LONDON APARTMENT
A pared-back palette enhances the elegant period details in Heather Kane’s Grade-ii listed home
A year ago, Heather Kane had just finished renovating her period apartment. Now the upheaval is done, she can’t wait to celebrate in style – and with a few more home comforts
‘ this time last New Year’s Eve, I’d only just moved in,’ says Heather Kane of her beautiful apartment in London’s Marylebone. ‘It was pretty much empty. I had the dining table, but that was about it.’ Now fully settled in, she’s ready to mark this year’s celebrations in style. ‘I’m looking forward to kitting the place out with fairy lights, getting together with friends and setting some intentions. I’m not much of a cook – and that’s being generous – so I’ll keep things casual by serving cake and lots of fizz.’
In-between parties, Heather’s also hoping to find time to reflect – and not just on the past 12 months. She actually bought her two-bedroom home, part of an 18th-century Grade Ii-listed Georgian townhouse, back in August 2017. ‘I love the flat as it is now, but it’s been a challenge to get here,’ she says. Indeed, the very first time she viewed its high ceilings, elegant plasterwork and original panelling, it was through thick layers of dust and dirt – no one had lived here for many years. ‘It had been updated in the Fifties and Sixties, but hadn’t been touched since,’ she says. ‘It was non-habitable and needed a major facelift, which is what I was looking for. Some people might have been scared off, but I was excited.’
Born in California, Heather moved to London four years ago for work. Having prior experience of buying and refurbishing large properties stateside, she imagined overhauling a 1,200 square foot space would be relatively easy by comparison – that’s before she encountered the UK’S approvals process. ‘The older the property, the more surprises it’s going to give you – that went as expected,’ she says. ‘But what I wasn’t prepared for was the permissions and revisions – they took a lot of time.’
To help her navigate the system – and the paperwork – Heather enlisted the help of architecture studio Red Deer. Not only are they the visionaries behind one of her favourite London restaurants, Bourne & Hollingsworth, more importantly, she says, they were willing to work with her. ‘Red Deer were okay with me having a strong voice. It was a collaboration: they helped me realise my ideal home, rather than conceptualising their own idea of what that might look like.’
The plans, once approved, involved reorienting the kitchen to create a combined living, dining and cooking space, and making the hallway narrower to fit in two small bathrooms rather than one bathroom plus a cloakroom. They also had to source era-appropriate fireplaces, antique Douglas fir f loorboards and repair the mouldings and plasterwork. ‘Alarmingly, I thought the plaster angels on the living room walls were a recent addition and planned to chisel them off,’ admits Heather. ‘I eventually realised they’re from the 1700s and they’re now my favourite detail.’
Next came the furniture and fittings, which adhere to a strict palette of black, white, grey and brass – a surprisingly rigorous choice for a self-confessed hoarder and maximalist. ‘It’s an allergic reaction to the last flat I had,’ Heather explains. ‘I had an emerald green sofa that worked well, but it controlled all of my design decisions for years. I couldn’t wait to get rid of it and have no bold colour – it feels really soothing.’ In fact, when she left her last apartment, the only piece of furniture Heather brought along was the aforementioned dining table. Keen to create a whole new look, she spent six months or so procuring one-off pieces from online marketplaces, such as ebay, Etsy and Pamono. These mingle with more modern designs from Maisons du Monde, Andrew Martin and Liberty London. ‘It was a slow process, but for me the finding is part of the fun,’ she says.
Collected among this furniture mix are distinctive displays of iconography, art and objects. Often grouped, they’re organised by odd numbers, varying heights, textures and tones. ‘Believe it or not, this is my attempt at minimal,’ she says, ‘but there’s still lots of stuff, so I consciously kept areas of negative white space to maintain a sense of calm.’ The result is effortlessly elegant, although it does require self-discipline on Heather’s behalf. ‘It’s not my natural instinct to leave something empty, but this feels really good to me right now. That said, I’m sure it will evolve. If you check back in another year it might even be full of colour!’
X Find out more about Red Deer at reddeer.co.uk and Frances Loom at francesloom.com
“I’m obsessed with lighting; it’s like the jewellery on an outfit”