Detail of a Rough Luxe Hotel guest room with beautiful layers of paint and plaster shown in the patina of the wall finish. The fabrics of the daybed are silks and velvets in shades of olive green and purples.

rough luxe

Grade II listed building refurbishment, and conversion into a boutique hotel, architecture, interior design, FF&E and art sourcing

kings cross, london

‘Rough Luxe’ is as much the name of a movement as an organisation, and was coined by Rabih Hage. Rough Luxe also shares its name with the Rough Luxe Hotel in Kings Cross, London, whose overall concept and interiors were devised by Hage. This small hotel in a Georgian terraced house is the antithesis of a hotel chain with air-conditioned constancy, polished finishes and bland colours. Instead, visitors step through the door to discover a fascinating blend of urban archaeology; partially sanded surfaces, bare floorboards, walls stripped back to older layers of paint and patching, mingled with gloriously opulent contemporary wallpaper, art and exquisitely comfortable beds.

View of a dining room with trompe-l'œil photographic wallpaper to one wall and ceiling. The ceiling shows the cupola of a grand European church, and the wall shows a perspective of a timber-panelled library.
Detail of the small reception lounge. In the typical style of the hotel, the walls have been sanded back to reveal a patina of layered coats of paint and plasterwork. A coral inspired plaster chandelier hangs from the ceiling. There is a large photo
Detail of a guest room with an ornately carved wooden headboard, with black snakeskin print fabric upholstery. On the patinaed wall hangs a photo of an Italian palazzo by Massimo Listri.
View of a shower room flooded with natural light from the window. The far wall displays the characteristic layered patina.
Corner of a buest room showing a vintage 1970s television and a sculptural plaster cabinet, in front of the layered wall patina.
A luxurious free-standing copper bath sits in front of the patchy remnants of vintage striped wallpaper.
A back terrace with the logo of the hotel painted on a brick wall. Tables and chairs are made of highly lacquered scrap wood.
Detail of the terrace with hotel logo and lacquered scrap wood furniture.
Detail of a guest room with a large natural linen upholstered sofa-day bed. The wall patina is a pale yellow.
Detail of Room 2, door number on the wall patina.
Guest room detail with large cream damask upholstered sofa-daybed. The wall patina shows colours of green and tan. Artworks with a red flower and simple red fish.
Detail of a bathroom with burgundy painted toilet niche and typical wall patina. On the wall hangs a photo of designer Philippe Starck by Jonathan Root.
Detail of a contemporary shower enclosure, against the wall patina.
Detail of a red lacquered bathroom vanity with white ceramic basin and mirror above.
Detail of a guest room with the large sofa-daybed upholstered in a textured red fabric, with brass studs. The wall is papered in a large red floral print with gold background.
Detail of a guest room through a doorway with a photo of a grand hallway by Massimo Listri.
The bathroom with a large copper bath viewed from the other direction, showing a black painting with text by Susan Shup, and a shower enclosure. On the ceiling is an octagonal ceiling light in chrome and frosted glass.
Detail of a black metal bird on a branch wall lamp by Patrice Gruffaz.
Detail of the timber stairs with original wooden balustrade. On the wall behind is a bold black wallpaper with opalescent green damask design.
Detail of a vintage wall sconce on the patinaed wall.
Eclectic dining room with trompe-l'œil photographic wallpaper of a library and church cupola. All chairs are a mix of period and style. Mirrored artwork behind by Daniel Baker, "This is Shit".
Detail of patinaed ceiling and a pleated red velvet curtain.

area: 2,800 ft²

client: rough luxe hotel group

“Beauty is subjective,” Hage explains, “Perfection doesn’t mean beauty. It’s not important. What makes a place great to stay is the location, the welcome you get and how well you are looked after. The material side is irrelevant.”

“When I started looking at this building to see what was there, we began to take off some of the wallpaper to get a better idea and all these layers were revealed beneath with traces of older patterns and prints. So we decided that rather than stripping everything away and re-doing it all, we would show the beauty of these layers and explore the story of the house itself with a minimum of structural changes. This was how the idea of Rough Luxe began.”

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