Contemporary luxury residential interior design

Creating a luxurious yet practical family home in a Victorian house in Clapham

Our clients - a professional couple with a baby on the way - were living in NYC when they first contacted us about finding an interior designer to refurbish their Victorian house in Clapham, South West London.  They were planning on returning to London and wanted help getting their house, which had been rented out, to the level of finish and design style they were looking for before moving back in.

Being creative and design-savvy themselves, they were keen on finding an interior designer who could take them to the next level.  The house needed a complete overhaul as well as a rear and side return extension and quite extensive reconfiguration internally as well. So an interior designer with knowledge of interior architecture and was capable of inputting in all these areas, alongside the architect, was required. 

As well as new decoration, lighting and furniture, the brief included designing a new kitchen-living space, new bathrooms, adding in a new downstairs wc as well as all new fitted wardrobes and turning the loft room from an office space into an ensuite bedroom.  The style brief was "contemporary, sophisticated, slightly edgy and glam."  

Putting all the client's requirements together, we recommended a selection of interior designers to them and they chose to work with Nina Maklin.  Nina got to work on the project, the early stages of which took place when the client was in New York, so she and Nina communicated via Skype. This distance also meant that for the first couple of months, when the extension was being built, Nina became the client's eyes and ears on site. Nina developed a scheme which was luxurious without being ostentatious, and involved marble, mirrored tiles, brass and velvets. She managed to design spaces which felt distinctly sophisticated and adult and yet were functional and practical for a young family. For example, she sourced commercial grade velvets for upholstery which are wipe-clean. Nina introduced drama with a bold palette of dark hues - including on the ceiling in certain rooms. Interposed with flashes of brass and gold, the overall effect is striking and glamorous.

Presenting the client with an edited choice of options meant that the design process was streamlined and seamless.  But it isn’t just the time saved that our client is grateful for, it’s that Nina understood what she wanted and wasn’t too over-powering. “I can’t thank Nathalie at Interior Designers enough,” she says. “She was the one who matched me with Nina. I would never have met her otherwise.”

Read more about our client's journey on this project in our blog post here and discover our designer's side of the story here.