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Shop a grand Chelsea townhouse by Emma Ainscough

‘I really recommend collaborating with six-year-olds!’ says Emma Ainscough, whose brief for this grand Chelsea townhouse began, unusually, with the children’s bedrooms. Approached at the tail end of 2024, Emma’s clients had seen a project she had done for another young family. ‘They loved the whole house, but were particularly engaged with the wallpapered, British sensibility in kids’ rooms,’ Emma explains. As the family were moving from the US and not due in London until later that year, much of the design process unfolded on Zoom, certain not the easiest feat, but an experience that Emma reveled in. The finished space is a perfect balance of serene rooms and playful ones, and a house that feels lived in and layered. Read the full feature on this grand Chelsea townhouse here.

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‘It was a very fast turn-around from signing on to the project to completion and we wanted to ensure the clients had a seamless transition from the US to the UK. Whilst we didn’t move any walls, a lot of the flooring was looking very tired and the whole house needed rewiring. There were also aesthetic changes we wanted to make, like switching out the 30 plus spotlights in every room.’

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Aldwin Pendant

£795
Soho Home
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Clarke Wall Light, Antiqued Brass

£350
Soho Home
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Green Wiggle Ribbed Urn Ceramic Lamp Base

£625
Penny Morrison
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Hexagon Linen Lampshade, Cream Trim, Medium

£260
Issy Granger
Shop a grand Chelsea townhouse by Emma Ainscough

Pompidou Coffee Table, small

£695
Oka

With her clients still in the US, Emma embarked upon an unfamiliar but exciting new way of working, meeting her clients on Zoom to present her schemes. ‘I am used to having the luxury of physical moodboards so the client can see the layering process and really buy into how something adds or subtracts from a room, but with this project I couldn’t do that.’ Thankfully, Emma and her clients were on the same wavelength and they were brilliant at making decisions online.

Image may contain Natalia Bessmertnova Furniture Chair Lamp Person Armchair Home Decor Fireplace and Indoors
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Yearn Deluxe Overmantel Wood Frame Wall Mirror

£200 £170 (15% off)
John Lewis
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Vintage 1960s Danish Brutalist Ladderback Light Oak Chairs, style of Kjærnulf

£2478.34
1stDibs
Shop a grand Chelsea townhouse by Emma Ainscough

Camille Table Lamp

£595
Soho Home
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Square rug, Tobacco

£345
Nordic Knots
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Jean Pendant

£250
Huey
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Cypress Paper ‘Skye’

£168
36 Bourne Street
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Viola Wall Light

£250
Soho Home
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Wilmington Console Table, Three Tier

£1695
Alfred Newall

‘The house has a lot of long interconnected rooms and we decided that putting a TV in them would feel really intrusive,’ explains Emma. ‘So we decided to transform the anomalous small room into a really cosy space with a large four-person sofa and a television.’

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There was also the question of the fantastic collection of art the clients were bringing over, all of which needed to be displayed to its full potential. Emma and her clients waited until the installation process to decide where each piece would live, working together to hang everything in its right place. ‘You really do need the context of a room when it comes to placing art,’ Emma explains.

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The Frilly Amber Light

£390
deVOL
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Refectory Table

£2179
Konk
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Andy Warhol Pink Cat Print

£14.84
Etsy
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Kenilworth Dining Chair, Painted

£507.37 £413.37 (19% off)
Neptune
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Etsy

GP & J Baker Magnolia Luxury Designer Cushion

£50.99
Etsy
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Malvern Small Wall Light, Alabaster White

£99.6
Corston
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In the downstairs loo, the walls and ceiling are papered in ‘Scrolling Acanthus Frond’ by Soane and the woodwork is in ‘Damp Leaf No. 14’ from Beata Heuman's collection for Mylands. The vanity unit is Neptune's ‘Edinburgh’ style, with taps from Cast Iron Bath Co. They are the ‘Linton’ deck mounted taps in nickel with white lever.

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Scrolling Acanthus Wallpaper, Moss

£480
Soane
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Rattan Waste Paper Bin, dark brown

£55
Rebecca Udall
Shop a grand Chelsea townhouse by Emma Ainscough

No.14 Damp Leaf

Beata Heuman
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Edinburgh Undermount Open Washstand

£1699
Neptune
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Waffle Cotton Hand Towels, set of two, sky blue

£50
Matilda Goad & Co
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Linton 3-Hole Basin Mixer, White Lever

£255
The Cast Iron Bath Company
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‘I went for a much darker, bolder wall than I would in a space that isn't a bedroom because the client was enthused about the idea of creating a cocoon-like, colour drenched pocket of saturated boldness.’

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Traviata Lamp, Olive Green

£290
Sézane
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Loops rug, Green

£695
Nordic Knots
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The Milo Sheep wool armchair

£2994
Tallboy
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Ocellus Cushion Cover, Natural/Red

£70
OKA
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The bedroom needed to be a ‘moment of peace,’ Emma says, and Farrow & Ball's ‘White Tie’ is the perfect paint for the job. The rug is Pelican House's ‘Clover Design’ in a bespoke size.

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Maeve Sconce

£247
Huey
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The Rathmell Armchair

£2940
Tallboy
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Brown Sugar Circular Tray

£170
Trove
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Soren globe light 700

£2980
Pinch
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Judarn Velvet Printed Cushion

£78
Anthropologie
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Pium wall light, small

£760
Pinch
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When it came to the children’s bedrooms, Emma went straight to the source and started the process by chatting to the two girls about their favourite colours. ‘One of them loves purple and I was pretty inexperienced at using that colour in my schemes so I was looking forward to figuring out ways to layer it in.’ Mixing the purple in with soft pinks and gentle greens, Emma kept the scheme muted and papered the walls in a whimsical design. ‘I really recommend collaborating with six-year-olds. She was totally right about the purple.’

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Pink Frilled Silk Lampshade

£36 £25 (31% off)
Mrs Alice
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Weston Linen Dining Chair, Hemp

£395
OKA
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Rattan table lamp

£49.99
H&M Home
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Grey ticking stripe linen fabric notice board

£34
Etsy
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Berkeley Nordic Oak Console Table

£399
Cotswold Company
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Clover Backplate, Polished Brass

£15
Matilda Goad
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Swedish Forest Photo Print

£67.15
Etsy
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Eden Solid oak bar table for 4-6 people

£849
Tikamoon
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The Heart Rattan Chair

£695
Hasthilp
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Harlequin round cushion

£68
Projekti Tyyny
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Articulated Plug-In Wall Light in Antiqued Brass

£218
Jim Lawrence
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Huxley Side Table, Brushed Red

£495
OKA
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Orb Ceramic Table Lamp Base in Turquoise

£325 £275 (15% off)
NiX
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Provence Butter Bundle set

£150 £127.5 (15% off)
Sukun
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Bobbin What-Not Table

£845
Alfred Newall
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Traviata Lamp Small Model, Blush

£205
Sézane
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Colanzo Framed Prints

£295
OKA
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