Living In Colour

An English couple were building their main home in Quadradinhos, and they knew what they didn't want: a show house. They wanted somewhere that already felt lived in. Happy, full of colour, ready for the family to arrive.

We started before the walls were up. For months we worked beside the project manager and the construction team, and we chose everything with them: the floors, the plinths, the kitchen, where the plug sockets sit, the wardrobes, the lighting. Then the furniture and the fabrics on top.

The colour was the point. A lot of second homes here play it safe and beige. This one doesn't. A red panelled entrance hall. A cobalt cabinet with little brass bees for handles. Botanical wallpaper that runs floor to ceiling. Colour in every room, and it makes the house feel awake.

And it had to work. Ted, the dog, lives here and rules the place, so we built it child-proof and dog-proof, down to finishes that take a knock and still look right.

A home made to be lived in, not admired from the doorway.

These are the clients who turn up at the studio with homemade lunches, boxes of fruit, and cupcakes. That tells you the kind of home they wanted.