03 Magazine: February 03, 2024

46 Magazine | Interiors
In the galley kitchen, they tiled the walls, added a
dishwasher and updated the oven, but kept the original
cabinets, countertops and floor tiles.
The hessian wall-covering in one of the living rooms
is original and orange curtain fabric was chosen to fit
with the retro vibe.
A vintage lamp and a contemporary stool, both also
bright orange, sit alongside yellow plastic Kartell side
tables from the 1970s. The many artworks on the
walls are mostly by friends Jay met at art school and
the Princes Street gallery he once owned.
The artist and gallery technician loves the home’s
“handmade, hand-finished, bespoke elements”.
Julia says there are certain things they’ll never change
– like the patina on the stairs from years of her family
traipsing up and down them. As a child, she spied on
visitors through the gaps in them, and rolled down the
treads in a zipped-up sleeping bag.
The connection between the ground floor rooms
meant it was always “quite a social home”.
“I’d go to friends’ houses and often they were villas
or California bungalows with big, cold rooms and big
hallways. Our house was small and open-plan with a
lot of natural materials.”
The childhood she spent in the home enriches
the experience of living there now, says the support
adviser, who’s on maternity leave following the birth of
their daughter.
But the family is also making new memories.
“We’ve got our art and our furniture and it feels like
our house,” she says.
“We just love living here.”