried out on intuition.”

Whereas Sophie could not heed a rulebook in the case of colour, she does observe an overarching design philosophy: All the time attempt to work with you could have. There’s an argument to be made for constructing anew or changing the previous, however oftentimes, she finds, you’ll be able to merely make over creatively as a substitute of throw out utterly. For this venture, as an example, the purchasers, a younger couple with a son, thought of including an extension for more room. “We satisfied them to not lengthen out. As a substitute, we emphasised optimizing the unique ground plan, significantly specializing in maximizing the performance of the kitchen,” she says. And the outdated, orange-y parquet flooring that the purchasers wished to exchange? Sophie persuaded them to refinish them with a lighter stain as a substitute.

Let’s take a tour of this venture, a successful mixture of playfulness and restraint.

Pictures by Chris Snook, courtesy of Côte de Folks.