Mylands Colours Breathe Life Back Into Historic Captain's House

Founder of Sans Pretention and antiques collector, Stephen Sprake at his Chatham home

Living room walls in Grey Ochre™ No.152; woodwork in Temple Bar™ No.70 and ceiling in Limestone™ No.55

Captain’s House, located in the historic Chatham dockyard in Kent, is home to antiques dealer Stephen Sprake of Sans Pretention, and his eclectic collections of furniture and decorative treasures. Over the past three years Sprake has carefully and painstakingly restored the listed Georgian building to its former glory after decades of architecturally insensitive updates and neglect.

Colour was integral to breathing life back into Captain’s House. Stephen worked closely Mylands to curate an elegant palette, utilising paints from its celebrated Colours of London and Archive Collection.

Mylands was the natural choice for Stephen, with its expertise honed over the last 140 years in crafting high quality, richly pigmented paints at its Lambeth factory. The paints considerately revive the rooms, and the elegant result is testament to the timelessness of Mylands’ palettes.

Stephen selected pared back greys and off-whites to work as a versatile backdrop for his constantly evolving collections, such as Archway House™ No.106, Grey Ochre™ No.152 and Limestone™ No.55, which he punctuated with confident shots of colour including London Brown™ No.287, Peach Flesh Pink™ No.268, Indian Lake™ No.288 and Sorrel Green™ No.207.

Living room walls in Grey Ochre™ No.152; woodwork in Temple Bar™ No.70 and ceiling in Limestone™ No.55; doorframe in bespoke

Master bedroom walls in Grey Ochre™ No.152; floor in Market Green™ No.38, Indian Lake™ No.288 and London Brown™ No.287; woodwork in Belgravia™ No.6

Stephen has brought contemporary flair to the historic house through paint, particularly with the painted rug design in the master bedroom in layers of green, pink and red, as well as the vibrant Sorrel Green™ No.207 guest bath, and unexpected Peach Flesh Pink™ No.268 shower hidden behind reclaimed chateau doors.

Master bedroom walls in Grey Ochre™ No.152; floor in Market Green™ No.38, Indian Lake™ No.288 and London Brown™ No.287; woodwork in Belgravia™ No.6

Bathroom walls in Grey Ochre™ No.152; floor in London Brown™ No.287; interior shower closet in Peach Flesh Pink™ No.268; fireplace hearth in Sorrel Green™ No.207

"The palette we have created for Captain’s House not only reflects the age of the property, but it brings life and humour back to the building. Throughout this process we have uncovered many amazing stories about the house, such as when clearing the attic space we found a mummified cat – a lesser-known and long-forgotten Victorian good luck charm. All these elements add to the bold colour of the building’s history, which through our repairing and restoration we wanted to reimagine through the use of colour, texture and form." – Stephen Sprake on his colour choices.

Bathroom walls in Grey Ochre™ No.152; floor in London Brown™ No.287; fireplace hearth and bathtub in Sorrel Green™ No.207

Porch in Temple Bar™ No.70; front door in bespoke

Hallway walls in Grey Ochre™ No.152; arch woodwork in Market Green™ No.38; landing floor in FTT-013™ Dark Green and bespoke 

Dining room walls in Archway House™ No.106; ceiling in Limestone™ No.55; doorframe in bespoke

All Images Captured By Beth Davis