A Mayfair Marvel

An exquisite apartment in London’s chicest shopping street… Jealous? Us?

Roads don’t get more fashionable than Mayfair’s Mount Street. This is where you’ll find names like Marc Jacobs, Balenciaga and Christian Louboutin. It’s also home to this elegant apartment.

The owners, a UK couple with careers in the City, asked interior designer Louis Henri to transform what was a blank white space into something altogether more spectacular.

‘Everything was in good order,’ says Henri, no stranger to upscale apartments, having worked on properties in Knightsbridge, Cap d’Antibes and Dubai.

‘Always start with the floor plan – make sure the function works. As soon as you know how the space is going to meet your needs, you can then apply your design.’

The couple wanted something to suit their lifestyle. They have young children, so needed something that suited family life, as well as entertaining. And certainly, the apartment works for that. ‘They had a party at Christmas and flew over a band from France,’ says Henri. ‘They had about 150 people and it didn’t feel cramped at all.’

Style-wise, they wanted something that felt classic – almost masculine. They were happy to go with dark colours, although the subtle blue-and-cream palette they settled on is one of the apartment’s most striking features.

Throughout the flat, the attention to detail is first class, with fireplaces, ceilings and walls offering standout touches you might not even notice at first glance. For Henri, this might mean upholstering some chairs in four or five different fabrics, or taking a turtle detail from the original ceiling and using it in a cushion. ‘It’s hyper-detailed in a way,’ he says. ‘I love detail – it comes from my engineering background. For me it’s about the personal relationship you can have with an interior.’

It feels as if everything was made for this particular space. And, indeed, most of the furnishings were custom-made, though additional pieces were bought in from Andrew Martin and Julian Chichester, while the kitchen is Boffi.

But the project wasn’t without challenges, the main one being access. The building is an old one, with a small lift and staircase, so bringing in huge pieces of furniture was always going to be a problem. In the end, the headboard and huge, kidney-shaped sofa were built in multiple pieces and assembled on site. It’s testament to the quality of the work that it’s almost impossible to tell. ‘You’d never know,’ says Henri.

The courtyard was another issue. ‘The courtyard windows look over drainage systems, so it wasn’t a pretty aspect,’ he says. ‘So we designed blinds featuring magnolia flowers and used the same design on all the windows, which made the area feel more like a conservatory.’

It’s an idea worth borrowing. And, though many features of this bespoke apartment would be tricky to recreate at home, there are still some worth using in your own schemes. Henri has one main tip, which is, ‘Always start with the floor plan – make sure the function works. As soon as you know how the space is going to meet your needs, you can then apply your design.’

He also advises having a clear reference and keeping that in mind. ‘It’s so easy to flick through magazines and say, “I like that… I like that…” But you end up wanting everything,’ he says. ‘But ultimately you’ve got to do something you want to live with.’