Who: K&H Design
Where: London
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Style: Luxe loft
To turn a globetrotting family's London apartment into a U.K. home base, the experts at K&H Design looked to New York and Paris for inspiration. The clients wanted their 1,600 square-foot, three bedroom apartment in Kensington to feel like a luxurious loft apartment, complete with sleek surfaces and elegant furnishings.
"It had to be beautiful, yet practical, to work with their lifestyle," says Katie Glaister, co-founder K&H Design. "It also needed to be flexible to allow all generations of the family to stay."
The design team reconfigured the space, turning it into a light-filled, high-ceilinged apartment. "To achieve the desired contemporary and architectural New York loft-style feel, we maximized the ceiling heights wherever possible and defined the ceilings with minimal shadow gap detailing," says Glaister. They also added full-height Crittall-style doors — which lead from the foyer to the living and dining room — to create a loft-like feel and bring light into the hallway. "The introduction of the crittall doors also brought attention to the existing warehouse-style crittall windows," adds Glaister.
When it came to the furnishings, the designers chose an eclectic mix of modern and traditional. "The client loves mixing old and new, so whilst we sourced a lot of new contemporary furniture and had bespoke upholstery crafted to the clients' exacting specifications, these were carefully curated with antique French pieces, contemporary art, and vintage silk-embroidered chinoiserie to bring character and intrigue to the scheme," says the designer. In the living room's sitting area, a bespoke velvet sofa is paired with an Adrian Pearsall rocking chair, Cox London floor lamp, and a pink leather–clad coffee table by Bethan Gray.
The team incorporated custom and vintage pieces alongside affordable finds, such as the West Elm chairs that surround the marble-toped Bontempi table. A vintage Maurizio Tempestini for Laurel table lamp illuminates an artwork by Fabienne Delli Zotti.
"In our first meeting we established that our client had always wanted a blue kitchen, so we found the perfect pastel hue for the cabinetry from Paint & Paper Library called Ice III 633," says the designer. They installed a marble backsplash and counters and added brass accents, including a Perrin & Rowe faucet and Joseph Giles knobs on the cupboards.
The apartment's palette was kept neutral with pastel accents and well-placed jewel tones. "To unite the space, most of the walls are in Little Green's Slaked Lime Mid," says the designer. "We repainted all the doors in Little Greene's Juniper Ash to create a great depth and contrast to the light walls." A striking pendant light by Bomma hangs in the hallway.
When it came to the bedrooms, the team created designs that felt connected, but had their own personalities. "Each bedroom had a bespoke and specific headboard design; plainer in the children's bedroom and deep-buttoned in the guest room," says Glaister. "Most notably, the main bedroom headboard is 180cm [almost six feet] high and designed in a more romantic theatrical style, so it is a real focal point of the main suite." The showstopping headboard is flanked by Wayfair nightstands and vintage Stiffel table lamps.
Glaister's favorite spaces in the home are the bathrooms. "They were all finished in a combination of marble and simple painted surfaces," the designer says. "The result is an understated look which balances the beauty of the stone with simpler finishes, rather than cladding on every surface." The main bathroom features a mix of polished and honed lilac marble.
In the kids' room, the lower half of the wall was painted in Little Greene's Mirage II. Pillows in a Rebecca Atwood print bring in some playful pattern.
Whimsical balloon lights from E-Glue hover over an antique armchair and a West Elm chest, creating a fun reading corner in the kids' room.
"In the children's bathroom, we didn't just specify a standard sink but instead, we installed an extra deep model which is perfect for bathing babies in too," says Glaister.
Tufted velvet headboards set a cozy but sophisticated tone in the guest room and a Vaughn table lamp adds a bit of glam.
With luxe materials, industrial elements, and a calming color palette, the firm created a loft-like space that's the perfect London crash pad for the young family.