Sandrine Zhang Ferron worked hard for her first piece of vintage furniture. Shortly after she and her husband bought their London townhome, Ferron went on the hunt for a yellow chair, not totally caring if it was by a noteworthy designer—she just wanted something that matched the flecks of gold in her cat’s eyes. Easier said than done. “I realized there were a lot of local antique shops that I didn’t know about and were very difficult to find online,” she recalls. “After spending three months and all my weekends trying to find this yellow chair, I thought, surely, there is a better way to do this.” Turns out, she came up with one. In 2015, Ferron left her longtime career in finance to launch Vinterior, now the U.K.’s leading online marketplace for pre-owned furniture and decor.
The Poul Volther chair that started it all has bounced around Ferron’s home over the past 12 years (these days it lives in a cozy corner near the dining area), and the same can really be said for most of the pieces in her space. It’s constantly evolving.
Slowly filling the home with storied furniture has only been one part of the equation. Not long after Ferron and her husband bought the property in December 2013, they kicked off renovations, starting with their primary bathroom. Then, during the height of Covid when Ferron was pregnant with their daughter, they moved out of the house for four months so they could rework the kitchen layout and add larger doors leading to the new garden. These days, she’s focused on smaller DIYs, like finally reupholstering a cushion-less chair and footstool she bought about nine years ago. “My husband said, ‘You need to do something or get rid of it.’ And I was like, ‘No, no, I can’t!’” says Ferron. “Now it’s where I have my morning coffee.”
Ahead, the vintage enthusiast takes us on a tour and shares some of her other favorite treasures along the way.
We are really glad we worked with a kitchen designer who learned about our cooking habits, how we like to host, and was able to marry functionality and design. They convinced us to try induction, which I was anti at first but now I’m so convinced on (we have a Bora extractor so there’s no vent hood hanging over us). We also put in a hot water tap so we don’t have to use a kettle all the time. My husband got a super-sized wine fridge, which he was very quick to fill up. | Wall Color, Setting Plaster by Farrow & Ball.On our last trip before Covid, before we had our daughter, we went to Valparaiso, Chile, and saw these paintings by an artist named Felipe Castro in a cafe. We asked about them and he was quite happy to ship them to London, including this blue one. Since then, we’ve been following him on Instagram and bought two more pieces. The cabinets under the stairs are mostly for pantry goods, and there’s a spot for grocery bags. I saw some photos of restaurants with these wooden slats, which I thought was a cool idea for adding more texture and character to the space. The travertine dining table weighed around 900 pounds. Four people had to deliver it, so we can basically never move it. It stays with the house.
Because our living room was quite long, it was a struggle to figure out furniture without people sitting in a row, so we created a semi-partition with shelves. One side is a TV space where our daughter can hang out and the other (with the fireplace) can be used for reading and entertaining. It’s more for the grown-ups. | Dimity (Wall Color) and Oxford Stone (Ceiling Color) by Farrow & Ball.
I bought the ceramic cheetah sculpture for my husband for our anniversary. I just found it fun. There are always those items that feel quite bold, like who buys that? So I said, ‘Okay, I’m going to buy it.’ | Dillon & Wheeler Multipa Chair via Vinterior.
In the second half of last year, we saw the volume triple of Art Deco pieces. Maybe it’s because people want a bit more of a maximalist touch. My style has evolved over time. I was really into Scandinavian and mid-century designers at first, and now I’ve become more interested in older antiques and mixing textures like bamboo and brass. I usually just buy what I like and then try to find a space for it. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t—I can always resell it.
We had an old-fashioned gray and wooden headboard before. We were a bit inspired by Soho Home to make this arched one that’s covered in velvet and bouclé (we didn’t want too much bouclé because it can’t survive our cat). The fluted closet doors were inspired by a cottage we stayed at in the Cotswolds that had something similar. When we did our daughter’s room, we thought, how can we have a space where she can grow up in? I wanted it to be neutral and joyful, so we went with yellow. She loves yellow.| Chair, Loaf.We needed a lot of storage because kids’ stuff accumulates, and big handles on the wardrobes so she can open them up herself. The lampshade is vintage. Since this photo was taken, we’ve upgraded her crib to a secondhand IKEA toddler bed that’s metallic and pink. | Millwork Paint Color, Lamplighter by Craig & Rose; Walls and Trim Color, Dayroom Yellow by Farrow & Ball.
