Today Architectural Digest is welcomed by British model, actor, and activist, Adwoa Aboah, to tour her charming London home. When the Top Boy star first viewed her Victorian-era home five years ago it was falling apart at the seams but despite this, she knew it was home. Together, architectural designer Lewis Kane and AD100 designer Beata Heuman, helped Adwoa transform the fixer-upper into a delightful space bursting with color, pattern, and profound character. Heartfelt mementos from Adwoa’s life fill the space, and with a garden landscaped by her aunt and her sister’s artwork hanging on the walls, these familial touches make her house feel like home. “Friends have said if they could imagine a house that described me, this would be it. I feel very at peace here. It is like my sanctuary.”
SAG-AFTRA members are currently on strike; as part of the strike, union actors are not promoting their film and TV projects. This interview was conducted prior to the strike.
SAG-AFTRA members are currently on strike; as part of the strike, union actors are not promoting their film and TV projects. This interview was conducted prior to the strike.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 Hi, AD. It's Adjoa Burr.
00:02 Welcome to my home.
00:04 Come on in. Take your shoes off and come in.
00:06 We are now in my living room.
00:20 Drawing room, lounge room,
00:22 whatever you want to call it.
00:24 This is where I sit and binge watch TV.
00:26 But I don't like
00:28 how a room can
00:30 centre around just the TV.
00:32 So, we decided
00:34 to make a very nifty
00:36 TV cabinet.
00:38 Big up my uncle Steve,
00:40 Steve's husband from Yorkshire
00:42 who painted this amazing
00:44 still life for me.
00:46 And then look at this.
00:48 Fat TV, Netflix,
00:50 Apple, whatever you want to watch
00:52 on here.
00:54 This house was like falling down.
00:56 So, I had to really
00:58 pull it apart and put it back together.
01:00 And I really wanted to keep
01:02 a lot of the original stuff.
01:04 All the banister is original.
01:06 The floor that you saw and the entrance.
01:08 This corner thing was based off
01:10 the corner thing that was already in the house.
01:12 My interior designer is called Beata Hayman.
01:14 And she's mega
01:16 and her lovely partner in crime,
01:18 Fosca.
01:20 I'm prone to fluffy,
01:22 pink, Hello Kitty,
01:24 leopard print, anything
01:26 that's like kind of repulsively
01:28 tacky. So, it was quite
01:30 good to have someone tone that down.
01:32 I grew up in a really colourful house.
01:34 I'm not really interested in everything
01:36 like matching. I'm obviously
01:38 not a minimalist.
01:40 So, from top to bottom
01:42 it is a reflection of who I am.
01:44 I am prone to being
01:46 quite a neurotic
01:48 house owner.
01:50 I definitely have OCD.
01:52 So, people are quite
01:54 impressed when I built this house how chilled
01:56 I've actually become.
01:58 And so I think it's more of an enjoyable space
02:00 for people. When my friend Ruby
02:02 first came, she danced on
02:04 this, knocked that down. And I didn't
02:06 even get annoyed about it. So, I thought that was quite impressive.
02:08 This is my pride
02:10 and joy. There's quite
02:12 a few things I would save in a
02:14 fire. I would try my best
02:16 to get this out the house. I don't know if it's possible.
02:18 As you can see, it's humongous.
02:20 This is by the very mega
02:22 and talented Ariana Papa Metropolis.
02:24 I commissioned
02:26 this piece years ago.
02:28 I lived at my mum and dad's
02:30 house. It was the first money I ever
02:32 made and I put it into
02:34 buying a piece of work that I really loved.
02:36 I'm a big manifester, so I kind of
02:38 was just manifesting the idea that
02:40 one day I'd have a wall
02:42 to put it up on.
02:44 Oh, fuck. This is the coolest.
02:46 This is the coolest.
02:48 This is the coolest.
02:50 Anyone who knows me really well
02:52 knows that I'm obsessed with anything
02:54 kind of phallic
02:56 or obscure
02:58 or risky.
03:00 So,
03:02 this penis lamp
03:04 has been made and commissioned by
03:06 an amazing furniture maker who's
03:08 a great friend of mine, Max McClintock.
03:10 And my friend, Celia
03:12 Burton, commissioned it for them.
03:14 They made it for my 30th.
03:16 And then Alice Palmer made the lampshade.
03:18 I always love it in AD,
03:20 like all those funny videos of everyone
03:22 going on about their wood pieces. So I might just
03:24 lie and say this was like carved
03:26 by monks in the 18th century
03:28 as a voodoo ritualistic
03:30 kind of
03:32 thing against all men.
03:34 But it wasn't.
03:36 This is quite like an odd room
03:44 because it took a little bit
03:46 longer to make kind of cozy.
03:48 I think I had this idea that
03:50 I was going to sit and have romantic
03:52 dinners around this table.
03:54 I definitely don't do that.
03:56 So this has kind of become
03:58 like a museum
04:00 of my life and my weird things
04:02 and my knickknacks. My friend
04:04 Mercedes makes all these weird
04:06 and wonderful ceramics.
04:08 My sister,
04:10 Kesua Boa, is an amazing
04:12 artist. So this
04:14 was her piece when she
04:16 graduated art school in
04:18 New York. Oh, fuck, this
04:20 is sick. So, to Adjua,
04:22 love, Kirsten Dunst.
04:24 So, back in the day
04:26 I used to go and paint pottery
04:28 in Labrador Grove with my sister
04:30 and we saw this woman that looked
04:32 exactly like Kirsten Dunst.
04:34 So we went up to her and we were like, "Oh my god,
04:36 has anyone ever told you
04:38 that you look so much like
04:40 Kirsten Dunst?" It was Kirsten Dunst.
04:42 So,
04:44 we got her to sign
04:46 our plate
04:48 and I've kept it ever since.
04:50 Prized possession, it should really go in like a glass cabinet.
04:52 I've never been the person who
04:54 likes to just kind of hide things. So,
04:56 photos of my mum and my cousins
04:58 and friends and family
05:00 who are no longer here. This room
05:02 could have been that room where you just kind of
05:04 dump all your stuff in, but actually
05:06 it's definitely my favourite.
05:08 Oh look, this is cool.
05:10 My Barbie.
05:12 She's got a prized place
05:14 in her own throne.
05:16 But I was very lucky enough to
05:18 have been able to create my
05:20 own Barbie with my towels. She's got her
05:22 girl's talk look, she's got her
05:24 bougie outfit, so we love
05:26 that. Beata and Fosca
05:28 got this mirror made in like Italy
05:30 and I love the idea of like all the
05:32 artwork reflecting back
05:34 into it. I bought this in
05:36 Tetbury and
05:38 I completely fell in love with it.
05:40 It just feels like a grand
05:42 disco ball.
05:44 These are cool.
05:46 [laughs]
05:48 No joke, that's
05:50 a real croissant and that's a real baguette.
05:52 I found them in Paris
05:54 and I thought it was the coolest
05:56 thing I've ever seen, to be
05:58 quite honest.
06:04 This
06:06 is the kitchen, which
06:08 is amazing. You know, I spend
06:10 my life here
06:12 cooking soufflés
06:14 and curries and
06:16 Sunday roasts and, you know,
06:18 extravagant chocolate cakes.
06:20 I don't, I don't
06:22 actually, I don't cook anything in
06:24 here. My boyfriend or my sister,
06:26 my cousin George is an amazing
06:28 chef at Brat,
06:30 so he comes and cooks me amazing dinners.
06:32 I'm a really good cleaner.
06:34 I can do all the dishes, but
06:36 when it comes to cooking, I'm not amazing.
06:38 When you have skylights like this,
06:40 what I thought is that you had to have quite
06:42 like, kind of ugly shaving,
06:44 but Beata and
06:46 Fosca are genius
06:48 and they found these
06:50 rattan ones. So, I mean, I
06:52 rarely open them because it is like a hot box
06:54 in here, but there's something really beautiful
06:56 about when the light comes in.
06:58 The thing is about this kitchen is I,
07:00 as urban as it gets, I couldn't be less
07:02 country, but it does
07:04 give off this kind of like
07:06 modern country-esque
07:08 vibe, do you know what I mean? Without
07:10 being too like, kitsch.
07:12 I would say my style is kind of like
07:14 a tacky granny.
07:16 Maybe, maybe, yeah.
07:18 Something like that.
07:20 Yeah. I think.
07:22 We've got, you know,
07:24 a heart boner here. My friend
07:26 Jeff made that. It started
07:28 with this chopping board
07:30 and then we put it on
07:32 the island because who
07:34 doesn't want an island that has
07:36 a heart boner on it?
07:38 And you know, teak, teak,
07:40 teak.
07:42 And we covered these
07:44 in leopard print. I didn't want you to
07:46 come into a house, or for me to
07:48 live in a house where everything felt like
07:50 it had just been made. So
07:52 a lot of the furniture is like old
07:54 and been reupholstered.
07:56 This is probably my favourite. This is
07:58 by an amazing Ghanaian artist
08:00 called Gideon Appa.
08:02 And it's all based around like kind of
08:04 found photos and I just
08:06 completely fell in love with it.
08:08 My magnets are
08:10 a great obsession of mine.
08:12 I changed the photos up,
08:14 but the magnets I've been collecting since
08:16 like for years and years and years.
08:18 So I'm proud of my
08:20 magnet collection. Look.
08:22 A fridge magnet
08:24 for your fridge.
08:26 Sorry. I think that's cool.
08:28 If I have a few minutes, I'll just
08:30 sit here in between like
08:32 calls or the podcast or
08:34 whatever it is that I'm having to do and I'll
08:36 just like have a moment to myself.
08:38 The sun, because it's south facing
08:40 my garden, I get amazing light that
08:42 comes in here. So I just get to like
08:44 lounge.
08:46 Come out to my amazing
08:52 garden, my pride
08:54 and joy. My
08:56 auntie Sarah, Sarah's husband.
08:58 You should definitely use her.
09:00 She's an amazing gardener.
09:02 I didn't want something that looked
09:04 so pristine
09:06 and she did it
09:08 in such a beautiful way.
09:10 My mum and dad fought me on having grass.
09:12 I kind of
09:14 agree with them. It is annoying to maintain
09:16 and my sister's dog keeps on
09:18 pissing all over it. So that's annoying
09:20 as well. It's like a rainforest
09:22 back here. I've got so many bees,
09:24 robins.
09:26 I do my part for
09:28 the environment
09:30 and I have a compost over there.
09:32 I'm about to have some friends over.
09:34 It's all laid out very neatly
09:36 and we're going to just
09:38 sit here and share this one lemon.
09:40 Barbarella, boogie nights.
09:48 I love these two
09:50 paintings that were made by
09:52 a great artist in Ghana called
09:54 Daniel Jasper
09:56 and back in the day
09:58 as we all know they weren't making
10:00 digi film
10:02 posters so he was one of
10:04 the main painters of them back
10:06 in Ghana. What I love about them is
10:08 there's just something slightly off about
10:10 them. Her face is just slightly
10:12 weird and so is hers
10:14 but that's what makes them
10:16 super cool. My cousin
10:18 gave me that for my 30th so obviously
10:20 who doesn't want
10:22 a light bulb for their 30th birthday? I was
10:24 very happy to get one so I put that up
10:26 there. My
10:28 mum was
10:30 a photographic agent for years.
10:32 Peri Ogden, an amazing
10:34 Irish photographer was one of
10:36 her first photographers that she
10:38 read back in the 80s
10:40 so I stole that from their house.
10:42 I'm actually
10:44 you know what? I'm not one of those people
10:46 who has a load of black and white
10:48 pictures of themselves on their wall but
10:50 I have these two
10:52 and they're small so
10:54 I'm going to let myself off but an
10:56 amazing photographer called
10:58 Jack Davidson did these and
11:00 I felt like he photographed me in a way that
11:02 I hadn't been photographed before.
11:04 Look, sorry
11:06 here we are again. Nadine
11:08 Farage.
11:10 [Music]
11:12 [Music]
11:14 [Music]
11:16 [Music]
11:18 So this is my bedroom. All I
11:20 have ever wanted
11:22 was a princess bed
11:24 and a TV in my room
11:26 because I didn't have a TV in my
11:28 room when I was growing up. Boo hoo me.
11:30 Tiny violin. And the third
11:32 thing I've always ever wanted was
11:34 matching curtains to
11:36 my wallpaper. I don't think it's
11:38 as cool. Do you know what I mean? I didn't go
11:40 overboard.
11:42 I love to say that I sit
11:44 here elegantly
11:46 doing my makeup but I don't
11:48 wear makeup so this is more again
11:50 like a shrine for
11:52 all my favourite people.
11:54 It looks a lot cleaner but usually I have my
11:56 Dyson fan
11:58 and it is the most
12:00 comfiest bed.
12:02 I think I
12:04 probably one of the bougiest things I bought
12:06 for this house was a Hastings
12:08 mattress but it was well
12:10 worth the great expense
12:12 and apparently they've got like
12:14 years and years of warranty.
12:16 I was told that someone like comes in
12:18 like massages it. I haven't had someone come
12:20 and massage it so I don't know
12:22 if it's time for that
12:24 but if it is
12:26 please Hastings send someone to
12:28 massage my mattress.
12:30 The carpet. I mean the carpet
12:32 is insane. Nothing really
12:34 goes in this room but I just
12:36 didn't want to have something that looked
12:38 like every other room you see.
12:40 Maybe it feels like it would be quite
12:42 loud for like a room
12:44 when you want to kind of have something
12:46 that's a bit more peaceful but actually
12:48 this room is like a sanctuary.
12:50 It's very peaceful and very quiet so
12:52 I absolutely
12:54 love it.
12:56 [Music]
13:04 This is my bathroom
13:06 which I absolutely
13:08 love. I have the best
13:10 bathtub. I made this
13:12 with Beata and Fosca.
13:14 It was actually just supposed to be my initials. I mean
13:16 it's a bit over the top but
13:18 who doesn't like their initials like somewhere
13:20 whether it be a wallet
13:22 or a curtain.
13:24 When I first thought about what kind of
13:26 bathroom I wanted it was going to be quite like
13:28 over the top. I love pink
13:30 but working with
13:32 Beata we decided that we
13:34 were just going to do like certain like
13:36 pink accents in the bathroom
13:38 so it still kind of stayed
13:40 relatively like clean and
13:42 serene and neutral.
13:44 I've got an amazing shower
13:46 for all my black girls
13:48 and black boys. We all know what this is.
13:50 I'm not going to even explain it.
13:52 My mum has an old chest of drawers
13:54 that she turned into a
13:56 sink and so I kind of
13:58 based that on this.
14:00 When I kind of thought of having a house
14:02 one day in my own home
14:04 there were certain things that were just kind of
14:06 non-negotiables and so
14:08 I'm very happy to have my like
14:10 Murano green chandelier
14:12 in my bathroom. An amazing
14:14 light comes through
14:16 this window
14:18 and to be quite honest I know this
14:20 sounds a bit cheesy but
14:22 I sit here sometimes and I'm like
14:24 wow. Like I'm
14:26 so so lucky that I have
14:28 a home like this and
14:30 I worked hard and
14:32 I was able to do this for myself
14:34 and so
14:36 sometimes I just sit here and think like
14:38 whoa, can't believe this is all
14:40 real. This room is particularly
14:42 like special I think. As I get
14:44 out of bed it's always the first room
14:46 that I come to. I definitely
14:48 like sitting here a lot.
14:50 You can walk through this bathroom
14:52 into my dressing room.
14:54 It is over the top, I'm not going to lie.
14:56 I have an all clothing problem,
14:58 shoe problem that I
15:00 am managing. But you know what?
15:02 I've been sober for nine years, we all got to have
15:04 a vice and that's my vice.
15:16 Thank you for coming to my home AD.
15:18 You've been amazing guests but now
15:20 you've got to go.
15:22 Mad love.
15:24 (upbeat music)
15:26 (chime)