A few weeks after moving house, Anna Parker received a call from her mother, who had been passing Anna's old home when she noticed that the new owner, tennis star Greg Rusedski, had put Anna's much-loved Lacanche cooker out on the street. Soon enough, she summoned help and the cooker was neatly rehoused in Anna's kitchen.
Anna and Nat Parker had bought the cooker for their first home, a Victorian schoolhouse, which they transformed into a townhouse-cum-industrial-loft-space. This experience proved useful when they moved to their large family home in Shepherd's Bush where Anna, who used to be an actress, now lives with Nat, an actor, and their two daughters Angelica, six, and Raphaella, four. The challenges posed by the new house spurred Anna's passion for interiors and were the impetus behind her latest venture: an architectural design company called The Mrs P's, which she started with her friend Abi Pritchard.
With the arrival of baby Raphaella, and with Nat increasingly being called upon to travel to America for film roles, Anna wanted to spend more time at home. Thus, The Mrs P's fitted itself into her life. “We started off doing bits and bobs for people and the business has grown and grown.”
Anna believes she can offer her own experience of how to balance style with practicalities. She had initially approached her own house from a visual perspective, but soon began to realise “oh dear, there's nowhere to put our coats” and “there's nowhere to store the kids' toys”. Her pragmatism also stretches to the financial side of doing up a house. “I don't believe in spending a lot of money when you don't have to,” she says firmly.
Anna is passionate about creating the space and lifestyle her clients want. “A lot of people are intimidated by the notion of using a designer or architect; they think they're going to be overwhelmed,” she says. “Our philosophy is to encourage people to decide what they want and help them achieve it.”
Thinking about the home that she and Nat have created, Anna says, “It was dark with lots of small rooms but it had a lovely, family home atmosphere.” As you enter, it is incredible to think how the Parkers turned a warren of rooms into a dramatic gallery two storeys high.
A balustrade of wrought ironwork, originally bought from a French antique market and recast “by one of those real, old craftsmen in south London” frames the gallery, which integrates the family areas of the home into one huge room. Anna attributes her “addiction to knocking out walls” to her family roots. “I get it from my mother – she's a fantastic creator of space.”
Small details of Anna's home, from the dressing-table trinkets to the art on the walls, reveal Anna's design philosophy. “We all like pieces that reflect our history in our home. I think that's really important.”
Furniture bought from junkshops in her twenties sits alongside more recent buys. “I love the juxtaposition of old and new,” says Anna. Pointing out the white-lacquered floorboards of her bedroom that have cracked over time, she says, “Interior design should not be about a quest for perfection, but an organic process over time.”

WORDS PHILIPPA RONALD
PHOTOGRAPHS JAN BALDWIN
STYLING LUCY BERRIDGE
MAY 2004