Decorating Clareville Grove

Clareville Grove is a charming and secluded residential street in South Kensington, notable for its unusual mixture of Victorian terraced cottages and a pretty pedestrian mews that give it a markedly village-like character unexpected in this central London location. The street runs off Old Brompton Road and its smaller scale, varied building line, and mature planting make it one of the most distinctive and intimate residential pockets in SW7. It sits within a conservation area and has attracted writers, artists, and creative professionals throughout its history.

The varied and sometimes modest scale of Clareville Grove's cottages and mews properties requires decorators to work with care in a tight residential setting, with scaffolding often erected directly from the pavement in the narrow street. The conservation area designation and the eclectic mix of painted brick, rendered, and stock brick facades call for sympathetic colour choices and appropriate paint systems for each substrate.