GARRICK HOUSE

Client: Private individual

London Heritage Design received an enquiry by recommendation to view an apartment with some potential that needed totally renovating with some 50's chic.

The apartment, set in the heart of Mayfair, was without a proper kitchen or bathroom so LHD set about re-planning the space. Our initial designs were based on a controversial layout that placed the kitchen in the middle of the apartment and over the living space of the property below. After much consultation with the freeholders and the managing agents, even after offering to make the apartment a total wet area, we decided that the costs of negotiating this layout would be long-winded and uneconomical. So LHD re-designed the space...

Using our structural engineer we quickly realised that the original construction of the block allowed LHD to remove all of the internal walls, giving us the opportunity for a more radical design! We moved the bedroom to the front of the apartment, allowing for a perfect open-living eating space looking out over the attractive urban rooftop view. The kitchen was carefully planned to be as minimal as possible but still enjoying all of the mod-cons one would expect of a swish Mayfair apartment. We then opened up the remaining space that was to become the wet-room shower, incorporating the WC, and hand basin on top of the granite sparkle stone worktops. Plus, we had hidden away the facilities of the mega-flow water system and the washing-dryer machine. We also managed to place a window within the wet room, which brought light into the space giving depth to the room.

Throughout the apartment we have given thought to every single item, adding interest and synergy. We improved the flow of the small apartment, giving way to real interior design in terms of hard finishes and joinery, lighting and ironmongery – with contemporary soft furnishings to soften any edges.

Using heated porcelain floors throughout, wallpapers and subtle paints for decoration, and integrated audio-visual systems, the result was a really great and surprising project. In addition to a fantastic new apartment, the value of the property was almost doubled.