House & Garden Special Issue

"Sills and Huniford pulled together and unusual palette of greens, blues, and purples
in a scheme they call "inspiring but not trendy"

"They probed our psyches on that one, so we weren't starting from scratch.
We really trust their taste."

That trust was put to the test when the decorators proposed a scheme that joints traditional forms - a mix of English, Italian, and Swedish antiques, several of them family heirlooms - with daring, unexpected color combinations. "Custom carpets are foundation of the rooms," Sills says. "They're a modern take on Edwardian, based on historical documents. We reinterpreted the color scheme in greens and purples, and that see the overall tone. It takes a great deal of imagination and confidence to visualize avocado green and ultramarine blue side by side. It's the kind of palette that really doesn't come together until everything in the room is installed."

Occasionally, a short leap of faith was required. "In the kitchen, Stephen and Ford did a very soothing color scheme and then threw in an acid green fabric for the chairs, "Wells says. "Strange greens and purples aren't always big crowd-pleasers, but we really believe in their vision, and we knew they would somehow make it work."

At the Wells/Thompson home, rooms that look bright and fresh during the day take on a lush, sultry air when night falls. Even individual hits of color have transformative power. "Charlie had a wing chair in the library that looked all wrong until it was reupholstered in this strange, muted orange leather," Wells says. "Now I don't see Sherlock Holmes sitting there smoking a pipe."

Sills Huniford characterize the decorating, in look and feel, as "modern Madeleine Castaing," referring to the legendary French decorator and shopkeeper whose life spanned most of the twentieth-century and whose work emphasized coziness, eccentricity, and romance above cold perfection and strict period style. It's an apt reference. One has to imagine that Castaing would appreciate the extra layer of texture on antique furniture that can be achieved only with a few solid thwacks of a hockey stick.