Wes Anderson Meets Provence in a London Basement Kitchen

“Wes Anderson meets Provençal.” that’s how designer Chris Graves (of Clarence & Graves) describes his basement kitchen in Chiswick. The colorful kitchen was one part of a complete renovation of their West London Victorian townhouse dating back to the 1880s.

Originally there was a dark 1970s kitchen with 2 small windows but Chris has completely transformed that into a beautiful light space where a color palette of green, pink and black is combined with a vintage French look.

The kitchen is made by one of my favourite kitchen companies deVOL (their kitchens have been featured on my blog many times) and features a kitchen island with sunken Barazza hob and Statuarietto marble.

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wes-anderson-meets-provence-london-basement-kitchen-nordroom

The Crittall windows have been painted in a mint green color connecting the kitchen with the sunken garden. terrace.

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wes-anderson-meets-provence-london-basement-kitchen-nordroom
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wes-anderson-meets-provence-london-basement-kitchen-nordroom

From the kitchen island you have a wonderful view over the sunken garden terrace and the green space beyond.

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wes-anderson-meets-provence-london-basement-kitchen-nordroom
wes-anderson-meets-provence-london-basement-kitchen-nordroom

Keep everything neat and tidy with these built-in cabinets (also by deVOL). You don’t need a seperate pantry if your pantyry looks as stylish as this.

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wes-anderson-meets-provence-london-basement-kitchen-nordroom
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wes-anderson-meets-provence-london-basement-kitchen-nordroom

The rest of the house is very traditional. Chris wanted to keep the original layout of the Victorian terrace house in tact. With 2 rooms on each floor divided by the staircase. This way the integrity of the London townhouse has stayed in tact.

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The rooms are colorful and with loads of character. A pink sitting room has a black marble fireplace and original stucco has (thankfully) survived the years. The library room has bookshelves on each side of the fireplace and makes a cozy reading room.

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wes-anderson-meets-provence-london-basement-kitchen-nordroom

The bedroom is painted in soft color hues with a pink headboard. Contrasting to that is the bathroom with a dramatic black bathtub and pink walls.

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Pink and black is a fabulous color combination. This bathroom is mainly black but a nice color touch has been added by painting one of the walls a soft pink.

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wes-anderson-meets-provence-london-basement-kitchen-nordroom

photography by deVOL, Clarence & Graves and Inigo