By Kate Youde
Jan Baldwin approached her London home like a photographic project. “A project that we would live in,” says the retired interiors photographer, of her Grade II-listed house on Lloyd Square, Clerkenwell.
Baldwin, who has two photographs in the National Portrait Gallery’s collection, and whose work has featured in magazines including The World of Interiors, Elle Decoration and House & Garden, understands that rooms look better in pictures when they’re stripped back. “How a camera sees things is not always how your eyes see it,” she says, “so taking away a few pieces of furniture lets the space breathe”.
Baldwin embraces the less is more approach for her own property (currently on the market for £3mn with Savills), and has several tips for fellow owners on how to style their homes for sale.
She and her husband, Henry Wynn, an emeritus professor of statistics at LSE, bought the three-storey house in the 1980s, when it was so rundown they couldn’t open the front door. “Both my husband and the architect were afraid of heights so it was me who went up the ladder and broke into the house through a first-floor window, and then came down and let them in,” says Baldwin.
The couple lived in Baldwin’s then-studio in east London during the year-long renovations, which included replacing the roof and back extension, and restoring original features such as fireplaces and wooden floorboards. Baldwin had confidence in the “good bones” of the 1820s house, which has three bedrooms plus a lower ground floor study that could make a fourth. “I knew that once we sorted it out it would be beautiful,” she says.
Her faith paid off. The semi-detached villa, largely furnished with inherited pieces and characterful, second-hand finds, features in design writer Ros Byam Shaw’s book, Perfect English Townhouse, for which Baldwin provided photography.
It is a 20-minute walk from King’s Cross station, on the Lloyd Baker estate, which Baldwin had long admired for its village-like feel and Greek revival architecture. The house, which has a back garden and patio, faces the private garden at the centre of Lloyd Square — the setting for their son’s wedding.
Baldwin and Wynn are selling in order to make their second home — a more spacious eco-house on the East Sussex coast — their main base now they are retired. Baldwin has her dark room there.
She worked with the photographer who shot their London home for estate agent Savills, and recommends others putting their home on the market do the same. Being part of the process means you can see what you need to do, such as moving some of the furniture to make a room more spacious and elegant. “Don’t be afraid of straight-on shots because they give a room a bit of gravitas,” she says.
When shooting a room that has another room leading on from it, she recommends opening the door between them. Lighting is key: Baldwin aims to photograph a room when sunshine is streaming through a window — “it makes it feel more alive”.
Her other styling tips are all about attention to detail: plump and turn cushions so zips don’t show; straighten lampshades, curtains, blinds and (clean) towels; put logs in fireplaces to avoid “big black holes”; hide wires; polish bathroom fixtures; and have flowers in the home but don’t overdo colour — choose a palette that enhances a room’s hue, or stick to greenery. She’ll also try to “lose” the television in her photographs.
Finally, in the bedroom, Baldwin advises breaking up the space of a large bed with a throw, and using clean, ironed pillowcases. “We don’t like that slept-in look really, do we?” she says.
The Lloyd Square property is on sale for £3mn through Savills.
Photography: Savills; Jan Baldwin
