Nathalie…
Deboel’s limited edition art book is called ‘Comforting Homes’, and judging from her serene and well-considered projects, it’s easy to see why. “I strive to create a comforting refuge, a place that feels familiar and soothing to come home to,”says the Belgian interior designer who believes that the key to good design is the art of sensitive decoding. As she sees it, it’s her job to visualy translate the personalities of clients in a frank and compelling manner. This rustic-looking home with a thatched roof and darkened wooden beams, is in fact an entirely new build erected on the site of an old villa located in Uccle, a leafy well-to-do neighborhood near the Sonian Forest, just south of Brussels.
The home…
has an unusual configuration with a low entrance and spacious upper living spaces, leading Deboel to think of the entryway with its sweeping curved staircase as a kind of gateway to a “promenade”, whereby every room tells a story about the couple who own the residence; he being a nature lover, she being an elegant taste-maker. As an effective contrast, the designer used dark walnut accents, panelling and bespoke shelving to evoke a sense of the organic – nodding to the resistant, the rugged and the raw – against more delicate cream tones to create materially rich and tactile rooms that look warm and inviting, quietly chic with deeper rural roots.
In a light…
flooded living room, furniture pieces have been selected from a mix of vintage collectors and contemporary makers, including a stylishly weathered mid-century leather armchair, a pair of 1930s Viggo Boesen chairs, old industrial funnel-shaped wall lamps and a custom made Orichalque coffee table in bronze and resin by Belgian furniture house Maison Jonkers.
Like a…
sail tensioned against the wind, the curved stucco staircase is the sculptural centerpoint of the home, its sinuous shape matched with a vintage travertine table by Italian modernist, Angelo Mangiarotti.
Passageways…
are arched and ceilings are softly slanted, turning simple daily journeys through the house into a more unique sensory experience.
An en-suite…
bathroom is a work of timeless minimalism, thanks to a statement twin sink in pink veined onyx marble sourced by luxury stone specialist, Van Den Weghe.
Grey marble…
and American walnut are also the prevailing materials in a family kitchen, balancing cool and warm, textured and smooth surfaces.
The bespoke…
millwork continues into a dining room where newly upholstered vintage rosewood chairs surround a waxed concrete Line Table, designed by Deboel herself, completing this quiet and well-balanced home, perfectly tailored to suit the natural topography of its part urban, part woodland terrain.
Tap the look…
Interior Design: Nathalie Deboel
