The red tape began to feel more like a blessing than a boundary. “It’s a Grade II–listed house, which means in the UK it’s a protected home. So all the doors, floors, the corner sinks, and the ceilings are protected,” explains Mikic, who worked with architecture firm Rundell Associates and contractor 800 Group. “But when Caroline, [her husband], and I walked through the house, we thought that all of these original features are so beautiful…you want to retain them anyway. The ceiling in the main sitting room had 50 years of paint on it, so it was all stripped off and repaired.”
That ceiling lives in the visually arresting yet soothingly monochromatic drawing room. “Sometimes as Parisians, we’re very black, white, and gray,” Sciamma explains. “I wanted to have one room that was very neutral, very relaxing. Because it’s so beautiful, it’s the only room I kept very Parisian.” Along with the ceiling, the parquet floors and a large raw wood door are original, and the walls were finished in a dove gray polished plaster with a distressed finish, “so it sort of looks like an old palazzo,” Sciamma says.
The room is punctuated by the sort of mix the owners and Mikic favor—newly acquired finds and long-loved vintage pieces from the couple’s collection like a De Sede sofa, Gio Ponti cabinet, and a Francois Monnet chair, balanced with gallery pieces like Vincenzo De Cotiis lamps. “You already have all these textures and materials,” Mikic says, “And Caroline did a wonderful job by going to Paris,” he says, referring to Sciamma’s frequent trips to France’s famed markets throughout the renovation. “I love furniture,” she says. “If it’s trendy or not, I really don’t care. It’s just about my feelings toward the piece and what it brings to me.” A large art piece by Daniel Buren featuring graphic yellow stripes lends a small dose of color to the room.
