Living with art at The Russet Pulse

Most homes hang art at the end, on whatever wall is left. At The Russet Pulse, the paintings came first. MAD Studio planned the family villa around a collection, and every room was shaped to give a single work the wall it deserves.

The tone is set at the door. The entrance hall is floored in pale stone inlaid with fine bronze lines, and a staircase in deep green and red marble rises beside it. Beyond, a double-height living room opens up beneath a cascade of glass pendants, with a low fireplace set into a wall of hand-worked copper and a large figurative painting held in a frame of oak.

The palette is warm and assured. Book-matched walnut, honed marble and lacquered oxblood door frames repeat through the house, so each room feels related to the next. In the main living room, a hand-painted mural of big cats stretches across a screen wall, a deep burgundy sofa curves beneath it, and a woven armchair adds a lighter line.

The study is the most personal room in the house. Walnut shelves rise to the ceiling, a sculptural lamp leans over a leather lounge chair, and the desk sits beside tall windows onto the garden.

Upstairs, the master suite is calm and pale, framed by doorways lacquered in oxblood. A wardrobe wall in book-matched walnut runs the length of the dressing area, and the bathrooms change register entirely, with green marble, patterned stone and a deep bath.

Downstairs is a different world. A door hidden in the walnut panelling opens onto a lounge with deep leather sofas, a bar and a cinema, made for long evenings with friends. On the roof, a shaded terrace becomes a dining room under the sky.

Taken together, The Russet Pulse shows what MAD does when a client brings something they love. The house does not compete with the collection. It frames it, and in doing so becomes part of it.

Have a collection that deserves a home? Speak to MAD Studio about your residence.

See every room on the The Russet Pulse project page.