How a Small London Apartment Went From ‘A White Box With Great Bones and No Soul’ to a Cozy, Colorful Alpine Chalet–Inspired Home

A bed with light blue linens and green decorative pillows set against a delicate floral trellis wallpaper. A teal built-in bookshelf sits to the right, filled with blue and white ceramics.

This garden apartment in Notting Hill is a masterclass in how pattern, color and a little visual trickery can turn a pale, rather joyless space into a home with verve and heart. Reimagined by Sarah Southwell, a former artisan handbag maker turned interior designer, the three-bedroom apartment is now an elegant, feminine home that’s at once composed, characterful and faintly mischievous.

Its owner, who divides her time between London and the Swiss Alps, was keen to weave elements of both sides of her heritage into the house design. ‘I wanted this flat to reflect the homes I grew up in,’ she says. ‘In my first conversation with Sarah, we talked about my love of painted joinery and woodwork – they remind me of my family’s house in Switzerland, which dates from the 1600s.’