Kensington

This three bedroomed apartment in Kensington was completely stripped out and fully renovated, resulting in a beautifully detailed and luxurious city pad with bespoke furniture pieces and high quality finishes.

The property is located in a prestigious development in Kensington but it had an extremely tired and dated 90’s look throughout when we took the project on.

The design brief was to reflect that our clients although permanently based in the Far East, travel extensively throughout the world and wanted to update this their second home to give it an exclusive ‘boutique hotel’ look and feel that was luxurious, classic and yet contemporary. Also, on a practical level the property needed to function as a comfortable home for use when they were in the UK.

With this in mind, the space was completely redesigned providing two bathrooms, (one master ensuite and one family) two bedrooms, a study/ third bedroom and also the kitchen was reconfigured to adjoin the living/dining room making best use of the flow around the space. It was complimented by bespoke joinery throughout to maximize the available storage.

To meet the brief and achieve the minimal lux look we felt was required, we wanted the essential bare bones of the scheme to be opulent but with the emphasis also being on the simplicity and beauty of the product.

Additionally we wanted to accentuate the theme of quality and craftsmanship, and this is echoed throughout the apartment, from its bespoke floors, silk rugs, handcrafted full height doors from floor to ceiling, joinery made with the finest figured veneers, and the stunning custom built bathrooms with exquisite marbles providing an elegant yet natural look.

Continuing the theme, we added luxurious finishes and fabrics throughout with the focus being on the use of different textures and their juxtaposition together that really help to bring the scheme alive. For example, the beautiful polished dark wooden floor provided the grounding for the entire scheme, which was paired with the use of very textural sea grass wallpapers with metallic threads in the bedrooms and living/dining room. These finishes provide a perfect contrast and backdrop for our choice of sumptuous velvets, metallic linens and horsehair fabric which have been used to great effect upon the soft furnishings.

The furniture throughout mainly consists of beautiful bespoke pieces with emphasis on fine materials, in particular the living room features an antique bronze coffee table whose design was inspired by an original vintage 1950s model and a bronze and antique mirror glass media unit.

In the hallway to solve the problem of this being a long dark corridor, we worked with a specialist company that provided the hand finished, beautiful pearlised polished plaster, which really reflects and lifts the available light, whilst being a striking contrast against the dark floor.

This finish was also used to great effect as a feature wall in the dining room area where the rich pearlised taupe colour was mixed exactly to match the Birgit Israel vintage 1950’s glass topped dining table.

The living room features a simple use of a contrast colour with the inclusion of a bespoke armchair in a burnt orange which acts as the perfect accent to the blue toned greys used on the walls.  To further highlight this, we also commissioned London based artist Maria Luisa Hernandez to paint the oil painting hung in the dining room which includes a subtle use of orange and provides a unique focal point for the scheme. The huge antique glass mirror also provides a stunning feature and opens up the space giving it a sense of depth and glamour.

The study also works extremely well and captures the feel exactly of a ‘gentleman’s club’ with the use of leather trunks, figured silver ash veneer joinery with leather wrapped shelves cleverly juxtaposed with the more casual navy linen pin stripe sofa and De la Cuona cushions.

The bedrooms are studies in understated luxury. The master bedroom features the classic use of a subtle neutral palette accented with a dark rich taupe, perfectly complimenting the second bedroom that has a slightly more feminine feel with the addition of vintage style bedside tables and a dressing table from Chelsea Textiles, a paisley style bed throw and Chinese lantern style bedside pendant lamps.

This an elegantly designed interior, executed with exquisite attention to detail that is evident from the overall look of the project right down to the tiniest detail for example a button on a cushion, no design element has been overlooked. Only the finest materials, craftsmanship and design were employed resulting in a home that is luxurious, timeless and glamorous and meets it’s brief perfectly.

 Milward Teverini understand the level required to create exclusive living spaces and no attention to detail was spared when selecting all the elements that make up this special apartment. The scheme although luxurious, exudes a quiet opulence that retains the essence of a unique yet personal home whilst comparing equally with the very best boutique hotel which is what the client wanted. Also, although Milward Teverini managed the entire project for the client, they were also very much involved in the design details and we worked very closely with them to achieve their brief, resulting in a beautifully detailed and luxurious city pad.

We worked hard to ensure that the interior had some character and felt like a home. Overall we used some key materials that give a cohesive look through the scheme as a whole, however, we really wanted each room to still have an individual feel so we ensured that different colour palettes and slightly different looks were used in individual rooms to ensure this was the case. The owner constantly said he didn’t want a ‘cookie cutter’ scheme but something luxurious and unique to him that we feel we have achieved.