43 follows . The two reception rooms on the north facing courtyard side would be knocked through into one to create a generous open plan library / dining room . By combining these two rooms into one larger space it created a more cohesive feel to the apartment as a whole .
The light filled southside reception room would become a music room , with a baby grand piano as its centrepiece .
It was decided that the bedroom on the south side would become the master bedroom , it had the advantage of a beautiful , tall tree outside the window , unusual for a 5th floor apartment . The other bedroom on the north side would become the guest bedroom .
The kitchen would remain largely in its original position , albeit completely reconfigured and re-designed to incorporate a small island and a hidden utility area and a larder space .
The position of the kitchen door was moved , so that it would be accessed via the central corridor rather than a small dog leg off the corridor as it was before . The remaining dog leg was incorporated into the new master bedroom .
The guest bedroom remained in its existing position as did the family bathroom .
A small coats cupboard accessed from the central corridor was created from part of the library .
For the majority of the spaces wide plank timber flooring in a warm pale grey tone was specified to visually tie the spaces together . The bedrooms were carpeted in a deep pile soft grey carpet and the bathrooms were tiled , which was complimented with underfloor heating .
The lighting design for the apartment was challenging as the construction of the ceilings didn ’ t allow for any recessed lighting so all luminaires had to be surface mounted or incorporated in joinery .
Central Corridor The entrance to the apartment needed to feel warm and welcoming with no clutter . The original layout made no provision for a coats cupboard . As the corridor was quite narrow it couldn ’ t easily accommodate a joinery cupboard , instead it was decided to ‘ nibble ’ a small amount out of the generous library room adjacent to the hall in order to create storage for coats , shoes , suitcases etc .
In order that the strong lines of the corridor were maintained and that the cupboard was as unobtrusive as possible a ‘ invisible ’ door was created , with no architrave and with the skirting detail included in the door design , so that the whole wall read as one .
The high ceilings throughout the property were emphasised with a tonal colour scheme in half tones of grey picking out coving and skirting details . Large dramatic pendant lamps were specified all the way down the corridor to emphasise its length , with a large round mirror and a console shelf creating a visual full stop at the end .
Library The two reception rooms on the north side of the property were integrated into one , to create a new library room / dining room . This helped natural light flow from one room to the other and brought a light airy feel to otherwise quite dark spaces .
Part of the brief was to install a working fireplace to make the space feel warm and cosy , but because of the confines of the apartment block it was not practical to install a gas fire and associated flue / chimney , however a fire surround was designed and integrated into the new bespoke joinery unit and a cast iron , realistic faux log burner was installed in the new fireplace surround , bringing a sense of cosiness to the space .
A small portion of the existing room which formed the library was partitioned off to create the cloak room in the central corridor , this created a small return in the