A Glamorous Modern Mansion in Surrey

Commissioned to design the interiors of a newly-built mansion in Surrey, Hill House Interiors created a relaxed family home that can also be a full-on party house.

‘We wanted to create a scheme that encapsulated sophisticated glamour for grown-ups with a modern take on “deco”,’ says Hill House Interiors co-director Jenny Weiss of St George’s Hill, an 8,000 sq ft country house in an exclusive private estate.

The grown-ups in question are a gregarious couple, both international business people, and their two grown-up sons, who are intermittent residents. They’re a family that likes to relax – some of the time – but they also like to party, regularly hosting intimate al fresco suppers for close friends and family and festive drinks parties for 50.

‘With that in mind, the brief was clear,’ says Jenny. ‘We needed to achieve the perfect balance between relaxed family living and grand entertaining, while still suiting the family’s hectic lifestyles.’

‘You can never have too much storage, so this was carefully planned from the beginning. As the home owner has an extensive collection of coats, the big question was where to put them without taking up valuable wardrobe space.’

Designed to be ‘the ultimate party venue’, the main open-plan living area is served by a huge kitchen/dining space. Guests stroll across a black lizard-effect leather floor to be served at a gleaming cocktail bar covered in faceted mirror panels. Behind the bar, a 50-inch plasma screen adds a further touch of glamour, while sliding/folding doors at either side of the bar open up to a covered terrace, giving this area an indoor-outdoor feel.

Jenny describes Hill House Interiors’ signature style as combining ‘unparalleled and impeccable attention to detail with a love of luxurious materials and couture furniture’, and this is evident wherever you look: in the pleated velvet supplied by Zinc and used to upholster bespoke dining chairs, for example, or the luxurious fur throws and cushions adorning the living room sofas.

The use of sumptuous materials and couture furniture continues into the study, with a bespoke sofa covered in black ivory and taupe fabric by Kravet and a bespoke partners’ desk by Turri.

Being a new-build means this home is truly bespoke, and Hill House Interiors was on hand from the start to make sure the clients got exactly what they wanted. ‘You can never have too much storage, so this was carefully planned from the beginning,’ says Jenny. ‘As the home owner has an extensive collection of coats, the big question was where to put them without taking up valuable wardrobe space.’ The answer was to tuck two specially designed coat cupboards beneath the grand staircase in the entrance hall, concealing them behind a custom coloured leather panelled wall inset with chrome detailing.

The family shares a love of film, so Hill House Interiors created a cinema room which embraces the glamour of Hollywood with supersized bespoke studded daybeds and a black and white photo gallery including portraits of Sophia Loren and George Clooney. Conscious that home cinema rooms can be overly masculine, the designers decided to subvert expectations, using platinum metallic wall covering, dramatic crystal wall lights, concealed speakers and fine fabrics.

Upstairs, highlights include the luxurious master bedroom suite, which at 1500 sq ft is larger than some one-bedroom apartments. Again the designers riffed on the Hollywood-glamour theme, this time giving it a contemporary twist with surfaces of polished Perla marble, smooth black lacquer and bevelled mirror panels, all of which glitter under deco-style Swarovski crystal-studded lights and fibre optics.

An enormous master bathroom also has fibre optic lighting in the bath surround and a large vanity unit with loads of hidden storage space.

For sunny evenings there is also a decked balcony surrounded by glass, which gives panoramic views over the rolling Surrey countryside.

As beautiful as it is, this is a classic-contemporary home that’s clearly designed to be lived in and enjoyed – not just looked at.

Hill House Interiors – www.hillhouseinteriors.com