Katie Earl and Emma Rayner co-founders of London-based interior design practice, No.12 have just completed the complete interior design and creative direction of an exquisite 1,250 sq. ft. two-bedroom duplex apartment and common areas in Mayfair, London.
No.12 were taken on to create a curated and considered luxury interior design scheme that would stand apart from the homogenous West London luxe look. As a result, No.12 challenged the conventions of luxury interior design by creating an apartment that exudes the high level of luxuriousness the owner would expect in terms of materiality but applied with a more contemporary aesthetic.
The design concept combines the property’s prized traditional architectural elements with a modern pared-back, yet bold, design direction to achieve a fresh interior for this London property.
The apartment building provides a mixture of modern and inherited traditional features which No.12 has embraced as a contrasting design element throughout the residence.
All the traditional 19th Century detailing, cornices and architraves have been preserved to respect the building’s historical value and respectfully bring it into the 21st Century. The listed detailing ranges from the fireplaces maintaining all their traditional features down to the delicate rosette moulding above the doors. No.12 respectfully left these areas as they were found and used them to enhance the overall design. The interior furniture selection follows these design cues and mixes modern pieces with more traditional and contemporary styling.
The refined colour palette of the property is mostly neutral with desaturated tones serving as accents throughout each of the spaces, with boldness in form taking precedence over pattern.
The reception room walls and beading are painted in a cool grey to add a modern twist to the space while highlighting the listed traditional cornicing and architraves in bright white. Rich insertions of colour punctuate the light-coloured space including a bespoke bold desaturated blue velvet sofa at the heart of the room.
The design is further elevated by a careful selection of bespoke furniture, a key element found in all No.12 projects, which, enables the studio to push the boundaries in creative interior design and offer a truly tailored solution.
No.12 blends modern brands with vintage pieces to create a fresh interior that feels like a home curated with pieces collected over time. In this residence, bespoke, vintage, antique and modern designs have been harmoniously combined, from the classic reupholstered Halabala armchairs in the reception to the side table with a Novocastrian marble top.
A simplified palette ensures a calm and modern aesthetic throughout the residence bringing about the feeling of a contemporary luxury home. The reception, dining and kitchen spaces are refined, composed and current, with comfortable furniture and accessories perfecting an open plan living environment.
A large deep piled rug fills the imposing expanse of the main living room area to denote a sense of space and make use of every available inch of the room. With this No.12 illustrates how being bold with the scale of furniture can benefit a space. They also show that fewer pieces of furniture on a larger scale can make a space feel grander.
Completing the space, No.12 designed a custom bench upholstered in luxurious soft rose-coloured hairy hide to sit in front an antique grade-two listed fireplace.
A stairwell leading to the lower ground bedrooms has been painted in a dark grey to add a sense of drama that envelopes the residents as they descend.
The master bedroom palette features rich tone accents, from the colour pop of rouge velvet cushions to the soft linen curtains with the fine edging detailing that lead out onto a private green walled patio area. Custom details include a bespoke headboard with a grand wide fluted design upholstered in a cool graphite suede fabric.
The lighting design for the residence is entirely contemporary, mixing luxury and modern lighting brands to vary the design and style. For the master bedroom No.12 selected the classic brass multi-lite pendant designed by Louis Weisdorf in 1972, and now produced by Gubi.
The lighting design style is continued by the complementing modern brass chandelier hanging over the dining table – a new collaboration by 101 Copenhagen and Norr11.
The guestroom bedroom features a playful design with 101 Copenhagen and Norr11 lighting and contrasting tonal bedding with a custom black velvet headboard and striped curtains.
Offering a further design twist, bold veining marble specially selected by No.12 for the kitchen island is a departure from the Calacatta marbles commonly used within luxury London developments.
In a conscious decision not to be constrained by the challenging spaces and features of a traditional listed Georgian building, No.12 chose to capitalise on the property’s original features to realise a luxury modern home that can be lived in comfortably and one that feels like it has evolved over time.