Dressed to celebrate

The dining table from Lorfords, surrounded by green Bentwood chairs bought on Ebay, is at the heart of festive celebrations. A vintage murano chandelier is paired with wall sconces to create layered lighting for an atmospheric feel late into the evening. The QVC K by Kelly Hoppen Christmas tree is decorated with Skye’s own decorations.

Joyful sounds of laughter and lively conversation can often be heard from this London townhouse in the run-up to Christmas. Home to cookery author and tableware designer Skye McAlpine, her husband and their two sons, its grand yet comforting style sets the scene for festive celebrations. “One of the things I love most about Christmas is the build-up. We’ll have lots of supper parties and it’s those opportunities to get together with friends and do lots of mini Christmases that I love,” she says.

Skye and her husband were attracted by the size and structure of the Victorian terraced townhouse, which is located one street away from their old flat. “The whole row of houses had been developed in the 1990s, not very nicely or to a high standard, but the bones of the house were really good,” explains Skye. The couple got the keys in January 2019 and began preparing for a long-term project, but when Skye discovered she was pregnant, their plans changed. “It went from being quite relaxed to having quite a hard deadline,” she says.

With their second son due at the end of June of that year, they called on their good friend, architectural and interior designer Ben Pentreath, to help. “We worked with Ben to make the house feel more characterful, charming and in keeping with its original character,” says Skye. At the outset the house was completely stripped, leaving just its ‘good bones’ as a foundation to build the family home upon. “We added new floors, ceilings and cornices, we put in the fireplaces, we rewired, repainted, and changed the layout. Literally everything. It was a shell,” she continues.

Now with a blank canvas, attention turned to decoration. “We sold our old flat with the furniture, so we didn’t have very much other than a few sentimental pieces,” says Skye. A fruitful trip to Brussels resulted in an assortment of treasures, from vintage Murano glass chandeliers