‘It feels well-travelled and cosy,’

says designer Neisha Crosland of her elegant, but very personal home, tucked away behind big double mews doors (complete with the last pair of replacement hinges supplied by a metalworks before it closed down). It’s made up of an L-shaped series of rooms, flowing from one into the other and all looking out on to Neisha’s large ‘secret garden’ filled with box, olive trees, grasses and herbs. ‘There’s nothing I love more than opening all the windows and doors and breathing in green, whatever the time of year,’ she says.

Neisha first spotted the site, heavily bombed during the Second World War, back in 1993. ‘It would have been a working mews with horses, stables and carriages to service the nearby grand Wandsworth Common houses,’ she says. At the time, all she could afford was this ‘postage-stamp sized, two-storey building, with some really dilapidated sheds, in the corner of a cobblestone and concrete plot,’ Neisha says. Yet with its tall south- and east-facing walls, ‘it felt very special and secluded,’ she recalls.

So she started small and converted the mix of garage and offices into a living/dining/kitchen space on the ground floor and two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. Meanwhile, the beginnings of her beloved garden took root in pots. Fast-forward five years and Neisha and her husband Stephane had a second baby on the way. ‘We needed more space, so we bought the other two-storey building next to our plot and linked the two together,’ she says. The couple converted the attic of the first building into a tiny bedroom and the second building became a playroom with a separate flat below.

Five years later, the pair finally bit the bullet – moving out for two years to completely transform the house into how it is today. ‘We wanted a bigger and separate dining room, living room and kitchen and we put in Crittall windows and doors, so that all the rooms could look out and open on to the garden,’ says Neisha. ‘I know we’re lucky to have such a lateral layout when a lot of London houses are tall and thin. It’s not so much that the rooms are big, it’s just that we have a fantastic sense of space.

‘I like how the house has evolved over time,’ Neisha continues. She has deftly considered every detail, drawing on piles of saved-up tear sheets and photographs from her travels for inspiration. ‘With only modest storage space in the kitchen, I’ve lined the shelves with large glass jars filled with pastas, pulses, rice and spices (I cut out the sell-by date on the packet, so I have a record of when I bought them), so the cupboards are easier to maintain,’ she says. ‘Lots of soft fabric and mirrors create nice acoustics in bedrooms and bathrooms,’ she adds, while dimmable lighting helps too – ‘It makes everything feel more gentle and relaxing.’

Many of Neisha’s favourite pieces have either been collected or inherited from her parents. ‘A lot of doing this house was gathering things together and hoping they worked,’ she says. It’s decorated with many of her own distinctive prints on a range of items including wallpaper, textiles and ceramics. Neisha began her career designing printed velvet silk scarves in 1994 and now her work has expanded to creating rugs for The Rug Company, vinyl flooring for Harvey Maria, wallpaper and fabric at Turnell & Gigon and hand-embroidered fabric at Chelsea Textiles. ‘I love the learning curve of working in new and exciting areas,’ says Neisha, who’s recently designed a range of stationery and ceramics. And she’s also published a new book about her love affair with pattern (see the book offer, below). ‘Pattern only works if it makes a room feel calm,’ she says. There is evidence of her design philosophy throughout the house, which displays a striking use of colour, print and texture on tiles, murals and upholstery to bring depth and space to each room. ‘I like the way it creates energy and movement,’ she says.

As a self-confessed homebody, the fact Neisha barely has to leave the house to get to work suits her down to the ground. She recently added the design studio next door, which is linked via an enclosed roof garden. ‘I feel like we’re living in a separate little world,’ she enthuses. ‘To be able to reach different parts of the house by walking through the garden is magical. It’s like playing at living in the countryside, but with the added bonus of having the excitement of London’s big city life on our doorstep. I never want to leave.’

For more info about Neisha’s design work, visit neishacrosland.com.

Neisha Crosland: Life of a Pattern (Merrell Publishers, £100) is available to Livingetc readers for the special price of £85, including free postage and packing (UK mainland only), by telephoning Marston Book Services on 01235 465 500 and quoting the reference MPMERLIVP. The offer is valid until 31 January 2017.