Inside four beautiful houses by Brandon Schubert
Nothing in his early life suggested that Texan Brandon Schubert was born to be an interior designer. ‘Growing up in Dallas, I had no idea such a job even existed,’ he says. After his postgraduate degree in law he went on to have a successful career as a lawyer in New York and then London. And so it might have continued, had he and his husband, William Carter, not bought a rundown garden flat in Belsize Park. Brandon realised then that nothing (certainly not the law) gave him greater pleasure than wrestling with lighting plans and reshaping spaces.
After a three-month course at Inchbald School of Design, he was lucky enough to land a trial period in the decorating office of interior designer Ben Pentreath. ‘It was the first place I’d ever worked where it didn’t feel like work,’ Brandon says. The trial period turned into three happy years of learning on the job, and in March 2019, he launched his own studio.
He has now become well known for his clever use of colour and ability to mix many different periods and styles to make a cohesive interior. His rooms are often enlivened by mid-century pieces among more traditional elements. “The gleam of a 1970s sconce against fabric walls; a George III wardrobe, as glossy as maple syrup, perched on a knobbly jute carpet,” as we described his knack for interesting combinations in our story on his most recent project. Scroll down to see the four houses we have featured by Brandon so far, and click through to explore each house further.
Paul Massey1/12The interiors of this Victorian villa in north London, designed by Brandon for a young couple with historical leanings, demonstrate his skill at blending traditional and contemporary elements in a period house. A bleak Noughties redecoration had robbed it of many of its 19th-century adornments. 'My job was to put things back, so that it felt right again,' says Brandon.
In this corner of the drawing room, against a backdrop of wheat-gold cotton-lined walls, a slipper chair in Décors Barbares 'Les Groseilles' is paired with a cushion from Susan Deliss. While the chimneypiece here might have suggested gilded overmantel, Brandon instead looked to the more recent past and designed a mid-century-style mirror to avoid the scheme becoming too predictable.
Paul Massey2/12In the kitchen, Plain English units in Farrow & Ball's 'Deep Reddish Brown' and dining chairs in Gaston y Daniela's 'Peruyes' are set off by yellow-sprayed Anders Person pendant lights over the island, the teak veneer splashback, walls in Altfield grasscloth and curtains in 'Isabella' from Jasper by Michael S Smith.
Paul Massey3/12In the main bedroom, the ‘Strie’ moonstone wallcovering and a headboard in ‘Amadea’ tangerine wool, both from George Spencer Designs, establish an elegantly restrained scheme. Curtains in Le Manach's 'Broderie Montespan' echo the patterns and colours of an antique dhurrie. The paintings were all auction finds. On the stairs and landing beyond is a chequerboard carpet woven by Avena Carpets, to a design by Brandon.
Paul Massey4/12Brandon started his career working in Ben Pentreath's studio, and the owners of this 1890s terraced house in south London initially had approached Ben for a complete redecoration. He had to decline but suggested Brandon take on the task. ‘They were wonderful clients – I can’t praise or thank them enough for the trust they placed in me,’ says Brandon.
The large former kitchen is now a handsome sitting room. Brandon solved the problem of its two ceiling heights by lining the walls of the glazed side return with teak and treating the room almost as two areas: the sitting space, facing a wall of blue bookshelves; and a study/storage space, with a Sixties Danish sideboard sitting under the sloping glass roof. A Thirties-style sofa, a Georgian table and a mix of Forties and Arts and Crafts lamps all sit happily together in a colourful and relaxing room, where the view is of the small, densely planted garden, also designed by Brandon.
Paul Massey5/12In the dining room at the front of the house, panelling, designed by Brandon, in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Blue Gray’ frames a painting sourced from A.Prin and an Arts and Crafts steel grate with a fire surround in Mandale’s ‘Derbyshire Fossil Limestone’. Johannes Andersen chairs in a Pierre Frey fabric partner a Twenties Heal’s table from Miles Griffiths Antiques.
Paul Massey7/12The first project House & Garden featured by Brandon was his own flat in Belsize Park, an inventive, art-filled space he has since left. Brandon’s combined sitting room and office has walls hung with an eclectic array of paintings and prints in artfully mismatched frames. Most of them have been picked up for a song at his favourite salerooms and antique markets (especially the regular fairs at Newark and Ardingly), while a few others have come from his Dallas grandmother.
Paul Massey8/12When Brandon and his husband bought the one-bedroom late-Victorian ground-floor property, it had been untouched since the Seventies. ‘The garden was completely overgrown and there was a poky bedroom extension at the back,’ Brandon recalls. This they demolished and replaced with a modern, full-width extension, from which glass doors open onto the garden terrace.
The kitchen units were custom built to Brandon’s design and finished in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Blue Gray’ paint to match the walls. A splashback and worktops in Carrara marble are a pale foil for yellow-painted Ercol ‘All Purpose Chairs’.
Boz Gagovski10/12When Brandon's clients from the south London house above called him in to work on their country cottage, it was a different type of project for the interior designer, who embarked on a pure redecoration without touching any of the architecture, electrics or plumbing of the house.
“When I asked the clients what they wanted to change about their house, they said that the work we’d done in London opened their eyes to what a home could be. The client recalls, ‘I realised that what we had at the cottage was not, in fact, what we really wanted. It felt flat, and it didn’t truly reflect its character or our own. Most importantly,” she says, “we wanted it to be interesting.’”
In the summer house, the walls were papered in Sweet Pea from Cole & Son. The curtains are in a bright yellow linen from Pierre Frey. The ottoman is in fabric from Octavia Dickinson and Claremont. The cushions were made from an antique Turkish caftan that Brandon picked up on my travels.
Boz Gagovski11/12The entrance hall is wallpapered in Coolattin wallpaper from David Skinner Wallpapers. The red panelling of the study is painted in gloss Bronze Red from Little Greene. The antique dresser base was found at a local antiques dealer.
