TEXTILE DESIGNER NEISHA CROSLAND ... - The Chic Shopper

Much of this flow is underpinned by what Crosland calls getting the ‘bones’ right – the proportions, the floors
and the walls. With few original features to accommodate, she had the freedom to create spaces afresh,
concentrating particularly on generous-width skirting boards, oak flooring that felt appropriately aged, and
extra thick walls, particularly those housing French doors out onto the garden, to give rooms added depth.
Crosland has obsessed over the details: finials sourced from America at the end of staircases, exquisite
door handles, heavy-weighted fabric door curtains with luxurious tiebacks, metal feet on radiators, bronzeplated
light switches, and beading work on cupboard doors. “It has been a time of total obsession, but then,
I suppose I am like that with everything,” she confesses with a laugh.
Throughout the house, far-flung places provide inspiration: from the grandeur of the Sintra palaces in
Portugal and riads of Morocco (referenced in the living room’s fireplace) to Crosland’s love of rustic French
(the wicker bath surround in the spare room); from the hand-embroidery of antique Indian saris (used
as bathroom curtains) to suggestion of ’40s ocean liner and railway travel in the portholes up stairwells.
The eclectic style of 20th-century French decorator Madeleine Castaing is paid a tribute in the balustrades
of the outside balconies – a direct replica of the spiral staircase in Castaing’s Rue Jacob shop in Paris.
158 Vogue LiVing Jan/Feb 11
OPPOSITE, lEfT: The eleganT dining room
boasTs oak-leaf chandeliers and a series
of 12 Poem drawings by Teddy millingTon-
drake, all from charles saunders
anTiques. The Table was cusTom-made
by cimiTree. lEfT: The enTrance hall’s
cool flagsTone floors, hand-painTed
mural walls and whiTe cane furniTure
bring To mind an old colonial mansion
in india. says crosland: ”as iT was
originally an ouTdoor space and,
wiTh ivy now growing inside, iT felT
appropriaTe To play wiTh creaTing
a garden scene.” AbOvE: crosland
drew on her Travels Through france
and morocco for The design of
The living room’s fireplace and
bookshelves. The coffee Table is by
John makepeace. To The lefT, The unusual
iTalian 1940s lamp bases, from charles
saunders, have ‘swan lake’ shades found
aT Jenny lyn. aT The fronT is a small chair
covered in crosland’s ‘fez’ fabric. all
The cushions are by crosland. on The
walls are framed pieces of crosland’s
limiTed-ediTion hand-embroidered ‘rockeT’
fabric. AbOvE rIGhT: neisha crosland.
rIGhT: for son samuel’s bedroom, he
and crosland designed The rug paTTern
TogeTher. The carved panel on Top of
The cupboard inspired crosland’s ‘sea
ThisTle’ design. gianT glass chrisTmas
decoraTions hang from The ceiling.
Vogue LiVing noV/Dec 10 159