The Wallpapered Ceiling in This West London Home's Living Room Brings Together a Sri Lankan-Inspired Color Palette

Alicia Meireles didn’t know what to expect from working with the first-time owners who approached the team at OWN LONDON to revamp their West London home. But, pairing a love of color and bold design with a desire to incorporate their Sri Lankan heritage gave the team more than enough to work with.

OWN's creative director notes that this was the client's first experience with a large-scale design project but that their goal to add a sense of history and heritage to the building struck a chord with the designer. Armed with an exciting brief, they started on creating the “warm and welcoming family home” that the clients wanted so desperately.

It was the house’s 19th-century facade, beautiful lateral space and high ceilings that initially drew the owners to the property. Small period details that the family had fallen for, like the stained-glass front door and cornicing details, were kept and allowed to shine thanks to a harmonious but vibrant scheme. Balancing open-plan layouts with an inviting color palette, inspired by Sri Lanka and seen most vibrantly in spaces like the living room with the wallpapered ceiling, meant none of the house's original Victorian charm was lost, but instead brought up to date and made to reflect its owner’s taste and heritage.

“Having been renting homes that lacked that sense of personality, there was a desire for this house to bring them memories of their childhood,” Alicia says. “Very quickly the team realized they were not afraid of color or bold designs, so the magic started.”

Given the go-ahead, OWN LONDON set out to incorporate natural textures and hues that brought a sense of nostalgia to the family’s new home. The team infused the palette with deep shades that complemented a more subtle base, pulling in Sri Lanka’s rich heritage of natural dyes and handmade textiles.

When it came to balancing principles from Sri Lankan tradition with the fresh design the couple asked for, Alicia said that the team kept the client's wishes at the forefront of all their decisions. "The owners both live pretty hectic lives and want to return home each day to something that is comfortable yet pleasing to the eyes," she says. "So balancing comfort and aesthetics was our principal focus."

One of the key changes they made was in opening up the floor plan. While many of the Victorian property's features helped ground the home, the 19th-century layout meant the building was divided into small rooms and narrow corridors which weren't best suited to modern living, and made the kitchen feel small.

While these larger structural changes made a big difference to the home, the true genius of the team is seen in their balanced use of color throughout the home. "Both owners grew up in leafy Sri Lanka living a very outdoorsy life so bringing the outdoors in was a must," Alicia recalls. "The introduction of terracotta tiles in the new extension was a no-brainer because it responds to that need but also pairs well with the orange brick walls from the original building."

When deciding how to approach putting the couple’s Sri Lankan heritage at the center of their scheme, Alicia and her team selected a few guiding principles to run all their decisions through. "The attention to craftsmanship details and the desire to bring the outdoors inside. Inspiration came from different fronts: some photographs the client shared, their passion for textured surfaces, and colonial-style furniture," Alicia says.

Materials and color were chosen with precision, so that no space or object felt unconsidered. The resulting design combines tones of terracotta with calming creams and textured fabrics to add intrigue and warmth. A bold blue living room where the family watch TV is one of the most striking spaces.

Opening up the floor plan means that the owner's get more use out of every square inch of their property, meaning none of their living space is wasted. While the open-plan arrangement allows the space to be more useful, it also presented an opportunity for the design team to section out the home with a clever use of color, keeping the sense of utility while not compromising on light or taking up space with physical partitions.

"The house is very big which allowed us to create different pockets of interest with different moods." Alicia says. The orangery, a new extension for the property, is a particular success, and one of the couple's favorite areas.

When it came to the individual spaces, the designers continued to divide the space. The property's size lent itself to this set up, with the modern bathroom using texture and natural materials to create interest and subtly divide up the different functions of the space.

"The main bathroom is very large, and we felt the need to almost subdivide it, even if only visually. We looked at ways to do it with different bold stones, but it felt overpowering considering the scale of the bathroom," Alicia says. "In the end, we decided to keep the bold stone on either side of the vanity and accentuate it with a tile layout, keeping the central core more calm."

These same principles carry through into the bedroom, this time using soft textiles as a parallel to the ensuite bathroom. "This was also the approach with the master bedroom, where the headboard has a strong colorful pattern but the walls remain calm with a neutral color."

Throughout their design, a neutral palette has been disrupted with a bold use of color clearly denoting the function of each space. Open plan living carries light through the downstairs living area but never compromises on warmth, inviting family, and friends into a functional yet beautiful space.

Sri Lankan design has been welcomed into the capital and infuses every corner of this home with a sense of history, calling on natural textures and hues that embrace both modern design and the client's heritage. What a place to call home.

Find more from Alicia Meireles and the team at OWN LONDON..