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Location: London, UK

Interior Designer: Birch House

Architect: SM12 Architects

Construction: Adrian Design

Photography: James Balston

This Grade-II listed Chelsea townhouse underwent a full refurbishment and extension. Working closely with the client, their architect and local conservation teams, Birch House created a design that completely transformed the property while remaining faithful to the character of the original building.

The client wanted a full redesign of every interior architectural detail and finish including bespoke fitted joinery, lighting, and bathrooms, as well as furnishing and styling throughout. They wanted the property to ooze a feeling of tranquillity and provide a restful feeling akin to staying in a luxurious boutique hotel. Importantly, as the client has such an extensive and interesting art collection, they wanted the interiors to allow it to sing. Accordingly, Birch House kept the overall colour scheme simple providing the perfect backdrop to the art.

A key aspect of this project for the client was lighting. As this is a Grade II listed house that had not been updated for a long time, Birch House could not introduce any downlights in the original rooms. Only the newly extended spaces could have such modern lights. Therefore, the designers focused on choosing light fixtures that were not only beautiful jewel-like items but also functional and lit up the spaces sufficiently. The key area that illustrates this perfectly is the kitchen, with the wonderful Aim light by Flos.

Birch House reinstated period features, selecting materials to complement the original style of the property. The form and proportion of the Georgian architecture, the natural light and gorgeous period detailing were the stars of the show. But to avoid creating a pastiche of a period house, Birch House kept the design of the hard finishes, the kitchen and fitted joinery very contemporary using inset mirrors to enhance the feeling of space and give a nod to a more traditional shaker style.

We created a design that completely transformed the property inside and out while remaining faithful to the character of the original building. The structural alterations to the rear and full mansard roof extension have been carefully considered, taking into account the particular characteristics of the surrounding mid-19th century buildings. Birch House worked closely with our client’s architect to maximise floor space and bring in natural light at every opportunity.