This pared back yet personality-packed home celebrates the art of easy yet stylish living
THE PROPERTY
An apartment on the third floor of a Victorian school in Battersea, London, which was converted in 1994. There is a large entrance hall, kitchen-dining space, utility room, living room, two bedrooms and two bathrooms.
ENTRANCE HALL
Bathed in sun from a roof light, the vast entrance hall opens off the kitchen-dining space and is a great example of how the flat facilitates the fun.
Get the look: Spanish gueridon table, Fontaine. DSR chairs by Eames for Vitra, from The Conran Shop. Wall lights, Charlotte Perriand. Rug, Emily’s House London. Walls painted in French Grey, Little Greene.
The design brief was for everything to be just so. This played out as an email exchange of 200 emails with the joiner who created the kitchen, and five trips to the timber yard in Norfolk to check the oak for the flooring was the right colour and finish.
KITCHEN
The kitchen was designed for cooking in, rather than sitting in with islands or wall cupboards eshewed in favour of low-level surfaces.
The dining table is a 17th century Belgian piece; it’s just wide enough for two facing place settings.
The bench conceals waste pipes, hidden by the previous kitchen.
Get the look: Ebonised cabinet, dining table and dining chairs, all Fontaine. Rubbed bronze mixer tap, Barber Wilson. Henry IV marble, MGLW. Teti ceiling lights by Vico Magistretti, SCP.
The space is wonderfully social, an easily accommodates dinners for four, drinks for 10 – or even parties for 50.
UTILITY ROOM
A utility space was created off the kitchen, in what had been a bathroom.
Get the look: Ebonised cabinet, dining table and dining chairs, all Fontaine. Leaf light, sourced on Decorative Collective.
The side table, along with five cast-iron urns, were found abandoned in the garden.
LIVING ROOM
Natural motifs – such as this gold leaf wall lamp – pop up around the apartment.
Get the look: Day bed and green stool, both Cassandra Ellis. Rug, Emily’s House London. Marble-topped coffee table, Ebay. Bamboo-effect brass and glass table, Kiki Design. Leaf light, sourced on Decorative Collective.
The pink day bed is long enough for guests to sleep on – handy for when additional people come to stay.
Huge windows pull light into the living space, and the shelves are made from solid oak so can be moved as the book collection increases.
HALLWAY
The wall were once so out of line that they appeared to be constantly moving. Realigning them made much more sense of sightlines.
Get the look: Shelving unit, antique piece from Hungary. Teti ceiling lights by Vico Magistretti, SCP.
Cleverly, the shelves in this hallway are movable so they can be adapted as the owners’ collection of books changes.
The home has a calm, thought-through feel, aided by a pared-back ingredient list of just four key materials – wooden floors, marble, handmade tiles and painted walls.
STAIRCASE
This staircase leads up to the second bedroom and bathroom. The original staircase was chunky and walled in. Opening it up and installing a simple pine staircase, clad in oak brought new life to the central spine of the house.
Get the look: Staircase, Stairbox. Radiator, The Cast Iron Radiator Company. Rug, Emily’s House London.
MASTER BEDROOM
Get the look: Four-poster bed, MDF Italia from The Conran Shop. Bamboo-effect brass and glass table, Kiki Design. Table lamps, Pooky. Green salon chair and stool; red goat skin vegetable tanned stool, all Cassandra Ellis. Wall light, Charlotte Perriand. Walls painted Pale French Grey, Little Greene.
Alot of the pieces for this home – including this bed – were sourced at rock down prices, either online or in clearance sales. The marble-topped coffee table is an Ebay find.
BATHROOM
Get the look: Tap, Lefroy Brooks. Tiles, Marlborough Tiles. WC and bath, Burlington.
Good quality taps provide a key feature for the master bathroom. The tiles were handmade by a small firm in Marlborough, Wiltshire.
Photography / Paul Raeside
