Two into one does go, as award-winning interior designer Christian Bense discovered when he helped transform a five-storey Georgian terrace in Maida Vale from two flats back into a generous family home.
The clients, a family of five, had been living in a flat on the two lower floors until the opportunity arose to buy the upper levels. ‘We wanted a designer who had experience in London house design but also understood how to maximize function within these architectural spaces,’ explains the client. ‘We wanted to ensure every room was going to be practical, could function well as our children grew older, and not necessarily just for show or display. Our goal was to make sure how we designed it would have durability and longevity, a certain timelessness to it, so we made choices that weren’t necessarily trendy or of the moment, but could last and grow with us.’
Christian and Lexi Strang, the lead designer on this project, are masters at working with period properties. ‘Our ethos is, where possible, to try and work back to what was original and take the house back to its former glory,’ explains Christian.
‘Given this house’s great proportions, it lent itself to going back to the initial footprint. The challenge was designing a layout that would bring the home together while minimizing build costs. Through thoughtful space planning, we were able to keep replumbing to a minimum and, where possible, worked with existing joinery in order to reduce costs. We wanted to ensure the house was utilized to its fullest potential, and therefore, each of the five floors serves a distinct purpose. The top floor is dedicated to the children, which allowed us to make the ground floor a sophisticated space.’
In addition, a priority was the reinstatement of period architectural features that had been lost over time, including recreating cornices and molding details and installing cast-iron radiators throughout.
At the forefront of the project was not just how the rooms were to be used, but also the design narrative. ‘We considered what the journey was for a guest coming to the front door, what they see and what they navigate, making sure there’s a consistency, and also from the client’s perspective, who is navigating the house top down, not front door up, so it was a case of finding these two paths through the house,’ explains Christian.
‘The house was so light, bright, and airy, and also vast, we had to rely on creating a really neutral backdrop that we could then punctuate with interesting contrasts and artwork. A lot of our classic house projects are very much a shades-of-neutral backdrop, so that when you inject color, even the subtlest of contrasts, things feel more dynamic and colors seem quite punchy.'
Embodying this is the light and bright bay windowed living space where a bold green sofa injects a pop of color, balancing the view outside, while semi-glazed pocket doors with complementary green frames coax light in from the hall too. ‘Christian’s classic is light walls, dark doors,’ observes Lexi.
Meanwhile, in contrast, the snug leans into a dark, moodier, and more intimate aesthetic, with textural grasscloth walls. ‘It’s formal but informal, and there’s a natural element to it,’ says Christian. The interior has been carefully considered to evoke a lived-in, curated, layered look.
Inspiration was taken from many styles, although there is an emphasis on mid-century, clean-lined pieces and lighting. ‘The client is a graphic designer, and she preferred cleaner lines. Because of her profession, she looked at the design language of each element,’ says Lexi.
Upstairs, the first floor was completely reconfigured ‘to create a serene hotel-like suite that felt like a retreat from the rest of the house,’ says Christian.
‘We designed a timber-glazed divider that differentiates the bedroom from the walk-through dressing room. We wanted this divider to feel contemporary, so we designed it with a slim timber frame. Visually, you get this enormous space that is light-filled.’
The generous bed with its cosseting winged headboard was then orientated on the fireplace wall, creating a serene and opulent focal point.
With the design focusing on how the clients want to live in the house, the schemes have also been designed to last. As Christian sums up, ‘The design strikes that balance between being tailor-made, but also timeless.’
