PHOTOS: SEAN MALLIA

LABOUROF LOVE

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THE PROJECT

Natasha Borg has been collecting furniture for a while.Now, these painstakingly restored authentic vintage pieceshave found their rightful place in the eclectic design of anOld Bakery Street boutique hotel. Every corner of TheColeridge has a story to tell.

When Natasha Borg and TrevorZahra got their hands on 89, Old BakeryStreet, Valletta, the façade of the 17th-century three-storey house wasscarred by some intrusive interventionsthat took place over recent years. But itdidn’t take long for the accretions –“anything that wasn’t authentic to theplace, the period and Valletta” – to bestripped off.

Natasha wouldn’t have it any otherway. With a background in History ofArt & Architecture, Culture Planning & Regeneration, it is not surprisingthat the rationale was to retain and regenerate as much as possible of the house’s original character and features.

Being eco-conscious – even thehotel’s stationery is recycled andtoiletries refillable – the starting pointwas to restore what they could, whichnever means taking the easy way out.

Inhabited when they bought it,minimal intervention was required interms of civil works, so the initial ideawas to embark on cosmetic designchanges. But as the ball got rolling,there was no stopping them fromdelving into minute detail, turning theproject into a labour of love and leavingno stone unturned… almost literally.

When digging for the lift, theydiscovered a cellar, which had beenfilled with debris. It was restored andturned into the dining room, where

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breakfast is served, and could alsoserve as storage for a smallselection of fine wines.

Natasha and Trevor took on thearduous project management of theplace and its interior design with fullforce – cutting no corners andprobably complicating life. Andfinally, the fruits of what seemed tobe a thankless task are starting tobe reaped as The Coleridgewelcomes its first guests.

The design concept was basedon “respect” for the context, but

also on a passion for vintage piecesand creative recycling, which meansbarely any off-the-shelf items havebeen used to decorate its individualand distinct five rooms [soon to besix with the addition of aconnecting duplex suite]. Manyitems were sourced by word ofmouth and purchased locally andinternationally. And restoration wasthe name of the game.

It would have been much easierto replace the doors, for example,but it’s not Natasha’s style. Each

one is original. Each was stripped tobare wood, restored and repainted[by a painter, and an artist for thedetail] and modified to integrate the electronic lock system. Thesedoors alone – the only items in the property that are all the same – required the work of severaldifferent craftsmen, not to mentionremovals and dismantling.

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IT’S NOT SO MUCHTHE IDEAS. THE

PROBLEM, MORETHAN ANYTHING, ISFINDING SOMEONETO EXECUTE THEM

Looking back, it was a“nightmare”, Natasha admits. And it is not surprising either that she“almost had palpitations” when shewas told she had no choice but touse stainless steel electronic locksystem handles when the originalswere brass and she had evensourced brass peepholes. But Trevor managed to eventually

track them down. And even the brass escutcheons were boughtfrom abroad.

Like this story, there are others. In one of the suites, the lampshadesby the bed are not only hanging,but also upside down. To do this, abespoke metal structure had to becreated [and hidden] to hold themup, and other details designed to

cover and tidy the alterations; then, of course, the shade had to be made…

As with most objects in thishotel, a whole lengthy process wasinvolved and, sometimes, severalhands. “It’s not so much the ideas,”Natasha says. “The problem, morethan anything, is finding someone to execute them.”

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THE PROJECT

Take, for example, the three-armed brass bedside wall lightsin one of the rooms. They aremore than what meets the eye;a complex process of restoring,replacing and rewiring, as wellas re-upholstery.

“They were one of the first piecesI bought. I even replaced thecandle-like tube of worn-out plasticwith hand-rolled paper I sourcedfrom abroad…,” she says.

Their shades are created from thesame rich fabric of the pelmet andcushions… But only because Natashahas an eye for interiors. “It wasactually passed onto me by a friendto use to cover and protect the

furniture while we were doing works.Originally, the fabric was a curtain inan old house. I gave it one look andfell in love with it, dry-cleaned it afew times and this is the result.”

With an approach of the sort, it is no wonder that no two suites arethe same; no two colours; no twopieces of furniture. Starting from thereception, with its panelling in adeep green and grey moulding, the

feeling is quintessentially English;but in the corridor, the stone slabs[xorok] are laid bare, moving ontothe Maltese architectural feel.

IT WAS ACTUALLY PASSED ONTO ME BY A FRIEND TO USE TOCOVER AND PROTECT THE FURNITURE WHILE WE WERE DOINGWORKS. ORIGINALLY, THE FABRIC WAS A CURTAIN IN AN OLD HOUSE. I GAVE IT ONE LOOK AND FELL IN LOVE WITH IT,DRY-CLEANED IT A FEW TIMES AND THIS IS THE RESULT

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A French flair is coupled withbaroque and Art Deco touches too.

The rooms contain anything fromperiod pieces from the 18th centuryto G Plan and flea market furniture,items from the 1970s, bought inauction sales, and modern Danishdesigns, all tastefully intertwinedand with a story to tell.

“I used to just buy what I liked,but knowing the hotel wasunderway, I’d keep it in mind,”Natasha says. Her antiquewardrobes, French polished fromscratch, have found the ideal use;chandeliers have been cleaned and rewired; and original 1920sbedside tables have the space forthe bedpans.

The Napoleon chair in one of thespacious rooms was “battered and

horribly upholstered”. It has beenstuffed and looks as good as newand better. Opposite, a daintybureau de dame doubles as theideal and clever desk for a laptop. It needed light restoration and theback was upholstered in velvet,Natasha explains.

“It was originally designed to livewith its back – in flat and unpolishedwood – hidden against the wall. Butit has been given a more three-dimensional use now, occupying thespace in a different way…”

Natasha points out the differentand pristine Art Deco chairs in thesuites, and no one can miss theleather deco-style armchair, whichlends itself beautifully to the room it is in – probably also because it isthe space it has always occupied,

being one of the few pieces keptfrom the original house.

The art in the rooms, includingseveral engravings, plays animportant role for Natasha; eachpiece is original and was boughtspecifically for each suite. In one, the subject is architectural designand fortifications, with an interestingreference to an engineer whoworked in Malta back in the day.

In another, Grand Masters’portraits, typical of old houses andusually lining the stairs, sourced awhile back from a local auction,have been “integrated” in the loungearea, with a “more modern twist asthey take centre stage”.

Mirrored sconces weredismantled and recreated in a teameffort, and Victorian glass shades

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THE PROJECT

are also linked to a saga: they were probably hanging, or on alampstand, but Natasha’s becamewall lights to be sure she went downthe more complicated route. Thelight fitting she designed had to beproduced from scratch, which meantfinding someone who works withbrass and was willing and able to dothe job. [Thanks go to her electrician,who patiently worked on all her lightendeavours, she points out.]

When all was done and dusted,“we had to find the brass screws”. In fact, it’s not the first time Natashaand Trevor went to London andspent four days running aroundhardware stores for the right screws

and escutcheons. “Our holidayshave been hilarious,” she admits.

In fact, although most items havebeen recycled, some had to besourced from overseas to meetNatasha’s needs… down to the plantpots. And if she had to choose,

IT’S NOT THE FIRST TIME NATASHA AND TREVOR WENT TOLONDON AND SPENT FOUR DAYS RUNNING AROUND HARDWARESTORES FOR THE RIGHT SCREWS AND ESCUTCHEONS

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her pride and joy are the moderndesigner LED bulbs she turned intosimple pendant bedside lights in thetop-floor room, the Fayette Suite,which has a more modern feel, mixingrust with green and a feature wall offoliage wallpaper. “I could easily lookat these bulbs for an hour,” she says.

While the old Maltese tiles in therooms were salvaged, wherepossible, and ceilings expose stoneslabs and beams, the bathroomshave a more modern micro-cementfinish. But each one stands out forits different vanities, some original,with antique marble surfaces, othersin the form of a restored and reusedantique table, as well as the modernconcrete version.

The bottom line is that nothing is made to look old, Natasha insists.“All in all, it was a fun project,

especially in terms of colours, andhere I was fortunate to be able tobounce off ideas with my goodfriend Henry,” she adds.

Natasha loves the fact that TheColeridge is located at the bottomof Valletta – more easily accessiblefrom below, in fact – with Fort StElmo and the sea in its view.

“It’s central, and yet, at the sametime, it’s not in the hustle and bustleof the city. While still having theadvantage of being on one of itsprinciple streets, you are not in the thick of it when you step out,and important sites like the Grand Master’s Palace are just aroad away. The whole area is beingregenerated,” says Natasha.

And it is, in fact, the address ofthe boutique hotel that inspired itsname. Rather than go for the

obvious and focus on the period ofthe Knights of the Order of St John,Natasha and Trevor wanted theproperty to have a literary themeand toyed with various related ideas.

Since the poet Samuel TaylorColeridge spent some time in Maltaand actually lived in Old BakeryStreet, he was the obvious choice.And the names of the suites are allrelated to his poetry.

Yes, the anecdotes abound at The Coleridge. A former ownerpasses by and tells Natasha andTrevor the wood of the beams in oneof the rooms was from the hull of agalleon from the time of the Knights.

So it seems the Order hasmanaged to infiltrate the décor of this child-free, boutique hotelanyway to add to the exquisiteeclectic mix that it is.