How Alexandra Tolstoy made a rental house her own, House Garden
Behind the neat redbrick façade of a classic Victorian terrace in London are interiors with a fairytale charm. As these combine English chintz and romanticera Russian details with a gallery of wonders, it will not surprise regular readers of House Garden or her many Instagram followers to learn that it is the latest home of the writer, explorer and polymath of style Alexandra Tolstoy and her three children, Aliosha, Ivan and Marusya. What is surprising, given the layers of ornamentation, is that Alexandra decorated the house in just 10 days, following eviction from her previous home in Chelsea, after the Russian government claimed it against alleged debts owed by Alexandras ex and the father of her children, the oligarch Sergei Pugachev. She has conjured magic from mettle, giving a masterclass in starting again, downsizing and decorating within the limits of a rental contract, while creating a beguiling home for her children full of treasures valued for reasons that do not rel
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