Houzz Tour: A Unique London Apartment with a Beautifully Boho Feel
A heady mix of antiques, art, soft lighting and lush plants gives this apartment in Little Venice unique character and sensual charm
“Faded grandeur, that’s what I like!” says interior decorator Sera Hersham-Loftus of her signature style, a deliciously bohemian mix of antiques, mirrors, lush textiles, handmade pieces, art and plants. She’s used it throughout her beautiful London apartment, which she bought from a DJ friend and spent over a year renovating. “It was a three-bed bloke’s pad, and I just turned it into one big space,” she says.
Now, Hersham-Loftus often works here, creating interiors for celebrity clients, who have included Kate Moss and Sadie Frost, and designing her range of furniture, lampshades and cushions. The apartment’s open, flowing feel makes it the perfect place to relax, entertain and escape hectic London life, with the rooms and the pieces in them frequently finding new roles. “I move things around all the time,” says Hersham-Loftus. “I get bored and like to change the energy.”
Now, Hersham-Loftus often works here, creating interiors for celebrity clients, who have included Kate Moss and Sadie Frost, and designing her range of furniture, lampshades and cushions. The apartment’s open, flowing feel makes it the perfect place to relax, entertain and escape hectic London life, with the rooms and the pieces in them frequently finding new roles. “I move things around all the time,” says Hersham-Loftus. “I get bored and like to change the energy.”
The kitchen opens off the salon and is flanked by huge salvaged doors. “I worked in Amsterdam for a while and saw a dilapidated old house where everything inside was being sold off,” explains Hersham-Loftus. She bought these huge doors, as well as all the flooring. “I like everything to be natural, like my floors,” she adds.
“This is a very easy-going place to live. It’s not uptight. You can lounge about, drop shoes on the floor. It’s not the sort of place where you have to worry about where to put your wine glass!”
“This is a very easy-going place to live. It’s not uptight. You can lounge about, drop shoes on the floor. It’s not the sort of place where you have to worry about where to put your wine glass!”
When Hersham-Loftus first saw the apartment, she was drawn to its high ceilings “and the French doors opening onto the street, like being in Paris”. The ceilings are about 15ft high, so she painted them a dark colour. “It helps to bring them down, otherwise the space seems to go on forever,” she says. “It grounds the scheme.”
The fireplace is a salvaged antique from France. Hersham-Loftus exposed the brick of the chimney breast behind it. “I just hacked off all the plaster and revealed the original brickwork,” she says. “I then whitewashed it and rubbed it back.”
The chair is a 1970s cane design and the crocheted pelmet is an original Victorian piece.
Walls and ceiling painted in Off Black, Farrow & Ball.
The fireplace is a salvaged antique from France. Hersham-Loftus exposed the brick of the chimney breast behind it. “I just hacked off all the plaster and revealed the original brickwork,” she says. “I then whitewashed it and rubbed it back.”
The chair is a 1970s cane design and the crocheted pelmet is an original Victorian piece.
Walls and ceiling painted in Off Black, Farrow & Ball.
The salon features a 1930s mirror ball made entirely with hand-cut pieces of mirrored glass. To control light levels from the large windows, Hersham-Loftus has fitted blackout blinds with pretty scalloped edges, like those found in a Parisian café. “It gets so bright in the flat that everything seems to get bleached out by the sun, so I have to pull down the blinds,” she says. “The black blinds seem to disappear at night.”
“Plants are really important to me,” says Hersham-Loftus. “The first thing I do when I get up is make myself a green tree and then tend to the plants for about 20 minutes. It’s a nice start to the day.” The large urn is Italian, perhaps 200 years old, which she bought on a trip to Sicily. The ornate urn is a vintage French piece.
Hersham-Loftus has plants growing in every room. “They bring life to your home,” she says. “Without plants, the whole place feels flat. I put little uplighters below and they create jungly shadows.”
All the fireplaces work and Hersham-Loftus frequently has fires lit throughout the apartment. “I also like to burn really beautiful incense and light candles, too,” she says. “Everyone looks beautiful and feels beautiful here. It’s very atmospheric.”
Check out 16 tricks to update exposed brick
Check out 16 tricks to update exposed brick
The house is lit with a mix of lamps and uplighters. “I never use overhead lighting,” says Hersham-Loftus. “It’s really harsh and doesn’t do justice to the pieces you have in your home. There’s no depth or shadow and it creates a very flat environment.”
Instead, soft lighting, firelight and twinkling candles create a mellow, relaxed and intimate feel. “It’s fairly dark, very romantic, and probably not very good for my eyesight!” she says.
Corset, Tulip and Sky High lampshades, all Sera of London.
Instead, soft lighting, firelight and twinkling candles create a mellow, relaxed and intimate feel. “It’s fairly dark, very romantic, and probably not very good for my eyesight!” she says.
Corset, Tulip and Sky High lampshades, all Sera of London.
The panelling was salvaged from the same house in Amsterdam that yielded the floors and kitchen doors. Hersham-Loftus inherited the 1970s sofa and the Russian art hanging above from her father, who was an art dealer.
Hersham-Loftus found an antique console in a market and based the whole kitchen design on it. “It’s a 1940s piece, now fitted to the left of the oven,” she says.
The lights over the table were found at a market and have parchment shades. “That’s the only overhead lighting, which I don’t generally use, but I’ve fitted an amber bulb in each so they look like candlelight,” she says. The tiles were handmade by a ceramicist.
Take a look at 10 sizzling ways to make a feature of your cooker splashback
The lights over the table were found at a market and have parchment shades. “That’s the only overhead lighting, which I don’t generally use, but I’ve fitted an amber bulb in each so they look like candlelight,” she says. The tiles were handmade by a ceramicist.
Take a look at 10 sizzling ways to make a feature of your cooker splashback
The table was made from yew by Robert Pinnock. More Russian art hangs by the window.
Walls and ceiling painted in Off Black, Farrow & Ball. Chairs, Nivaldo de Lima.
Walls and ceiling painted in Off Black, Farrow & Ball. Chairs, Nivaldo de Lima.
When redesigning the flat, Hersham-Loftus got rid of most of its doors. Instead, a large opening leads from the panelled room into the bedroom. “This was where the DJ who owned the flat before me kept his decks and vinyl,” she says.
“When I go to markets, something will catch my eye and it just goes with something else I already have at home,” says Hersham-Loftus. “All the fabulous textiles, wallpapers, vintage lamps… I put them all together and they seem to work. That’s why I call myself an interior decorator rather than a designer. I don’t design – this is my art form!”
The bedroom is decorated with Hersham-Loftus’s signature mix of influences and finds. A piece of African textile from the Congo is draped over the bed, contrasting beautifully with a 1970s Curtis Jeré brass palm lamp and a 1930s Italian chest of drawers. The large mirror came from a Paris flea market, while the lamps date from the 1970s and have cork shades.
Walls and ceiling painted in Tanner’s Brown, Farrow & Ball.
Walls and ceiling painted in Tanner’s Brown, Farrow & Ball.
Hersham-Loftus’s large vintage clothing collection is stored in a long bank of wardrobes. “The doors are the exterior shutters from a French chateau,” she says. “I had the cupboard built around them.”
The shell artwork to the left of the doorway was made by her children when they were little. “We grouted them all in on a piece of timber,” she says. “There are lots of handmade pieces here.”
The shell artwork to the left of the doorway was made by her children when they were little. “We grouted them all in on a piece of timber,” she says. “There are lots of handmade pieces here.”
This mirror was cut to fit into this frame, which is an old door surround. It’s another piece salvaged from the property in Amsterdam. The table is Italian, bought at a market. “It’s gorgeous,” says Hersham-Loftus, “full of knots and knocks.”
The fabric draped by the mirror moves around the apartment. “That goes on the floor as a rug, gets used as a curtain and also as a tablecloth,” says Hersham-Loftus.
The shell hanging light dates from the 1970s. “I grew up in the 1970s and used to think it was so drab, but actually there was really cool design then. Biba [1964-1975] was launched at that time ,” she says.
The fabric draped by the mirror moves around the apartment. “That goes on the floor as a rug, gets used as a curtain and also as a tablecloth,” says Hersham-Loftus.
The shell hanging light dates from the 1970s. “I grew up in the 1970s and used to think it was so drab, but actually there was really cool design then. Biba [1964-1975] was launched at that time ,” she says.
The shower features 1930s dressing room screens for a rush of glamour. Glass shelves fixed on the mirror are dotted with plants, creating double the greenery.
The chest of drawers is a 1920s Art Deco piece, while the mirrored shelf above is Victorian. The tiles were handmade. “Nothing is factory-made here, it’s all handmade,” says Hersham-Loftus. “Each tile is a one-off, and they’re all slightly different. They look as though they’ve always been here, since the 1930s, but they’re actually brand new. I wanted the flat to look as if it had never been touched since that time.”
What do you think of this lush, unique home? Share your thoughts in the Comments below.
What do you think of this lush, unique home? Share your thoughts in the Comments below.
Who lives here Sera Hersham-Loftus
Property An apartment in a 19th century building
Size 1 bedroom, 2 bathrooms
Location Little Venice, London
Designer Sera Hersham-Loftus of Sera of London
“Imagine discovering the house and it hadn’t been touched since the 1930s,” says Sera Hersham-Loftus. “That’s the feel I wanted to create here.” She spent almost 18 months opening up the property and redesigning it. “I took down most of the walls and now there are hardly any doors here,” she says. “It’s a flowing, open space.”
To boost that sense of space, Hersham-Loftus has used mirrors throughout the flat, often next to a chimney breast. “It looks as if you go into another room, like a trompe l’oeil, and helps the place feel like one big space,” she says.
An old refectory table stands in the salon, and is variously used for work, serving food, storing books, and more.