Take A Look Around This Stylish Rental Home

This project is a laterally arranged three-bedroom apartment on the top floor of a period building in central London. The young family living there had rented the property unfurnished and we were asked to decorate the space with furniture, soft furnishings, artwork and accessories in order to make it feel more like their own.

Our clients asked us to create a layered, warm and inviting space using lots of colour, pattern and texture. We opted for an earthy colour palette in the main living space and fresh, vibrant colours in the bedrooms. Our client loves linen and florals, so we kept these threads running throughout the apartment, mixing together lots of patterned fabrics with velvets, woods, brass, textured rugs and vibrant accessories. As this was a rental property, our clients weren’t able to change any of the finishes or paint the walls, so it was key that the furnishings would feel welcoming enough to create a haven for them.

This was a large open space where the clients wanted to incorporate a play area, storage and more formal seating, so it was important the room worked as a cohesive whole while having these different functions. We worked on a number of different furniture layouts to incorporate as much comfortable seating as possible, while ensuring the main seating area worked as both a relaxing living room and sociable space for entertaining guests. The starting point for the scheme was a lovely Rogers & Goffigon striped linen fabric for the ottoman and we built it up from there. We love using a mix of textures, so the next items included a chunky braided jute rug, wooden, rattan and brass side tables, velvet structured armchairs, a bouclé loveseat, and a rust-coloured heavyweight linen sofa.

Living Room – Sitting Area

CUSHIONS: Bespoke in a Colefax & Fowler floral fabric / small gingham cushions by Katy Takla
ARMCHAIRS: Dark green velvet armchairs from Soho Home 
BESPOKE OTTOMAN: Covered in a Rogers & Goffigon striped linen 
RUG: Chunky braided jute rug from Sofa Workshop 
BOOKCASES: Antique open front bookcases in walnut with scalloped trims 
LIGHTING: OKA lamps on console behind sofa

The dining space is connected directly to the living room so the schemes needed to work together. We love the William Morris ‘Little Chintz’ fabric used on seat cushions for the lovely rattan dining chairs, and it ties in perfectly with the living room scheme. 

TABLE: Antique Farmhouse dining table from Modants
RUG: Checked rug from Rug Vista

There are two very large floor-to-ceiling dark wood panels in this room, which our client didn’t love as they wanted the room to feel very fresh, soft and inviting. As we weren’t able to remove the panels, we decided to balance them with a very fresh green and white floral palette. We sourced a wonderful Colefax & Fowler fabric for the bespoke bed and also used this on the lumbar cushion and custom end-of-bed storage bench. It allowed for a more cohesive scheme and meant we could further layer other green and white patterns including a gingham on the cushions. The incredible antique Italian hand-painted blue and white wardrobe is an eye-catching addition – we love to balance out new/bespoke pieces with antique finds and this was the perfect addition to the room. The fumed oak Sascal x The Odd Chair Company wave ladder-back chair sits very happily next to the wardrobe.

WARDROBE: was sourced from Streett Marburg
CHAIR: Ladderback chair Sascal x Odd Chair Company
CHESTS: Bedside chests from Trove finished in ‘Bancha’ by Farrow & Ball
QUILT: from Shenouk

Our starting point for the child’s bedroom was one of our favourite Howe At 36 Bourne Street linens – ‘Little F Tutti’ – which we used to upholster the custom bed. This fabric allowed us to continue the floral thread throughout the apartment in a more vibrant colour palette suited to a kid’s bedroom. We then pulled in colours from the bed fabric to use on the decorative embroidered cushions from Birdie Fortescue and Chelsea Textiles, and red scalloped pillowcases from Sarah K. The rattan antique bedside tables add another texture to the scheme along with the vintage animal prints above the bed. We love incorporating stripes and checks to schemes as they are so timeless, so we upholstered the end-of-bed storage bench in Guy Goodfellow’s Olive Sacking and used a beautiful tartan throw our client found on the bed. 

Our starting point for this scheme was the client’s lovely pink and green Sarah K bedspread. We chose to echo the striped border of the bedspread on the custom bed, which was upholstered in a Fermoie stripe. We continued layering pretty floral prints and patterns through the artwork, pillowcases and lumbar cushion. We sourced antique wood and marble bedside tables to balance the softness of the scheme and a rattan storage basket at the end of the bed.