A light and calm Victorian flat in Belsize Park by Alice B. Davies

It takes a certain type of designer to create a space which feels totally serene and calm whilst simultaneously being comfortable and full of character. Such qualities are often the result of a delicate balance of palate, texture, art and antiques, and it is this balance that Alice B. Davies has achieved seamlessly in this north London project.

Alice cut her teeth working primarily in high-end residential and commercial real estate, which, though a far cry from the work she’s completed through her own studio (which she opened in 2019), has infused her projects with a subtle glamour. That low-key sophistication exists in spades in this particular project.

The small flat is home to entrepreneur James Delaney and portrait painter Kayoon Anderson, who made contact with Alice before they even completed on the flat, such was their eagerness to secure her help with the redesign. Luckily, the purchase went through in 2019, and Alice got right to work.

The floor plan consists of one bedroom, a bathroom, art studio and an open-plan kitchen-dining-living area, and Alice “was immediately struck by the spaces’ generous proportions.” The flat had been the subject of an unfortunate conversion in the 1980s, however.  “It did still have some period details,” Alice explains, “but they had been cut in half and there was strange boxing out of the space which ruined the flow.” The ceilings in the kitchen and bedroom, for example, had been lowered, to make room for boxed-in plumbing and a mezzanine respectively, rendering the rooms “very dark and cave-like”. Naturally, the very first thing that was done was to knock out all of the 80s features- under which marvels such as tall doorways and four metre high ceilings were found.

James and Kayoon wanted the space to feel calming and airy, keeping in mind that Kayoon often works with colour in her paintings, so the flat almost needed to feel like a blank canvas against which her paintings could hang. Though Alice removed some of the more modern additions - such as plasterboard walls - she kept the fabric of the building the same. The aim, after all, was to return the property to its Victorian roots. This involved reinstating several period features - cornicing, skirting and the original, tall doorways - and removing all of the spotlights (“I hate spotlights” says Alice, “I find that in a period property they really jar”).

The walls were painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Slipper Satin’, providing a perfect neutral backdrop for the eclectic mixture of furniture and art to come. James and Kayoon's taste is more contemporary in feel, and some key pieces were chosen by them: the large pendant light and arching floor lamp in the kitchen / living room are particular favourites of theirs, as is the Japanese cabinet in the kitchen. Alice, however, maintains that “it’s really important to mix in a few different pieces to make it feel like a home” and so incorporated treasures found from a host of her favourite antiques haunts, or in the case of the vintage William Morris fabric which covers the ottoman, in her great grandfather’s house.

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“We wanted to keep the joinery in the kitchen really simple” Alice explains, pointing out that the “real star” is the Arabesco marble countertop, a moment of frivolity which continues to delight both Alice and her clients. The “display wall” which runs above the kitchen countertops is one of Alice’s favourite spaces: “I love having a space where they can hang their art and precious things - that’s definitely what a house is for”.

In order to create a cosier atmosphere in the expansive main bedroom, floor-to-ceiling wardrobes were installed along the back wall, and the bed was placed in the centre of the room, dividing it into two different “zones”. The traditional architecture and furniture is offset with a bold, contemporary pendant light.

Adjacent to the main bedroom is the new studio. Alice opened up the space by installing tall crittal doors, transforming what was formerly a boxed in spare bedroom into a bright art space, where light from the french doors floods in and ceiling-height joinery provides ample storage.

Though not “filled with furniture”, as Alice puts it, this flat’s calming sophistication is exactly the space which the clients needed to live and grow into. A home should act as “a canvas for your life”, she says, and this one is something of a masterpiece.

Alicebdavies.com