Houzz Tour: Light, Art and a Floating Bed in a Chic London Flat

There are benefits to renting a home before you buy your own, including having the chance to work out what you like and don’t like, designwise. So it was for the owner of this two-bedroom apartment in London’s Notting Hill. “She had only rented before,” says Kia Sunda, the interior designer behind its renovation, “and so she knew exactly what she didn’t like and what drove her crazy.”

From this list of don’ts grew a list of must-have ingredients and an overall vision for the flat. Clean lines, plenty of storage and a large TV were priorities. They pulled down a wall between the living area and the kitchen, and now light pours in from windows on both sides. Colorful artwork, much of it made by the owner, and carefully chosen pieces take center stage, and Sunda’s design ideas make the most of every square inch of space.

Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: A professional woman
What it is: An apartment on the top 2 floors of a Victorian-era building
Location: Notting Hill, London
Size: 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom

White handleless cabinets create a sleek, streamlined feel in the kitchen. “The owner loves to cook and was spending a lot on appliances, so I trimmed costs by designing the kitchen and getting the builder to install it,” Sunda says. The tubular extractor looks beautifully space age. “It was nice to install something with soft lines that looks more like a feature than an appliance,” she says.

The island top is gently curved. “It looks softer,” Sunda says. “Too many straight lines can look harsh.” She had looked into installing a solid glass top. “Then we worked out we would need about 24 people to carry it up the stairs and a steel in the floor to support the weight, so I went for Corian instead,” she says.

Kitchen units: DIY Kitchens; extractor: Air Uno; ovens: Gaggenau


LED lights are recessed into the ceiling in a line on one side. “The owner is not a fan of spotlights,” Sunda says. “There are some in the kitchen, but on the right side we created a channel between the joists that runs the length of the room for a more architectural finish.”

A modern sideboard bridges the space between the kitchen and the adjoining living area. “We could have built storage here, but the owner didn’t want anything too blocky and prefers freestanding pieces,” Sunda says.

The owner made the simple but surprisingly effective artwork. “It’s drinking straws stuck to a canvas,” Sunda says.

Sideboard: Go Modern


A neat dining area is tucked at the front of the flat, behind the seating area. Again, a piece of homemade art brightens up the white space.

Dining chairs: Go Modern


“The owner had no furniture,” Sunda says, “so we redesigned the space and sourced the pieces for her, leaving her free to buy art, which she enjoyed.” The white artwork was made by the owner. “It’s simply a canvas with polystyrene on it painted white,” Sunda says.

Sofa, Arco floor light: The Conran Shop


The owner stipulated a huge TV for the living room but also wanted the space to feel very clean. She needed a lot of storage, too, but wanted low pieces, not banks of built-in cupboards.

To create a cinema-style TV experience, Sunda fitted a screen into the ceiling and mounted a projector on the opposite wall. “The screen drops down when needed, but for the rest of the time, the focus of this space is the artwork,” she says.

View other ways to hide the TV


New pale wooden flooring from a specialist trade supplier was laid throughout the apartment. “We also installed a skylight above the stairs specifically to bring light into what was a very dark space,” Sunda says.


The designer removed the traditional banisters on the upper flight of stairs and added a sleek glass alternative. “Again, it keeps the space looking light and feeling pleasant,” Sunda says. “It became the ideal place to create a picture wall.”


“The owner wanted something a bit different up here in the bedroom,” says Sunda, who bought a floating bed for her. “People ask whether it’s safe,” she says. “It’s completely safe. There is actually a leg in the center, and the bed has a steel frame and is drilled into a supporting wall. It’s solid!”

Bed: Fluttua by Lago, Living Space & Partners

See more floating beds


The top-floor bedroom has two windows and is extremely light. The recipe of white punctuated by the owner’s colorful artwork continues on this floor, and looks fresh and exciting.


Like the bed, the wall-mounted storage units are raised off the floor and seem to float. “The idea was to boost the sense of space,” Sunda says. “Physical space is one thing, but we make adjustments to our perception of space based on how we see it and what’s in it. Thanks to all the floor that’s visible beneath the furniture, we see this room as larger than its actual footprint.”

Modular storage: Living Space & Partners


The owner fell in love with this artwork by artist Hush, which she discovered at a local gallery, but it was rather small for this wall. “So we set it in a large white frame,” Sunda says. “The artwork is not drowned out by it, but now the scale suits the wall it’s hung on.”


“The bathroom was disastrous before,” Sunda says with a laugh. She moved the toilet to make space for a separate shower to the right of the door (not seen here), and installed a skylight with a superslim frame to let in as much light as possible.


“The owner really wanted a nice bath,” Sunda says. “It was something she hadn’t had in previous rented homes.” The designer installed a freestanding tub with a backdrop of gorgeous mosaic tiles.

“Those amazing shimmering tiles are white gold,” she says. There are more of the golden ones at the top than the bottom, so the design looks like rain pattering into the bath. “I wanted to give the space a luxury feel and a bit of glamour,” Sunda says.

Mosaic tiles: Bisazza, Surface Tiles; all fixtures: Livinghouse


Sunda again used the idea of pieces floating to boost the sense of space here. “The toilet doesn’t actually float, but its rounded shape gives that impression,” she says.

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