Both the Shoreditch house—which Ashby and Casely-Hayford rented for years—and the appointment-only Blewcoat showroom are front and center in Ashby’s first monograph with Rizzoli, Home, Art, Soul, along with 11 other distinctive Studio Ashby projects: think a Victorian bathhouse turned seaside villa in Brighton filled with De Gournay wallpapers in chinoiserie prints and textiles in shades of turmeric, cumin, paprika, and saffron; a San Francisco apartment where the blues of the Pacific are echoed in Murano glass and Isaac Julien prints; and a Left Bank bolthole overlooking the Seine whose 17th-century rooms were transformed in the spirit of French designer Jacques Grange.
As the book is released—and Studio Ashby celebrates its 10th anniversary—Sophie reflects on lessons from a decade in interior design, and lets Vogue in on the five common mistakes she always advises her clients to sidestep.
- When you’ve installed beautiful flooring, it’s natural to be reluctant to cover it up, but having a larger rug always makes a space feel more welcoming and generous. I generally suggest ordering a carpet large enough to fit all of the furniture in a room on top of it rather than something your coffee table floats on in the middle of a space.
- I’m always looking to create interesting geometric juxtapositions—putting an angular armchair next to a soft sofa, for example. That not only gives a room a more dynamic feel, but when you incorporate lots of different styles in a home rather than buying into one trend, your décor has more longevity, too.
- Lighting is deceptively tricky to get right. I typically opt for ambient over directional lights. As a rule of thumb, it’s best to avoid having any bulbs visible, whether you’re looking down into a table lamp or up into a factory-style pendant.
- If your house contains rooms with low ceilings—as many Victorian and Edwardian terraces do in London—paint not just the walls but the doors, the skirting board, and the ceiling the same color. It will make the space feel so much fresher and less disrupted by datums.
- Whatever your budget, don’t overlook the value of art, and don’t be intimidated about buying it. If you can afford to purchase original works by blue-chip artists, that’s great, but it’s not a necessity. I always recommend that people start by going to exhibitions and getting prints of the works they loved at the end.
Studio Ashby: Home, Art, Soul is out now.
