Journalist Pandora Sykes' London home

Journalists are accustomed to deadlines. Even so, completing on a house when seven months pregnant and being determined to redecorate entirely before giving birth was ‘quite a punchy move’, concedes Pandora Sykes, a writer and co-host of the weekly culture podcast The High Low. More so, when one learns that Pandora had never done anything similar before. However, equipped with strong aesthetic vision and gung-ho optimism, an ability to budget and an encyclopedic knowledge of ‘what was out there and where to find it – I’m a big believer in doing your homework’ – Pandora says she never considered relinquishing the project. The result is a triumph of intention: bold and colourful, with moments of romanticism.

The house, a Victorian terrace in Kensal Green, north-west London, retains much of the original detailing – cornicing, ceiling rosettes, fireplaces – and had been expanded upwards and outwards by its previous owners, so no structural work was needed. It is arranged over three floors, with sufficient bedrooms and bathrooms for a growing family, while the ground floor accommodates a sitting room, a study where Pandora records her podcast, and a large kitchen extending into the garden and side return. This was the deciding factor for Pandora and her husband, marketing director Ollie Tritton. ‘It has a good feeling of space. We could imagine entertaining in it and there being room for everyone. We wanted a grown-up house we could live in forever.’

Helpfully, it was habitable during the two-month ‘turbo-nesting period’. They kept most of the kitchen and one bathroom was left intact, so Pandora was present to oversee the project and make decisions fast, to create ‘an interior we wouldn’t get bored of’.

The starting point was the textiles and wallpapers Pandora had coveted: the Scalamandré ‘Zebras’ wallpaper in the study and the sitting-room curtains made from Le Manach’s ‘Guépard Cambridge’. ‘They were my biggest investment – and a controversial one. A lot of people advised against it, but I knew if I had a really good leopard print, it would work.’

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These fabrics and wallpapers informed the colours of the adjacent furnishings, which were employed with impact and restraint. Most of the rooms have a palette of two predominant hues, with occasional tonal blocking. This is best seen in the sitting room, where those leopard-print curtains are set against Farrow & Ball ‘India Yellow’ walls and a sofa in a turmeric chenille from The Cloth Shop. In the main bedroom, a headboard upholstered in Pierre Frey’s ‘Lasso’ cotton is paired with calming pale pink walls. And, in the nursery, curtains in Nina Campbell’s ‘Beau Rivage’ co-ordinate with similar shades of blue in Christian Lacroix’s striped ‘Beach Club’ wallpaper.

Other ideas were taken from what Pandora calls her ‘mental scrapbook – a mix of feelings, people and places’. The assorted posters and prints that hang throughout the house, framed by J White, are an idea taken from the restaurant Chez Janou in Paris, where Pandora and Ollie have celebrated each of their seven anniversaries. The panelling and the bedside lighting in the main bedroom – a mix of wall sconces and lamps – is inspired by Vicky Charles’s bedroom designs for Soho House. The designer (and House & Garden contributing editor) Matilda Goad is a close friend, and her pots, vases and scallop-edged lampshade are displayed throughout.

And then there is Pandora’s love of vintage finds and antiques, encompassing much of the furniture, lamps, vases (a confessed weakness) and pictures in the house. Her devotion to various vintage websites – including Selency, Vinterior and Ceraudo – and to nearby Portobello Market and the antique shops on Golborne Road, as well as the twice-monthly antique market at Kempton Park, turned up many treasures, turned up many treasures, from a Sixties Babe Rainbow screen print by Peter Blake to a pair of Gucci-esque lamps. A mid-century desk came from The Old Cinema in Chiswick, while a CristaSeya ceramic head vase was sourced from Maryam Nassir Zadeh in New York. ‘Every piece probably represents eight hours of looking. But I love the idea of there not being a million of the same thing – and the fact that this is a sustainable means of sourcing pieces. It’s also a good way of keeping costs down,’ explains Pandora. It is this tirelessly tracked-down assortment that adds depth to the interior and the suggestion of objects collected over many years – exactly what Pandora did not have.

The house was completed on schedule – and on budget, with every Conran Shop rug having its equal and opposite from Ikea, and Pierre Frey being offset by Pooky. Pandora and Ollie finished unpacking and, just one week later, their daughter Zadie was born. It is an inspiring tale – and demonstrates that it is entirely possible to fit and furnish a house to an exacting standard in a short period of time without employing an interior designer – providing one has the resolve. It is also a lesson in trusting one’s taste and embracing the process. ‘I did this for me and for our family,’ says Pandora. ‘I didn’t know that I’d enjoy it so much – or that anybody else would like it. But it’s a very nice surprise that they do’.