Lessons in Living with Beloved Things: An Art Director’s Vintage-Filled London Flat

For several years now, we’ve been avidly following art director/set designer Sandy Suffield’s personal creative projects, from converting an abandoned electrical building into a dream vacation rental to transforming used packing materials into botanical art. Today, as she prepares to move for the first time in nearly 25 years, Sandy has invited us to tour her longtime home base, a two-bedroom flat in North London entirely furnished with vintage finds—and newly on the market.

“I’m an eBay, charity shop, vintage addict,” confides Sandy. “Choosing old stuff is both an aesthetic choice and a reluctance to contribute to landfill.” It’s also economical: she’s continually adding to the collection and upgrading her spaces, but the only change she classifies as a splurge is the floor-to-ceiling glass door linking the living room and garden.

How does Sandy keep her quarters from being overwhelmed by all the “tut” that she welcomes in? Read on for the simple tricks of her trade that she applied throughout.

Photography by Sandy Suffield, unless noted.

Above: The classic London yellow brick Victorian row house was built in 1890; it’s located in London’s N19, across from a little park with “views over the entire city of London” and a 10-minute walk from Hampstead Heath.

Sandy bought the ground floor flat (hers has the bay window with the curtains) in 2001 after “touring about 40 places within a tight catchment.” She was sold by the apartment’s lovely natural light and its private garden—scroll to the end to see the floor plan. Photograph by Melissa Hunt.

sandy suffield apt kitchen in north london. 1 Above: “A simple materials palette preserves a sense of space and provides a simple backdrop for collected objects,” explains Sandy. On arrival, she created a blank canvas by painting all of the rooms white—Sandy says she’s not picky about the paint brand or shade, just goes for clean and bright. Oak floors were already in place in some of the rooms; for visual cohesion, she added the one in the kitchen.
sandy suffield kitchen in north london. photograph by melissa hunt. 2 Above: Sandy installed an L-shaped kitchen with a honed slate counter, Franke sinks, and Smeg range—”all chosen for their simple design and quality construction.” The fridge is concealed behind the curtain and Sandy found a clever, out-of-sight spot for the washing machine and dryer: they’re tucked in the cupboard with the coat hanging on it under the stair. Photograph by Melissa Hunt.
dumpster dive dining table in sandy suffield's north london apartment 3 Above: Sandy’s father is a fellow scrounger: her table is one of his dumpster dives. She surrounded it with Ercol 608 dining chairs “from an old vintage shop at the bottom of my road.”
sandy suffield apt kitchen shelves n north london. 4 Above: Open shelving near the cooker may not appeal to all, but Sandy is a proponent: “Corner shelves hold all the glassware and plates; they‘re on show which makes me keep stuff tidy and all the crockery is easily accessible.” The fact that everything is continually in use enables it to stay clean.

Early in her career, after working as a designer at Pentagram and serving as the art director of Timeout London, Sandy joined the Apple team and lived in San Francisco for four years: the Danish teak monkey is a souvenir from those days purchased at the Alameda flea market.

sandy suffield apt kitchen shelves n north london. 5 Above: Sandy keeps her pantry goods presentable by decanting ingredients into glass jars as needed. For more on the subject, see 5 Secrets to a Pleasingly Well-Organized Kitchen.

Since the spaces aren’t big, Sandy “works hard to make sure it’s functioning well and is easy to navigate: no kitchen islands or sofas in the middle of the room.”

sandy suffield apt sitting room in north london. 6 Above: The small sitting room was transformed by the addition of a white-framed sliding glass door custom made by Deben Joinery. Shallow ledges provide display without taking up much space. Sandy also notes that she keeps the space beneath her sofa and plant table clear—”when you can see under the furniture, the space feels bigger.”
sandy suffield apt sitting room in north london. 7 Above: The chrome sofa is a 1930s Czech design from Design Robot in Prague that Sandy reupholstered in white canvas and paired with a Hans Due lacquered steel standing lamp: Sandy is a fan of the line introduced in 1972 by pioneering Danish lighting company Fog & Mørup and has another Hans Due in her country house kitchen—see A Hanging Light That Looks Like a UFO.

Above L: Skinny display shelves—and weekly fresh flowers—are Sandy staples. Above R: An APC madras dress by her photographer friend Jason Hindley and an eyeglass mold. Sandy’s easy, inexpensive ledge recipe: two standard planks of wood from any hardware store, store-bought wooden brackets, plus white paint.

sandy suffield apt sitting room in north london. photograph by melissa hunt. 10 Above: To divide the living area from the kitchen, Sandy put up bookshelves of birch-faced plywood that double as partitions. She made her checked throw pillows from old French tea towels. Photograph by Melissa Hunt.
sandy suffield apt still life in north london. 11 Above: Sandy continually changes what’s on display on her sitting room’s shelves to “re-see things”: “I’m from a family of shopkeepers and the secret to retail is to keep moving stuff around,” she says—Sandy’s mother founded The Hambledon, a beloved, three-story indie department store that her sister Victoria now runs.

On view here: pieces by friends—a ceramic vessel by Jo Waller and collage by Lauri Hopkins—and Indian juggling clubs.

sandy suffield apt in north london. 12 Above: There are two bedrooms, both situated in the front of the apartment. This one has a Portofino Waffle cotton duvet cover and pillowcases that quietly supply texture and pattern: “super comfy,” adds Sandy, “the threads don’t catch, and they stay soft with multiple washes.”

The mono prints over the bed are made from carved bread boards by Rosa Pagoda; the French opaline lamp is an eBay purchase: “I‘ve lost count of how many lamps I have, I can’t indulge my love of chairs—the space won’t accommodate enough of them—so lights have become an obsession.”

sandy suffield apt bathroom sink in north london. 13

sandy suffield apt bathtub with wood surround in north london. 14

Above L: In recent years, Sandy upgraded the bathroom with new fittings, including Ideal Standard’s Jasper Morrison pedestal basin. Note: more shallow shelves and decanted products. Above R: The new bath is a steel Kaldewei framed in the same oak boards used on the floor (sealed with a matte clear varnish).

sandy suffield apt front bedroom in north london. 15 Above: Sandy uses the front bedroom as her office. She hand stitched the curtains from linen bought at her “local haberdashery” (sewing shop): “I inserted weighting tape at the base to keep them looking tidy,” she says. “Half curtains are good for privacy and natural light; I can see the treetops in the park opposite.”

The metal stencils in the window, likely from an old cricket scoreboard, “mean cabbies and the postie can always find the flat.”

sandy suffield apt front bedroom desk in north london. 16 Above: A Jim Dine poster from the 1970s, purchased on eBay, hangs next to Water Lily, one of Sandy’s paper collages that she sells as limited-edition archival prints for £95.
sandy suffield row apt in north london. 17 Above: Sandy reports that the neighborhood is extremely quiet—”apart from the woodpecker in the sycamore and the odd siren to remind you that you’re in London.” The apartment is currently under offer; for more, go to Kinleigh, Folkard & Hayward.
floor plan sandy suffield north london 2 bedroom apartment available for sale. 18 Above: The bedrooms and bath are clustered at the front of the apartment and the living areas are oriented to the garden. The apartment is currently under offer; for more, go to Kinleigh, Folkard & Hayward.