The style is all Melissa's
Yeah, Tchaik doesn't do...
he doesn't even like doing doorknobs really
He likes structure
I'm Tchaik Chassay, and my wife Melissa
We've lived here for over 40 years
It's pretty much, to this day, what I designed for David Hockney
My taste, you can see, is very mixed and bright
I had this room painted green for one of Tchaik's birthdays
It's just kind of a bit like dressing
You kind of put all the bits together
and then it looks fabulous
There's David Hockney's palette up there
This is a portrait of me by David Hockney
and I'm wearing a Fair Isle cardigan
that my mother knitted for me, lovingly knitted
and he tried to show that
but he ran out of patience
He bought the neighbouring flats
and asked me to join them up
and make a single flat out of the two
So we were able to take down the wall separating the two apartments
creating this vista, going through to the mews at the back
His love affair broke up
He felt horrified to live here, and we bought the flat
Of course the flat was designed for a gay bachelor
but nevertheless, it's been a very efficient kitchen
to bring up a family
The doors are like a fridge door
Above the kitchen cabinets, a garden, an indoor garden
nurtured by Melissa, and helped by the compost that I make
on the little balcony over there
Tchaik's very proud of composting
I would probably, had I not met Melissa
ended up in a white room with one avocado plant
and a mattress on the floor
That is very beautiful, isn't it?
The thing he really hates is the books
The books just accumulate
This pile is usually "to be read"
There's a nasty pile of books behind the chair
hiding from Tchaik
Books on the windowsill, which I've mostly read
Here is where I do my work when I'm at home
surrounded by books
They just pile up
My great aunt made her living copying paintings
So she used to go to people's houses who were bankrupt
like in the Twenties, particularly, and paint the ancestors
So she copied our ancestor, but made it much smaller
and I must tell you
it's not as good as the van Dyck in the National Gallery
Well, when you're converting a building
you're really trying to find ways
of making the best of the space that exists
and to find ways of moving through from one space to another
in a gracious way
That's by a rather famous American called Tina Barney
Everybody thinks my son is snorting cocaine
but actually he's got terrible sinuses
and he's sniffling
We've been here so long, and somehow it sort of fits our lifestyle
at different stages of our life, perfectly well
This table could speak, absolutely! >From Proust on!
So they say, from Proust on...
I never imagined I'd be here forever
but it looks like it!
Okay
And off we go!
I'm sure you're bored to death in here by now