House Tours Op[en Door with Siouxsie Dickens

(Image credit: James Merrell)

By Jacky Parker 2020-10-20T11:16:35Z

Welcome to series 2 of House Tours Open Door. We've been busy filming gorgeous homes over the summer, filled with cool and clever ideas from their creative owners.

We plan to beam you into eight jaw-dropping homes, to hear from the owners and to get under the skin of exactly what makes a place special. Inspiration from the comfort of your living room? Sounds like a double win.

EPISODE 2 - AT HOME WITH SIOUXSIE DICKENS

Siouxsie Dickens has thrown open the doors to her gloriously gothic Victorian villa to give us a glimpse of how she turned it into something special.

As a fashion stylist, married to a menswear designer, the couple put their home together in the way that they would approach a catwalk show or a magazine shoot - pulling in favours and collaborating with brilliant, creative people.

WATCH HOUSE TOURS OPEN DOOR EPISODE 2 WITH SIOUXSIE DICKENS

The couple started with a vision of how it should look - a kind of Gothic period glamour, like the TV show, Penny Dreadful.

The previous owners had already converted a building of four bedsits into a single home but had to sell up in the middle of adding an extension to the kitchen.

During the viewing, Siouxsie already instinctively knew where the units and appliances would go. Her reference was those upstairs-downstairs, pantry-style kitchens, that are totally in keeping with the period of the house.

It's an approach the couple took to all of the decorating - to honour the property and its original features in a quirky, individual way.

This house is about more than adding a coat of Down Pipe to the walls and buying a fancy chandelier though.

It is full of design decisions that in fashion terms, take it from the equivalent of ready-to-wear to a couture creation.

An example of this is the fire surround in the living room, which appears original, but was specially commissioned by the couple.

Siouxsie loves to layer textures. In the kitchen the polished-plaster floor is juxtaposed with marble, reclaimed timber worktops, made by Siouxsie's friend, Chris Brandler, and exposed brick and chandeliers in the dining area.

The painted windows add definition.

In the master bedroom, the chimney breast was extended to match the exact width of the super-king size bed and the walls have been distressed and painted to resemble the musty mystique of a flooded château.

Before they buy anything for the house, Siouxsie's husband, Ben, asks 'is it special enough or 'is it too normal'?'.

Siouxsie wanted the shower room to be dripping wth greenery. Floor-to-ceiling metro tiles and a Victorian-style floor put a period spin in this modern room.

SHOP SIOUXSIE'S KEY PIECES NOW

A little bit macabre, a little bit moody - a monochrome palette, a stash of period details and a trunkful of taxidermy put the decadently romantic spin on Siouxsie's Victorian home.

Kitchen

Shop now: cabinetry from DeVOL

Shop now: pendants from The French House