Surrey, a home county southwest of London, has long been known for its bucolic surroundings and easy commuting distance into the city. But it is not where you might expect a 20-something English Premier League player to stake a claim for his forever home. You probably also wouldn’t expect the home itself: an understated, lightly midcentury-modern house designed in a palette of sophisticated neutrals. Then again, perhaps Ben Chilwell isn’t your average 20-something footballer either.
The English national team left back grew up in London, which meant by the time he was looking to purchase a home, a flat in the beating heart of the city wasn’t quite as appealing. “It’s nice to be outside of London, where it’s a bit more cozy,” he says of the area. “You’re a lot more within nature here—you can go on walks. But you can also dip in and dip out when you want to go into the carnage, so to speak.” Surrey is also close to the Chelsea F.C. training grounds, which, up until last month, was Chilwell’s Premier League club team (he’s now newly signed with French Ligue 1 team Strasbourg). “The practice stadium was the main reason I looked in this area,” he says. “I love my sleep, so being two minutes away from where we train was a big draw.”
But Surrey has also held a special significance to Chilwell since he was just a little kid: “I remember driving through here at 12 or 13 years old and thinking, ‘Oh, this is so motivational—this is the pinnacle of where I want to get in football,” he says. “I want to play for Chelsea and I wanna live in this area because it’s so beautiful.” After signing with Chelsea, Chilwell spent a few years in a different house nearby before beginning a search for what he wanted to be his forever home. Seven or eight listings in, he came upon a cream-colored stucco while looking at properties with his mom. “I think we both just knew,” he says of the house. “You get that feeling like, ‘Yeah, this is where I’m meant to be.’”
Although Chilwell connected with the house immediately, it still needed a fair amount of renovation both to modernize it and to bring it more in line with his tastes. To help him realize his vision, he enlisted Stone Design, whose work he’d first encountered at another area home on the market. “I loved the feel of that house,” he says. “It was brand-new, but felt very warm, cozy, and homely.” For more specific direction, Chilwell pinned copious images onto Pinterest boards—“lots of midcentury-modern homes in London, but also the feeling of California in the sun”—but mostly left the granular vision up to the company’s design director, Florence Stone. “I let her run with it once she understood what I wanted my house to look like,” he says. “And from the start, the ideas she was showing me were aligning with my thoughts.”
The greatest challenge for Stone, then, was injecting personality into an 11,000-square-foot house that was initially quite lacking in it. “There were lots of spaces that were basically done that we didn’t want to do too much to because that would’ve been a waste of money to some extent,” Stone says. Ultimately, to create an environment that straddled the streamlined aesthetics of midcentury modern and the airy openness that recalls contemporary Los Angeles properties, the Stone team touched the majority of the home, with the primary suite, study, and cinema room receiving the most major renovations, while other spaces, like the amply sized kitchen, required only a refresh of paint colors.
The entire project took around five months—a speedy time frame thanks to Stone’s careful examination of what could be reworked versus what needed to be entirely redone. The team was aided by architectural firm Elysian Group, who also oversaw contracting and landscaping work. Chilwell’s trust in the Stone team’s vision was deepest here, as his travel schedule meant he was often unable to see the site in person for weeks at a time. “That was the hardest part and the nicest part,” he says. “I was never really here. But I was rewarded when I did come home and see the drastic changes going on.”
The result is a home that not only checks the specific aesthetic boxes that Chilwell desired, but one that can grow with him. “We wanted to create a sense of journey,” Stone says. “There is a flexible, potential family element, and also one for hosting. We tried to find the holistic midpoint.” And indeed, this is a space that’s made for sharing with others, from the moody, oxblood-colored cinema room to the sun-drenched kitchen that boasts a large dining table perfect for dinner parties.
The first floor also offers up communal spaces: He snug off the kitchen with an inviting, low-slung gray couch, cast iron stove, and floor-to-ceiling windows; to the parlor Chilwell lovingly calls the Christmas Room (“We use that room to open presents!”), with its creamy-colored drapes and cozy double couches in a coordinating shade. And there are also plenty of guest bedrooms for hosting family and friends, each with its own neutral-colored palette that works in harmony with the others while still being unique.
In fact, throughout the house there is an emphasis on calming colors like taupes, off-whites, and creams. Paired with warm wood accents like herringbone floors and plenty of windows to allow for as much light as England’s sun ever emits, the overall impression is that California has jumped the pond. And for Chilwell, whose job on the soccer pitch means he’s in a hotel probably more than he’s ever at home, the time he gets to spend at his Surrey spread is that much more meaningful. “I’m very proud when I walk in the door,” he says. “It’s the best feeling to be able to come home somewhere and love getting into bed every night.”
