FOLLOWING THE CURVE
Felicity Jones has embraced the circular lines of her unusual apartment with a fabulous decor
By embracing the sinuous lines in her converted gasholder in London, this owner has created a distinctive home with a quirky edge
Felicity Jones was scanning the property pages of the Sunday papers when an advertisement for a north London development caught her eye. The headline ‘Tranquillity’ was enough to pique her interest. Felicity read on to discover the apartments were set in a converted Victorian gasholder in the heart of King’s Cross with a bird’s eye view of the Regent’s Canal. ‘I was intrigued by the uniqueness of the building, and its promise of peacefulness,’ she says.
Dating from 1867, the gasholder was originally used as storage for Pancras
Gasworks. The looming landmarks were decommissioned in 2000 and lay empty until they were converted into apartment buildings as part of the area’s regeneration.
Felicity, who runs a design business from her Hampshire home, had been searching for a London bolthole, close to the theatres and museums. ‘I went to see the building on a sunny Saturday with my granddaughter. I was smitten – and my granddaughter even more so.’
The three-bedroom apartment had been finished to a high standard. There are gleaming brass splashbacks in the kitchen,
glossy poured resin floors and solid wood joinery. But at the start, the ‘developerwhite’ decoration needed a dose of ‘colour, comfort, funkiness’. Which is when she turned to Neil Mclachlan, an interior designer known in his native New Zealand for cheerful interiors peppered with unusual antiques set against confident schemes. ‘Neil opened my eyes to more exciting interiors, with lots of alternatives to the standard approach,’ says Felicity.
Wrapped around the central atrium, the apartment has a fan-shaped layout and its curving floorplan presented its own challenge. ‘It was about finding pieces that played on the quirky character of the architecture. Although it’s not a huge apartment, it has a distinctive feel,’ says Neil.
In the main living area, Neil designed the dining table – a marble slab that perches on two metal drums. Their intricate design is a nod to the perforated steel shutters that wrap around the exterior of the building. The space is not vast, so the table was designed to tuck under the unusual bench seat made from an antique French bedhead. The circular theme stretches to the rug, splashed with colour like a modern artwork,
design tip ‘Overscale by all means, but reduce clutter to offset the effect’
and the long sofa, positioned to take advantage of the waterside views. Small tweaks have brought the ‘fun’. One long corridor has a 50s-style wallpaper, while a bird sticker brings whimsical charm to the kitchen splashback. Antique plates add a colour to walls, while mirrored surfaces amplify the sense of space. The long, curving corridor opposite the open-plan kitchen has a retro wallpaper; ‘It helps to offset the wood panelling and makes the kitchen feel cosier,’ says Neil. The indulgent feel extends to the bedrooms, dominated by regal bedheads in paintbox bright upholstery. The overscaled designs pay homage to influential hotel designer Kit Kemp, while the furniture is the same exuberant mix of antiques and high street finds. In the master bedroom, a colourful framed mirror sits next to tall mirrored bookcases; a French Directoire chest of drawers embellished with gilt detailing, was an auction find. From here, wide windows fling open onto a balcony overlooking the canal: an unexpected vision of tranquillity in the heart of the city, just as they hoped it would be.