TALL ORDER
Clever tweaks enabled Laura Sawyer to enhance the high ceilings of her flat, which she has decorated with a touch of Parisian style
Deft design tweaks and Parisian-style touches have taken this Croydon semi to new style heights
Sometimes it is the seemingly small tweaks that can really make a difference to a home and this was certainly the case when Laura Sawyer, a stylist and creative consultant (laura-sawyer.com), came to renovate this first floor apartment within a grand Victorian house in South Croydon. ‘When I carried out the works, probably the change that made the biggest impact was the decision to make all the doors taller and wider,’ she recounts, adding, ‘The flat has really high ceilings and the enlarged doors help to emphasise this. They also enable the light to travel through the spaces.’
When Laura purchased the one-bedroom property four years ago, she already knew the building and its inhabitants well: she had bought the basement flat back in 2004 although she had been renting it out for four years while living in Shoreditch, east London. ‘I’d decided that I wanted to return to Croydon to be closer to my family, so when this flat came on the market, the timing was perfect. I love the fact that the flat is flooded with light and has views over the treetops; it is like living in a tree house,’ she recounts.
The previous owner was an elderly gentleman who hadn’t updated the property for decades, so the flat was crying out for attention. ‘Woodchip was papering over the cracks and everything needed redoing, from the kitchen and bathroom to the electrics and flooring,’ recalls Laura, who also decided
to subtly modify the layout. ‘I enlarged the entrance and the bathroom by taking a strip off the bedroom. It means I now have a much more generous hallway and I was able to install a window and a full-sized bath in the bathroom,’ she explains.
Laura also moved the kitchen doorway and changed it to a wide double door: ‘This made a dramatic difference because both the kitchen and the living space now feel much bigger,’ she says. Laura’s budget prompted her to purchase affordable Ikea carcasses but she has elevated them with mint green cupboard doors and white panelled doors, which she designed with her father. ‘He is a wood scientist and he is incredibly hands-on. We made the doors together in his workshop,’ recounts Laura, who sourced decorative brass handles to add a finishing touch.
Laura’s style is distinctly feminine and subtly Parisian – think dusty pinks and curvaceous pieces including a voluptuous vintage velvet sofa by Gio Ponti. ‘There are very few sharpangled things in my home,’ she notes, pointing out the gorgeous shell-shaped cushions, shapely bent wood dining chairs and circular rugs. ‘I think that curvy pieces encourage a good flow around the flat,’ she says, adding that she loves to mix investment buys with high-street finds and pieces picked up in her local second-hand shops. ‘The antique mirror in the bathroom only cost me £5 and it has the original mercury glass,’ she comments.
Laura is not one to keep changing her possessions, preferring to make carefully considered purchases. ‘Before I became a creative consultant I was a fashion buyer and that opened my eyes to how much excess there is in the world, and made me question how much I really need,’ she says, adding, ‘Rearranging my things has as much of an impact as buying a new piece. It means that I keep seeing my possessions in a new light.’