With our Book Club series, we hand over the proverbial mic to our Experts—letting them share their work, their thought process, and their best tips, all in their own words. The following is an excerpt from Sophie Ashby’s book Home Art Soul, published last month with Rizzoli.

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It was an extraordinary experience working on this contemporary seaside villa.

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Not least because its interiors ended up feeling a world away from its seafront location, set against the constant soundtrack of seagull cries and the perpetual roll and crash of the sea’s waves. Generally, we don’t go for themed interiors in a home. It may be the right thing to do in a commercial space; but at home, if you’re living and breathing being by the seaside, you don’t need to come home after a day at the beach to see wave-patterned wallpaper and shell-encrusted mirrors. For a visual seaside fix, you can simply look out the window.

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Originally built in 1894 as a Victorian ladies’ Turkish baths and swimming pool, complete with colorful glazed tiles, years later it moonlighted as a makeshift hospital during the Second World War and then as artists’ studios, before eventually falling into dereliction after a fire in 2013 (its cause unknown). Our clients couldn’t bear the thought of it being torn down and turned into an anonymous block of flats, so they bought it.

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We collaborated closely with the clients for nearly six years. Our studio was in West London at the time and their London base was nearby. They would walk to us for regular meetings to discuss the intricacies of how they live, what they like, what they needed, and how this house could serve them best, thereby providing us with a detailed framework around which to design their new home. My favorite example is their request to be able to make a cup of tea while barely having to move one’s feet—the teacup, tea bag, teaspoon, boiling water tap, fridge drawer, and bin were all within 2 ft of each other. This is what designing a home from scratch is all about, making those daily rituals more pleasurable.

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While they were excited by the volumes of space that came with the pared-back, almost monolithic form of this four-story building, inside they wanted it to feel like home. We played with shades of turmeric, paprika, saffron, cumin, and ginger in the fabrics, furniture, and artwork.

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We also brought in subtle hints of the history of the area by taking a studio field trip to the Brighton Pavilion for lessons in daring eclecticism and color clashing. As a result, we lined the bathroom walls with glossy zellige tiles colored the same shade as the aqua sea glimpsed through the windows as a nod to the old Turkish baths (the tiles of which are still found—albeit no longer pristine—around the edges of what is now the courtyard garden).

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Glimmering golden hand-painted de Gournay wallpaper, an antique Oriental fireplace, a beautiful vintage Venetian mirror, a silk Fortuny pendant light, and a softly pleated tented ceiling have transformed the den, off the primary bedroom, into a private sanctuary. We wanted this room to feel like a total departure from the rest of the house, almost like stepping back in time to a bygone era. The clients’ previous home was a period Georgian affair, so this room is a nod to that in its feel and intimate scale, providing a break from the modernity and volume of this unique building’s architecture.

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In the music room, a hand-painted mural by the owners’ daughter-in-law lends a different pace of energy again. This room is designed for a family of musicians and writers, to entice play and creativity, with plenty of floor space to perform and stand around the piano. The clients’ own lovely Rifat Ozbek striped rug gave us the basis for the color palette, while the two giant armchairs invite you to ditch the screens and take in the vibrant scenes and figures that dance around the room.

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Buy Home Art Soul and meet with Sophie to get personalized advice for your own home.