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If ever there was a clue to the playful atmosphere of a house’s interior, it would be the tongue-in-cheek nomenclature of Gavin Houghton’s Tangier getaway: La Di Dar. With its signature stripes and patterns in a palette of emerald green, scarlet, and white, his dar (“home” in Arabic) is a mecca for those who appreciate bold pattern, saturated color, and a certain joie de vivre often missing in the muted, monochrome, tastefully modulated rooms that seem to multiply daily on Instagram. In Houghton’s own words, “International beige on beige is not for me”—or for any of the clients who enlist him as decorator.
Houghton stacked open kitchen shelving with Blue Willow tableware from England and green glazed Moroccan tableware from the Souk.
Annie Schlechter
Just off the central terrace is the dining room, where the table is covered in an old Berber blanket and walls are hung with Houghton’s portraits of his partner, interiors photographer Boz Gagovski.
Annie Schlechter
The terrace doubles as a plein air studio for Houghton’s painting classes.
Annie SchlechterHoughton, who honed his classic-with-a-twist aesthetic as an editorial stylist, is now a favorite of creative clients like artist Annie Morris, Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, and the writer Polly Samson. An effervescent multitasker, he also creates idiosyncratic pottery (reminiscent of Jean Cocteau or Pablo Picasso, it has gained quite a following) and watercolor paintings, working from a charming garden-shed studio in his London home, or, when in Tangier, an atelier-cum-bedroom that he added to an upper story of the house five years ago. Then there are the Tangier Painting Holidays, which he runs with longtime pal Joan Hecktermann, that attract pupils keen to draw and paint in extraordinary surroundings (Veere Grenney’s garden, for example).
Tangier has long been an unofficial clubhouse for roaming bohemians, a magnet for decorators, antiquarians, artists, writers, and aesthetes, so, naturally, when Houghton visited 20 years ago, he fit right in. The first house he rented with a group of friends had once been a base for Francis Bacon, who “left his brush strokes on a wall of the shed,” he recalls. Eventually, after numerous annual trips and with an ever-expanding local network of stylish friends, he casually asked a realtor to show him some houses. One of them, a four-story riad, brimmed with potential—especially for Houghton, who was just the right person to see past the somewhat seedy exterior. (“Up the steps, through a dark passageway, and past the sleeping heroin addict” were the directions issued on my first visit there.)
An expert in pattern play, Houghton sets a stylish yellow-painted table that he had made locally with red-striped cushions and a gingham cloth from a favorite Tangier flea market, Casabarata.
Annie Schlechter
The sitting room is clad in Houghton’s signature red-and-white stripes, which cover everything from the L-shaped banquette cushions (in a fabric Houghton had woven locally) to the painted ceiling. The light fixtures were found at local junk shops; “Brass lights are everywhere in the medina,” the designer says.
Annie SchlechterAnyone who has been enthralled by images of Houghton’s red-and-white-striped London stairwell is bound to enjoy the Tangier application of the designer’s signature style at La Di Dar. The rooms sing with dynamic pattern, and there’s as much attention lavished on outdoor spaces as the interiors. The courtyard on the upper floor of the four-story house provides a central living space, with doors to the kitchen on one side and the L-shaped sitting and dining room on the other. The floor is covered in zigzagging emerald-and-white Moroccan zellige tiles with green garden chairs to match; at lunch, guests might find the table dressed in jaunty red gingham or a blue ikat tablecloth teamed with green cabbage plates acquired at Casabarata, Tangier’s enormous home-goods flea market. Sunsets are best appreciated with gin and tonics on the top terrace, where Houghton added a long tiled banquette.
Greek Key wallpaper border by Adelphi Paper Hangings bisects deep green and turquoise mixed by the local painter, Mohamed. The portrait on the right wall is of Houghton's partner, photographer Boz Gagovski.
Annie Schlechter
The living room houses a collection of locally sourced pieces and art created by the many artist who come to dip their toes into Tangier’s fountain of inspiration.
Annie SchlechterIf you’re looking for more stripes, you’ll find them in the sitting room, where they adorn the ceiling and tiled fireplace, as well as a built-in sofa topped with piles of red-and-white cushions. Houghton has a knack for using simple fabrics—block prints, ikats, stripes—to modernize traditional pieces like the room’s Edwardian tufted sofa. Pieces of what he refers to as “brown furniture”—bought in London and shipped over in a container—unite his English roots with the exoticism of the Moorish architecture, adding a coziness that makes you want to linger by the hearth.
While Houghton admits that the original game plan was to find a “retirement base” with a more temperate climate than his home in London, it’s hard to imagine him abandoning any of his art and design projects any time soon. In fact, they are multiplying, with more painting holiday dates being added to the schedule, and a recently acquired house close to La Di Dar that he intends to tackle next. Far from retreating, Houghton is having a ball.
Houghton added his atelier-slash-bedroom suite on the third floor five years ago. The floor and adjoining bathroom are covered in cement tiles, laid out in a checkerboard pattern. A pair of lattice doors, found at a flea market nearby, was turned into a wardrobe. The headboard and pillows are in a custom fabric; the matelassé bedspread is from The White Company.
THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN VOLUME 13 OF FREDERIC MAGAZINE. CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE!
