A creative couple fills their home with pieces of their own design.

In 2010, when Paul de Zwart and his wife, Ariel Childs, were furnishing their country home close to the Dorset-Wiltshire border, they ran into a problem: they couldn’t find a simple, well-made stool at a fair price. It proved to be a turning point in their lives as well as the beginning of a new business venture. Paul got in touch with a local craftsman and that marked the birth of Another Country, the furniture and home accessories company he founded six years ago with the aim of creating well-made, timeless and long-lasting products.

Enter the couple’s townhouse in London – a typical Victorian building dating back to the 1890s, with a small gate at the front and a peaceful garden at the back. They moved here in December 2014 with their daughter Daphne, now 11 years old, as well as their dog. The house still had many of the original features, including the facade, the colourful mosaic tiles in the hall, the original cornice work, the staircase and the wooden floors. 

“At first, we were thinking we’d decorate it in a style similar to that of the old house – a contemporary-classic Belgian look,” says Paul. “But we felt compelled to abandon that idea and went about creating a more colourful, decorative interior. We call it the ‘rough-luxe Bloomsbury look’.” The couple owned most of the furniture already; it just had to find its rightful place in the new home.