Experimenting with her first flat gave Anna Haines a passion for interior design that is embodied in her comfortable family home in west London
Words BECKY DONALDSON Photography RACHAEL SMITH
Anna Haines’ house greets us with a newly-painted high-gloss Murrey Red front door. It’s a hive of activity: not only is the interior designer’s property being photographed, but two men are sanding down exterior windowsills. “We are doing some ‘touch-ups’,” she smiles. “They were looking tired so I’m enjoying seeing that work being done.”
Once inside the Victorian terraced house, one that we’ve been eyeing on Instagram for some time, it doesn’t disappoint. The lavish, yet relatable space is a perfectly-pieced together mix of old and new, with an abundance of rich, soft furnishings – a fitting showpiece for her classical, joyful, but never overly-curated, approach to interior design.
“When we hand over the home to the client, we don’t want it to look like ‘so-and-so’ has designed it, but like they’ve personally done an amazing job,” she tells us, as we sit at her (satisfyingly familiar) kitchen table for a chat. “What we do is bring all the elements together, so it feels like it’s been done over time.”
Anna and husband Vivian, a solicitor, who she says also has a keen eye for design, purchased the property ten years ago when they needed more space for daughters Amelie and Phoebe, who are both now teenagers. They had outgrown their house in Shepherd’s Bush, and moved to leafy Acton, just down the road.
“We viewed this house and it was slightly over-budget, but I remember thinking, wow, you can actually turn left or right when you walk through the door, it feels so grown up,” she smiles. “For me, it was instinctive that this was the right house. We put in an offer quite quickly and it was accepted.”
Structurally, there wasn’t too much that needed doing. They removed a wall dividing the kitchen and one of the two living rooms, where the family (including Bedlington whippet, Enzo) habitually gather to watch television. Upstairs they took up floorboards because they were in bad condition, and re-did the bathrooms. Otherwise, it was about filling the space with fabulous interiors.
“There’s a lot of tat in this house, which I love,” Anna laughs, when she gives us a tour. “Much of our house has been put together through antique fairs. Vivian and I sourced the artwork together, which I love because there is a story to it. My husband’s really interested in art, so it’s quite meaningful.
“We don’t actually have many family heirlooms, a cou
