Homeowner Profile: ‘Tulley’

We speak to Celine Da Silva, the owner of ‘Tulley’, a colourfully designed house shoot location in South East London, on how being an interior designer goes hand in hand with hiring out your house as a shoot location.

Here at Fresh Locations we have found that many of the homeowners at our residential shoot locations work within the creative industry. It seems that having an eye for aesthetics, an understanding of current interior trends and even experience working on shoots can be advantageous when hiring out your house as a shoot location.

Celine Da Silva is a branding, graphic and interior designer, and she joined the Fresh Locations library towards the end of 2023. In addition to her experience within the creative industry, Da Silva has based the design of her home around it being a shoot location, giving ‘Tulley’ a unique edge to hosting shoots.

‘Once we bought this house, I specifically made all of my design decisions around the house becoming a shoot location. It has become an amazingly fulfilling way to meet new people and pull together all of my creative learning experiences from over the years.’

We asked Da Silva some questions about her career in the interior design industry and what her experience of hiring out her home as a shoot location has been like so far…

How did you start Da Silva Design?

Having worked in the Selfridges London design team, then designing event graphics for a company in New York and following that, working for a small startup design agency in Singapore, I always enjoyed my graphic design work the most when it was being applied to a physical space. I knew I wanted to work on graphic and interior design projects for my own clients so upon moving back to London, I decided to undertake an Interior Design qualification and Da Silva Design was born. I enjoy working on both graphic and interior design projects equally and I love the way one discipline informs the other!

Who are your favourite designers at the moment?

Alexandria Dauley is an incredibly talented designer and wonderful friend of mine. I’ve so enjoyed watching her journey and everything she designs is absolutely breathtaking. She has done so much to champion diversity within the Interior Design industry which is something that’s very close to my heart also. I also love everything designed by the agency Interior Fox – their design solutions are beautiful and bespoke, yet accessible. My favourite designers, for me, are informed by knowing how much talent and graft has gone into their work to create the best possible outcomes for their clients.

Do you have any interior trend predictions for 2024?

I think we’ll see sustainable design choices become more accessible as we move through 2024. Clients of mine are already becoming more accepting of the benefits of choosing things like sustainable paint brands so I can see this acceptance and interest continuing to grow. I can see health and wellbeing continuing to be an important focus in our homes especially. Regarding colour, I’m seeing maroon and burgundy tones woven into more design schemes this year. You’d be surprised how beautifully burgundy works when paired with a pale blue!

What has influenced the interior style of ‘Tulley’?

When I worked in Singapore, I traveled around a lot of other countries within Asia during that time and fell in love with the abundance of natural materials and greenery in this region. I’ve also lived and worked in Barcelona and Helsinki so my time spent there has definitely informed some of my decision making. My family’s heritage has a mix of Indian, Portuguese, Singaporean and Ugandan influences and I’ve brought a lot of inspiration from these places by filling my home with patterns.

Why did you decide to list your property as a shoot location?

Throughout my design career, I’ve assisted on photo shoots for magazines and campaigns and in doing that, I gained a lot of first-hand experience around the preparation, pace and creativity that is involved in a shoot. When I started my interior training 6 years ago, I decided that I would apply all of my new skills during my next renovation so it could act as a showcase to future interior clients for my design skills, along with doubling up as a shoot location for brands to use. Having had Long Covid since 2020, I found myself at home a lot more and this motivated me to turn a challenging situation into a positive one and I started looking to execute my long-desired plan to move to a new house with shoot location potential.

Which are the stand-out features of ‘Tulley’ that you feel work well for shoots?

The open-plan kitchen/dining/living space is North-East facing and the skylights are diffused, so this allows the space to have flat lighting which is really helpful for shooting conditions. The statement crittal-style aluminium patio doors and windows frame the private back garden. Motorised blinds allow for really effective lighting control in the front living room and one of the bespoke storage units has a useful hidden desk built into it. The kitchen is made by the wonderful Pluck Kitchens who are a sustainable, South-London based kitchen company with high-quality, plywood units with wipeable laminate and wood veneers. The property is a 5 minute walk from the iconic Crystal Palace park and it is situated on a no-through road so it’s generally quiet which is great for shooting.

What inspires your style?

I’m first and foremost a graphic designer, so alignment is a number one principle for me! I love clean and curved lines, well-considered spacing and the process of starting with a neutral base and layering on top of that with colour and pattern.

What type of shoots does your property book most frequently?

We often have a mix of stills and filming shoots at the moment which I love. We find that the objects and props that I have styled around the house prove to be very popular for both stills and film shoots as it gives our hirers lots of options to add more depth and interest to their shoot styling.

You recently hosted a shoot for Bloom and Wild through Fresh Locations. What has your experience been like with working with Fresh Locations?

I’ve absolutely loved working with Fresh Locations so far. What a wonderful team! I just wish I had found you all sooner. The shoot we hosted with Bloom and Wild (photographed below) couldn’t have been more seamless, Vicky did an amazing job of organising this shoot for us and it was such a joy to have the house filled to the brim with beautiful flowers! I can’t wait for more shoots with Fresh Locations in the future.

What is your favourite room in your house and why?

My favourite room in ‘Tulley’ is the guest bedroom with the sliding windows. This is the most recent room I designed and I love the way it changes with the seasons. In summer, the view outside is filled with a blanket of green leaves as we are fortunate to be surrounded by lots of trees. In winter, dramatic sunrises pour into the room and I love to watch these whilst perching on the bespoke blue-cushioned bench seat. This bedroom is smaller than our other rooms, but it’s definitely the cosiest little haven and as this was part of the loft conversion, I was able to plan every single millimetre meticulously. One of the open shelves is also a secret mini pull-down desk so I love that this room offers all of the functions you might need, but in a compact, cosy and stylish manner.

You can see more of Celine’s beautiful interior design work at Da Silva Design, or follow her on Instagram @dasilvadesignhouse.

Has Celine Da Silva inspired you to hire out your home as a shoot location? List your property with us today and our experienced team will guide you through the process of joining our location library.

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