Chelsea I

The sitting room is wrapped in a scenic mural — Italianate pines and cypresses in soft blue-green — which runs across the walls, into the window reveals and over the chimney breast without a break. A pale limestone chimneypiece with an inset fire was set into it, brass wall lights were mounted either side, and a slim ceiling pelmet holds a concealed strip that washes the room with warm light. Radiator covers with brass mesh grilles sit below the sash windows, which look out into the trees.

Pale herringbone parquet was laid through the sitting room and along the hall, where a second recessed trough carries the same concealed lighting to the front door. Even the smallest bedroom was papered and floored to the same standard, with a window seat built into the return.

The cloakroom is the counterweight: dark marble with amber and white veining, run across the floor, up the walls and over a built-in washstand, with slim brass trims between the slabs, a countertop basin, a brass tap and a backlit mirror. A second washroom keeps things soft, with a hand-finished plaster stand and a matt black tap.