The smallest room, made the richest
Every house needs one room that is allowed to be indulgent, and in this Jesmond villa it is the snug. We have treated it as a jewel box: a deep reading green lacquered to the picture rail, shelves of worn leather books, a garnet armchair and a green glass lamp that turns the whole room to amber after dark.
Because the room is small, we have not tried to make it feel bigger. We have made it feel deeper. Layered, warm and a little theatrical, the room you end up in with a book and forget to leave.
Leather, lamplight and green
A room that keeps you in
The client's words: I want the room the whole family fights over on a Sunday afternoon.
Small room, no compromises
The one chair the room is planned around. Deep enough to disappear into.
Walls, shelves and woodwork all one green, lacquered for depth.
A Roman blind in a quiet stripe, so the window is dressed but never fussy.
Paint the shelves the same green as the walls. It is counter-intuitive, but it makes the books the pattern and the room twice as calm. This is the detail that makes it look designed.
Lauren, for Aubury & Co · July 2026