SMALL HOME, BIG CHANGES
When Red’s homes director, Pip Mccormac, found himself living among bad memories, it took the professionals – and a new outlook – to transform his flat
Calling in the professionals helped transform Pip Mccormac’s flat into a super-stylish sanctuary
Walking back into the one-bed flat I lived in during my 20s, I instantly felt hungover. Not from alcohol, but from the seep of my youth, the memory of miserable Sunday afternoons after awful drug-fuelled Saturday nights emanating from the walls, a wretched dread I had always felt about the week – and perhaps about my whole life – to come. Neither my first decade of adulthood nor the apartment I spent it in were happy places. I’d bought the flat in London’s Waterloo when a chunk of inheritance came through, aged 24. I knew I was lucky to get on the ladder, but I had bigger things to worry about – boys, parties, that curious early noughties obsession with straightening your fringe – than looking for a home. It was in a convenient location for work, it was in budget, it would do. I came to associate it with everything that was wrong in my life.
It had no outdoor space – it was making me feel trapped (nothing to do with the circular patterns of alcohol and drug use I was living through). It was in an ugly concrete building – its appearance was stopping me from finding a boyfriend (not the fault of my low self-esteem and body issues). When I finally moved out in 2011, planning a fresh start for my
30s, I rented it out thinking I’d never live there again.
Until now. Financially, it no longer made sense to be using the rental income to pay the rent somewhere else, and with the market as it is, it didn’t seem plausible to sell. But I »
found it impossible to know how to redecorate. I couldn’t live there with the ghosts of mistakes past, but I couldn’t find a way to erase them, either. Back in 2015, I’d interviewed a couple for Red who had hired interior designers 2LG Studio to refurb their two-bed flat. ‘But isn’t it a bit extravagant to employ professionals?’ I’d asked. ‘We actually saved money by having them,’ they told me. ‘They did everything right first time, there were no costly mistakes to go over and they used their trade discounts.’ Looking at the faux-wood plastic floorboards I’d had laid 12 years ago, I called 2LG immediately.
My brief was: Instagrammable kitchen, a mid-century aesthetic, and for me to feel like I was starting over, not going back. And within three months, every wall had come down, the bedroom had been moved to where the tiny kitchen was, making a cabin-sized nook to sleep in, and the former living room and bedroom was knocked together, leaving one big kitchen/dining/sofa space. I would never have imagined that the flat could seem this grown up, that a refurb could be this stress free (the joy of 2LG being on site daily). The light is different, the mood is different, I’m different.
A home is so much more than just a place to sleep – it encapsulates how you feel, a backdrop to where your life is built, a monument to your moods. Changing the wall colour, moving the furniture around or smashing walls and memories can end up marking the moment you decide to update your life. It doesn’t take much to have a total spring refresh – just a paintbrush and a belief that things will be better.
DINING AREA
‘Our ideas for this interior were heavily influenced by our passion for Italian design and, while many of the design elements are British, the overall feel is quite Milanese,’ says Russell Whitehead of 2LG Studio. The dining chairs and table are all from West Elm, illuminated by Lee Broom’s Crescent pendant light.
MAKE A SMALL SPACE LUXE BY 2LG STUDIO
The vinyl floor tiles from Amtico serve two functions – running throughout the property, they create a flow from room to room, stopping spaces from feeling boxed in. They are also thin enough to slip underfloor heating beneath, meaning wall radiators don’t encroach on the space.
Reflective surfaces don’t have to be just restricted to mirrors. The brass-clad doorless walkway bounces light from the living room into the hall.
Thin chair legs, skinny lamps and narrow sofa spindles stop furniture from taking over the room. Light and air pass easily around and through them, and the apartment becomes more expansive. »
BEDROOM
It made more sense for me to have a small bedroom and larger living space, as I’m only in my bedroom to sleep. The little, enclosed space is almost womb-like in the way it feels comforting. The bed itself is an Eve memory foam mattress, sunk on to slats encased in a Valchromat raised floor that doubles up as built-in storage, with more Valchromat used as sliding doors. The bedlinen is from The White Company. The vanity unit in the hall, below, has a mirrored back to make the whole space seem bigger, and is illuminated by Decanterlights by Lee Broom.
BATHROOM
Despite being a small space, I still wanted a bath, so an industrial sunflower-head shower was installed above one. The whole suite – from the cast-concrete sink to the brass taps – is from Bert & May, while the cupboards and shelf above the toilet are made with Valchromat and marble that was left over from other parts of the flat.