The indoor-outdoor space in this townhouse transports the owner away from city life
Every floor of Louise Bradley’s townhouse has been designed to perfectly suit her lifestyle
It took almost three years of house hunting before interior designer Louise Bradley found the right property. ‘There was something wrong with everything I looked at,’ she says. ‘It might be that the back of the house was overlooked by other houses or the drawing room was on the left-hand side whereas I’m right-handed. In short, they were not the blank canvases every designer craves.’
Eventually Louise found a four-storey stucco fronted townhouse in Chelsea 10 minutes from her design studio (louisebradley.co.uk).
‘It sits at the end of two parallel terraced streets, but instead of being back-to-back with another property, the house looks out onto gardens and all the rear windows have fabulous views of tall trees and plants,’ she says. ‘Although I’m in the middle of town, the house has a tranquil feel, almost like being in the country.’
After almost 30 years of designing interiors for other people, Louise knew exactly how she wanted her new home to look and feel. ‘It had to be a place that reflected the way I want to live, where I could close the front door and be transported away from city life,’ she says.
The house was taken back to a shell by LDB Construction and it took almost two years to reconfigure the space. A major part of the work was digging out the basement floor to raise the ceiling in the new kitchen-diner.
On the ground floor, the original hallway was removed to create a much larger drawing room,
DECORATING TIP ‘I veer towards neutral colours – Little Greene’s Slaked Lime gives a soft and warm feeling to any room’
while a glazed garden room was created by extending into the side return. ‘I wanted an indoor-outdoor space that I could spend all year in,’ says Louise. ‘So I worked with Creepers Landscape Design to create a mini courtyard with artificial grass and potted plants.’
Upstairs Louise turned the sitting room into a large main bedroom. ‘The joinery houses a hidden mirrored door through which you access the en suite,’ she says. Not needing a guest loo on this floor, it was knocked out to create a window overlooking a roof garden with centrepiece sculpture by Michael Speller.
The second floor – once two cramped bedrooms – is a now a guest suite with a secret wardrobe for overspill clothes. Finally the top floor houses Louise’s yoga room and a shower room.
As Louise has her own design studio, much of the furniture and lighting is bespoke. She even designed the bronze balustrade herself as a feature running through all floors. ‘I prefer an interior to be muted and classic for a cohesive feel,’ she says. ‘You can add colour in cushions, fabrics and art.’
Now Louise and her two miniature dachshunds, Bebe and Ellie, can enjoy the restful sanctuary she worked so hard to achieve. ‘As soon as I step inside my home I feel instantly peaceful and connected to nature,’ she says. ‘It’s wonderful to curl up on the sofa on my own surrounded by my art and gaze out at the canopy of greenery behind, but I also love seeing the house filled with friends.’