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Style file: four colourful, pattern-filled houses by Lonika Chande
Anyone who loves an interior with verve should look to Lonika Chande and her small team when contemplating employing a designer for a project. Vibrant colour, pattern and a wonderful use of antiques and art characterise her look, which is always expertly tailored to clients' needs. She is a master at small space solutions and can make any layout and floorplan make more sense than it once did. Lonika is equally adept at bringing character back to houses where all original features have been stripped out and making a house feel steeped in tradition, while completely sensible for modern life.
Milo Brown1/17The woodwork in this Stoke Newington house is original to the house and painted in a gloss ‘Murrey Red’ by Papers & Paints. The wingback chair belonged to the client, and Lonika reupholstered it in a Soane stripe, with a seat cushion in a Colefax & Fowler mint linen, for the family dog to perch on. The cut pile rug was made bespoke for the project by Shame Studios. The octagonal ottoman was made bespoke for the project – the top is covered in ‘Joseph, Persian’ by Lewis & Wood and the base is a Colefax & Fowler blue linen.
Milo Brown2/17A vintage desk in the children's bedroom gives them a space for homework, while the vintage Anglepoise desk lamps add colour. Lonika sourced the blue striped kilim rug, as well as the vintage desk chair, which came from Retrouvius. The artwork above the desk is an ‘Animal Portico’ limited edition print by Raphael Balme, from Shop Floor Project.
Milo Brown3/17The family bathroom is a bright, large space with encaustic cement floor tiles from Marrakech Design and a vintage Swedish rag rug used as a bath mat.
Milo Brown4/17The study sits at the top of the house, with a bespoke daybed designed by Lonika upholstered in ‘Gustav’ by Howe. It houses a trundle underneath the valance, and so can be made up as a double bed for guests if needed. The woodwork is painted in ‘Pimlico Green’ by Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler, paired with a blind in Adam Bray's ‘Fela Original’ fabric.
Paul Massey5/17'We didn't want to make it something it isn't,' says the interior designer Lonika Chande of the Queen's Park cottage that she used to live in. ‘We wanted to recapture some of its original character, so we stripped out everything other than the floors and started again,’ says Lonika. In the kitchen, walls in ‘Slate II’ from Paint & Paper Library contrast with DeVol’s ‘Real Shaker Kitchen’ cabinets and larder cupboard painted in ‘Studio Green’ by Farrow & Ball; the interior of the glazed cupboard is painted in Mylands’ ‘Lolly Pop’. Zellige tiles by Habibi are teamed with wall lights from Dowsing & Reynolds. An old game shelf, wooden bench and farmhouse table add rustic character.
Paul Massey6/17In the book-lined nook under the stairs, the bench doubles as storage space and shows Lonika's creative use of space.
Paul Massey7/17A canopy in a block print from Jaipur and a yellow washed linen from The Cloth Shop – also used for the blinds – is trimmed with Samuel & Sons’ ‘Orsay Silk Tassel Fringe’.
Paul Massey8/17Floor-to-ceiling tongue and groove was added in the bathroom – a space she has reconfigured to squeeze in a bath and shower. The bath from Aston Matthews was painted in Little Greene’s ‘Ashes of Roses’ and contrasts with tongue and groove in ‘Gravel’ eggshell by Dulux. The blind is in ‘Field Poppy’ linen by Robert Kime.
Paul Massey9/17Papier-mâché letters from Edit58 spell out Lonika's son Sasha’s name on ‘Alice in Wonderland’ wallpaper – a Thirties design by CFA Voysey from Trustworth Studios. A Berber rug and woodwork in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Picture Gallery Red’ full gloss add warm tones and texture.
Milo Brown10/17In the sitting room of this Chelsea house by Lonika, the joinery was hand painted in a rich blue by Papers & Paints (7-077), and the internal cubby holes are in ‘Beresford Red’ by Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler. The joinery was made by RC Joinery. The sofa is upholstered in ‘Peacock’, a heavyweight linen by Rose Uniacke. Most of the cushions were handmade for the project, but the central sofa cushion is from Penny Worrall.
Milo Brown11/17Lonika added a parquet floor to the room. The wall colour is ‘Off White’ by Farrow and Ball, which Lonika describes as “a chalky timeless neutral, chosen for its slightly classical feel.” The collage is by Lonika's mother, Lucy Dickens.
Milo Brown12/17This banquette creates the perfect through-thread between the comfortable living space alongside it and the practical kitchen area, gently bending the eye around the corner. ”The curved banquette was a non negotiable for the client. He'd found inspiration at Loulou's (the Mayfair members' club), and wanted to do something similar in a fresh, relaxed way.” The two fireside chairs pictured above are the perfect height to use as extra dining chairs at the table and are handily on castors for easy manoeuvrability. The ebonised oak pedestal table is custom from Galvin Brothers. The striped banquette upholstery is Penny Morrison's ‘Multicolour Rustic Stripe’. The paint colour is custom by Papers & Paints, and is the “perfect sludgy colour to complement the banquette.” The roman blind is made from Flora Soames’s ‘Plain Stripe in Emerald’. The kitchen was custom made by Patrick and his team at Apron Kitchens.
Milo Brown13/17Lonika used shiplap panelling in the primary bedroom, which adds character to the relaxed space. The headboard fabric is Schumacher, the bedside tables are antique and the cushion is made from a Guy Goodfellow fabric. “We have a running joke in the studio that I’m on a ban from buying kanthas! We always use them in small doses in the projects, but I do have to reign it in,” Lonika jokes.
Milo Brown14/17“The shiplap panelling continues into the bathroom, but we changed the colour slightly to define the two spaces," says Lonika. As this is the largest bathroom in the house, the couple were keen to incorporate both a bath and a shower, and Lonika had to configure a layout that would allow for both. The bath is an under-mounted bath, which “feels luxurious, but the shelf space means there's a place for candles and toiletries and nothing feels shoehorned in.” The floor is a herringbone by Lapicida.
Milo Brown15/17When Lonika first entered this mid-century house in the elegant west London neighbourhood of Holland Park, it was perfectly preserved and “deceptively spacious”. Built between the 1950s and 1960s, the house is a true emblem of the era's functionalist architecture. While beautiful, the house was still “dark and dated", something Lonika was keen to tackle head-on. “We needed the house to be more comfortable, more contemporary, more functional… something that really worked for the client's family”, she says.
Lonika sourced the 19th-century Chinese elm sideboard with original handles from Cart House. “I felt it was important to have an antique piece here to ground the space, counterbalancing the vibrant colours and clean lines of the kitchen,” she says. The still life painting above is part of the clients’ own collection that Lonika was “keen to include”, adding, “I love how this sits in its decorative frame against the more contemporary backdrop.” The glass blue bucket vase is a Czech Borske Sklo piece and was sourced from 8 Holland Street. In collaboration with furniture maker Alfred Newall, Lonika and her team designed the custom table with curved ends and reeded base. The red chairs with corded seats are by Carl Hansen.
Milo Brown16/17In an en-suite bathroom, Lonika played with pattern, using the Mustard striped tiles from Otto Tiles to both serve as a backsplash and flooring. The vanity unit is painted in Farrow & Ball’s Oval Room Blue.
Milo Brown17/17The utility room was a necessary addition to the house. With LAB Architects, Lonika brought more natural light to the space by installing a skylight. The utility room's doors have a decorative fretwork that acts as ventilation. Inside, cabinetry is painted in Yellow-Pink by Little Greene and the worktop is a sky-blue Formica. The flooring is a chequerboard linoleum.
