COVETED MAGAZINE PAGE 135.
The apartment feels like a penthouse
suite at a 6-star hotel as the designer
continued the gold and grey theme
throughout
Designed by René Dekker, this stunning bijoux apartment is located
on the third floor of a beautiful mansion house in Chelsea, one of
London’s most desirable postal codes. When the owners bought
this apartment, they fell in love with the bright open spaces and
the views across London, all the way to the Millennium Eye, but
it did have a short lease and was in desperate need of upgrading.
René Dekker dove straight in to tackle the task at hand. The first
order of the day was to come up with some alternative layouts to
make better use of the wasted passage ways. With the apartment
being as small as it was, the owners were keen to get the most out
of every square foot.
The finished product is quite simply stunning! You enter through
the hall, which is hung in a moody dark teal striped wall covering
that has Grigio Carnico floor tiles. It has a sumptuous and rich
feel, making a great backdrop for the clients’ art collection, which
is well highlighted with strategically placed spot lights which
include a gold skull on the plinth! From this space, one gets a
glimpse of the master bedroom to the right and the den to the left,
but the main focus is definitely the fabulous living room.
The room’s footprint stayed pretty much the way it had in the
original design but here Dekker added full-height-full-width
joinery, part storage and part decorative. The kitchen is a complete
contrast with its light coloured marble tiles, white cabinets and
light grey walls and ceiling. The gold theme was also carried
through into this room by installing particularly sophisticated gold
tiles that act as the splashback.
The apartment feels like a penthouse suite at a 6-star hotel as the
designer continued the gold and grey theme throughout. In the
master bedroom, the walls are draped in a gold silk wall covering,
which is offset by the grey joinery. It is a cosy yet luxe room with
its grey silk carpet and luxurious scatter cushions. Moreover, the
restrained introduction of ice blue just adds another dimension to
the palette. The bathroom is simple yet elegant with a bespoke
vanity unit, a marble basin and a large walk-in shower. Finally,
there is a study in the turret, basically the fourth floor of this
Grande dame. It is accessed by a narrow stair case which leads to a
bright and cosy room with windows on two walls.
This space is quite different to the rest of the apartment and has
much more of an Indiana Jones feel to it with its dark beaten metal
style wall covering and African masks. There are lots of books
and personal photos that are mixed in with a rich collection of
collectables from all corners of the globe.
PROJECTS //
