Mary Charteris has fashioned her very own colour palace in a leafy pocket of north-west London.
The model, musician and DJ lives in a three-storey house with her husband Robbie Furze — frontman of rock band The Big Pink — and their daughter. The couple moved back to London after a stint in Los Angeles, craving proximity to family and a place to truly call home.
“We were just dying to have our own space — and more space,” Charteris says, sinking into her velvet sofa. “You accumulate a lot of things through your life, and you want to have them on display. Everything was in storage for so long.”
After renting in High Street Kensington and Golborne Road, they settled on Kensal Rise to buy. “It was a nice middle ground,” she explains. “Both our families are west London-based, and this area gave us the chance to have a house but still be close to the people we love.”
A member of the Guinness dynasty, Mary is the daughter of James Charteris, 13th Earl of Wemyss, and Catherine Guinness. Growing up, she split her time between London, where she attended Francis Holland School, and her father’s house in the Gloucestershire countryside.
Finding her own family home allowed her to unleash her creative side. “We saw many frogs before we found our prince,” she says.
That prince was a well-worn period mid-terrace with Fifties-style orange-and-brown zigzag carpets and curtains. It was dark and dingy but with good bones and plenty of potential.
“I even did a shoot for Preen here before the renovation. It was such a weird but kind of amazing space.”
The transformation was extensive.
“We completely gutted the place. It is unrecognisable now,” she says. They knocked through internal walls to create a through-space leading into the garden, dug down in the kitchen to raise the ceiling, extended out, and added a new dormer level at the top.
“I always wanted open-plan, even though I grew up in the opposite,” Charteris reflects. “No little rooms. I just wanted everything to be open.”
While Furze took on the structural side, Charteris led the interiors — with some familial support. “My husband very sweetly says I am good at it,” she smiles.
“And luckily, my father-in-law has a property business and brought in the most amazing builders and plasterers; people he has known and trusted for 20 years. They became like family.”
Without the budget for an interior designer, she turned to her aunt, designer Camilla Guinness, for advice. “She has this incredible house in Tuscany, full of rich, amazing fabrics. I was struggling with the bedroom and she told me to paint the floorboards purple — it looks really cool.”
Coupled with a handmade Wendy Morrison rug and wall tapestry, this is every inch the sumptuous boudoir.
Ever the fashionista, Charteris’s home aesthetic is as eclectic and expressive as her wardrobe. “I brought colour in because I grew up in quite neutral houses,” she says. “This was my chance to be more imaginative.”
Her references include The Bowery Hotel in New York (“I have their sheets in my bedroom”), the grandeur of the Ritz Paris, the old-school lofts of downtown Manhattan and Diane von Furstenberg’s print-heavy New York apartment.
Lounge areas are kept light and white, offset by colourful furniture, while lesser-used rooms go full maximalist. “I have a pink plaster bathroom downstairs, which was crafted by master plasterers Chrysalis Surface. I found them on Instagram. I think we are going to paint the outside of the house pink too,” she says.
“Luckily, my husband likes pink — he is in The Big Pink, after all.”
Helping to steer her chromatic confidence was Tash Bradley, director of interior design at paint brand Lick: “She gave me the courage to do things like paint the ceilings, not just the walls, in a colour. I did not even think about using two colours in one room — now we have baby blue cupboards with lighter blue walls. It works.” Blockhouse Build made all the cupboards in the house.
Her daughter’s room, meanwhile, is a pink-hued fantasy with a distinctly fungal theme. “I have a mushroom fixation, so there are mushrooms everywhere,” she grins.
There is an emphasis on texture and nostalgia throughout, from gold and brass fixtures to crushed velvet fabric: “Crushed velvet is ideal with kids — you can spill things on it and it does not show.”
Her dressing room chandelier — shaped like a pineapple — came from the online antique haven Anemone, while her bedroom fixture was a 1st Dibs find: “I had been stalking the website for years and finally thought, you know what, this light is worth paying for.” Pure White Lines was another great platform for sourcing statement lighting.
Other pieces have more personal significance. “Robbie once asked me to write my name on a bit of paper. I had no idea why — and then he came back with it tattooed on his arm,” she laughs.
“That was when we first got together. He then had a neon sign of it made. It was the first present he ever gave me.” It hangs proudly in the kitchen alongside a giant canvas from their wedding day, covered in messages and doodles from friends and family.
Her dressing room, complete with a leopard print carpet and green lacquered cabinetry, is where her personality really shines. “It is full of pieces I have collected over the years and want to pass down to my daughter.”
Fashion and music are woven into the interiors. “I am inspired by people like Bowie and Prince — the way they dressed, the boldness. That filters into my home. I will wear a mostly black outfit with bright shoes or jewellery. It is the same with interiors — maybe white walls, but bold cushions.”
A guitar, a piano and baby decks are proudly on display. Charteris and her daughter practice DJing together. “She is definitely on the music train.” Hosting is a big part of home life and Charteris loves a Sunday lunch. “Lots of our friends are moving around here, and the area is getting nicer and nicer.”
After years of moving around, this home feels firmly rooted. “As much as I love going to Paris or New York Fashion Week, I always think, oh, I just prefer my bed,” she says. “It is nice having all your stuff around you.”
It has taken about three years to achieve peak cosy. “I think it is important not to rush. You keep layering, keep adding things.” Something tells me this happy sanctuary will continue to evolve.
