THE DRAWING ROOM
A CONTEMPORARY HOME IN OXSHOTT, FINISHED WITH THE WARMTH THAT ARCHITECTURE ALONE CANNOT GIVE
The house was already beautiful; it had exceptional light, considered architecture, and extraordinary bones. It’s a contemporary home in Oxshott that has everything it needs structurally. But when this young family came to Studio Santos, something was missing. The rooms felt cold. Not in temperature, but in feeling. A blank canvas waiting to be finished.
They knew what they wanted it to feel like. They just needed someone to get it there.
THE DRAWING ROOM
The family are very sociable people with young children and busy lives. Their home sees a lot of friends and family through its doors. The bar and drawing room area was the space they most wanted to get right, as they needed somewhere that worked for family life during the day, which shifted into something more grown-up in the evenings when they were entertaining.
Out of shot, there is an existing contemporary fireplace which anchors the room. It is a strong architectural feature, and the design decision was made very deliberately to work with it rather than around it. Rounded furniture is placed throughout to
create a direct contrast to the hard geometry of the fireplace, throwing it into focus as the room's centrepiece. The curves also offer a practical solution, softening a contemporary space so small children can move freely through it.
The sofa is in boucle, chosen to tie this space back to the rest of the home and to bring an immediate layer of softness to a room with strong lines. Around it, deeper tones come through in the velvet seating, rusty reds and darkened peaches that mark this out as the adult end of the house.
A natural, mango wood sideboard is added for extra storage - with a nod to Japanese design, which is evident across the kitchen design - to double as the bar.
Additional seating was brought in for the dinner parties that tend to end up here. Warm wood, brass details, greenery for texture. The room has layers now. It reads differently depending on who is in it and what time of day it is. Low-level lighting adds to this meaning; the same space can now work for a weekday evening or a Friday night with friends.
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