With its far-reaching city views, flexible furniture and hotel-luxe bar, this reworked London penthouse is the perfect place to get the party started
DINING AREA
Beyond the kitchen and dining space is one of the apartment’s two terraces, from which many of London’s landmarks can be seen, including the BT Tower.
KITCHEN
It’s the tactile materials that deliver the non-shouty, grown-up luxe here. ‘Luxe but laid-back was the brief,’ says Michelle.
It ’s safe to say that a few cocktails are shaken and stirred at this glamorous west London apartment come New Year’s Eve. With its fumed-oak finish, brass detailing and velvet-lined deep drawers, the bar in the living room is a natural focal point, eclipsed only by a bird’s eye view of the city from two generous terraces. Landmarks including the BT Tower, the London Eye and The Shard are lit up by the city’s fireworks and, unsurprisingly, the apartment’s owner likes to plan a party with a swing as the clock chimes midnight.
‘Yes, this place definitely knows how to be a party pad but, actually, its South African owner is also a family man with three grown-up children,’ explains Michelle Sweeney, the design eye behind the flat’s recent renovation. ‘So the festive period is just as likely to also involve an informal mix of extended family gatherings and laid-back evenings.’
When its owner first came across the flat, located bang in the middle of London, it had been used to market the newly developed site as a whole. So central to the success of its renovation was one crucial question: how do you turn a show home into a real home?
Fortunately, the owner had a decade-long history with KSR Architects & Interior Designers, who had charted his interiors journey through two previous properties. ‘We knew that he enjoyed comfortable schemes that are luxe but laid-back,’ says Michelle. ‘It was all about adding character through textured timber and fluid shapes, plus a few unexpected touches, such as the colourful geo wallpaper in the cloakroom. We also avoided a strip-out because that would have been wasteful. Instead, we retained key architectural elements such as the parquet flooring, skirting boards, doors and architraves, opting to pare back some detailing, like wall panelling, the better to let the view sing. We also tweaked openings to improve the apartment’s circulation.’ Key to the relaxed vibe was a multi-functional furniture arrangement, so that the space would be cosy enough to handle a simple solo night in watching sport, drink in-hand, and flexible enough to welcome a-hundred-plus guests for a chari
