Bryan O'Sullivan imbues a Notting Hill townhouse with imagination

“The goal in all of our projects is to try and collaborate with as many amazing craftspeople as we can,” divulges Bryan O’Sullivan, founder of BOS Studio, “whether that’s furniture design, glass, lighting – it’s all about finding things that don’t feel mass produced. It’s the little things, those moments of attention to detail that elevate a space.” In this house – a white stucco nine-storey townhouse in Notting Hill – there are plenty of wonderful examples of how Bryan achieved precisely this, from the very moment you cross the threshold and encounter a brand new door made of glass panels, which looks entirely historically correct for the house but was bespoke made by a team in Northern Ireland, who Bryan found when working on the Maybourne Riviera hotel.

Bryan’s name is synonymous with hotel design; he’s worked on many of the most glamorous properties across the world – Claridge's, The Connaught and Kenmare to name a few – and imbued their private and public spaces with his deft blend of neutrals, pastels, artful furniture and craft. This style translates wonderfully to this house, where Bryan has in his own words “experimented with colour more as a studio than we have before.” Bryan is known more for his soft approach to colour, creating serene spaces with splashes of pale coral, light blue or washes of pretty pinks. “It’s really important to explore and experiment with colour,” he says, “because the outcome can be really powerful but still calm and enveloping. It can have a positive effect on you when you walk into these rooms.”

The experimentation comes in moments throughout the house, most notably in the library, where blue high gloss lacquer walls pair with an orange ceiling – it’s an unexpected burst of vibrant colour. It’s still a peaceful space, something which is important to Bryan, who says “rooms should always feel calming no matter what. You’re in these spaces on your time off so you want to have a sense of relaxation. You don’t want anything hard to live with so you have to be really careful about what colours you choose; they should not be too jarring.”

Bright blue enters the scheme again in the dining room, which is a showstopper within the house, thanks to a Sam Wood mural climbing up the walls. “We were inspired by the blue and white of Delft china and old-fashioned plates and we built out from there,” explains Bryan, who has worked with Sam on previous projects (most notably a horoscope mural in his own showroom). “We prefer murals because they feel more unique and individual – it brings something more than a wallpaper can,” he continues. Sam also played a part in creating what must be London’s most beautiful mud room, decorating the ceiling with clouds and birds.

The mud room harks at who this impeccable house is lived in by – an American couple, their two children and beloved golden retriever. Far from piling in covered in mud from family walks across Holland Park, Bryan and his team added the mud room, including a shower to hose down said dog after walks and protect the furnishings in the house. The children played a huge part in the design too and were considered at every turn, most notably in the design of an imaginative playroom adjacent to the sprawling kitchen, complete with a stage for performances and neighbouring second kitchen for their own baking projects and culinary experimentation.

Their bedrooms were some of Bryan’s favourite spaces to design. He himself is a father to 14-month-old Cosmo, and explains that “I haven't had the chance to do a lot of kids' rooms and I love the playful energy of doing it.” For the duo in this house, these were “some of the more high intervention rooms – we stripped out everything, put in new cornicing and new joinery. They wanted the rooms to also transition into teenage bedrooms; all of the joinery and the curtains will be able to stay and with a few updates to handles and so on, they could easily be updated to teenagers’ rooms without spending a fortune.”