Beata Heuman brings her signature cocktail of ideas to an expansive London apartment
The element of surprise is an underrated quality in an interior; it can be exhilarating to walk into a room and be confronted with novel ideas, witty additions and unusual details. The houses of Swedish-born interior designer Beata Heuman have this quality in spades. It’s impressive that you can usually identify a Beata project on sight, as the designer herself confesses to drawing on a vast range of inspiration, from the 18th century to the 1980s, or as Beata calls it “really just any olden times, but also contemporary things too. Some people are much more strict with where they get inspiration from and that might be more restrained and sophisticated, but I can’t help myself”. There may not be any single calling card that marks out a project by Beata and her team, but the overall look is unquestionably hers.
This London flat is perhaps one of the best examples, as it was an opportunity for Beata and her team – she worked primarily with senior designer Caroline Barker – to test out some ideas they had been wanting to do for a while. “There wasn’t very much the client didn’t like,” Beata explains, “so it was a very joyful process. We were really inspired and really excited to be able to add in some details that other clients might not go for.” One such example is the pink floor that hits you as soon as you open the front door. It is “quite surprising for a residential project,” as Caroline notes. Even for this enthusiastic client, the floor was a small sticking point for a while: “The first time we did a test, it was quite pink as it hadn’t been knocked back yet, so the clients were a little bit anxious about it.” However, they had placed their faith in Beata’s particular cocktail of ideas and pressed on, and of course, they were utterly thrilled with the finished product.
Aside from having a notably receptive client, this house was a departure from their normal projects for Beata and her team in other ways too. The space itself was new for Beata, as “we’ve never worked on a big lateral open plan space before. It’s not very common to get that in London,” she says. “It can be a challenge though,” Beata continues “and it’s really important to make sure it’s all used and you don’t have any rooms that are abandoned.” The clients are a young professional couple, with no children and so the four-bedroom flat became a two-bedroom flat, with the other two rooms used as a cork-walled study and an incredibly enviable dressing room.
The amount of space was a luxury for Beata, as the addition of a separate study meant that she could use the open plan kitchen, living and dining room to its full potential. In order to achieve this, the first thing that the team needed to do was rework the staircase, which leads from the central hallway up to the kitchen (the bedrooms are on the floor below, where you enter the flat). “The staircase was coming quite a long way into the entrance hall,” Caroline details, “so we pushed it back and stole some floorspace from the second floor to make it less steep, while making it more of a swooping structure too.” It lands in the middle of the open plan room, turning it into an L-shape, with the kitchen as the short end, the dining space adjoining and the sitting room down the length.
“As it’s a large space,” says Beata, “it was better to keep it neutral but add in colour elsewhere, for example on the radiators. It’s a bit like doing a painting; you just add little bits that will enhance the rest in some way and create tension, balance and contrast. We didn’t want it to be too harmonious, so the red radiator breaks it up.” The colour of the radiators may seem like the most insignificant detail, but it’s these thoughts that take an interior to the next level. “Because there’s not much furniture around the perimeter of the room” Beata continues, “it felt quite empty, so the radiator added interest to an empty space. It draws attention away from the windows themselves”.
The furniture was also a chance to add colour to the room, and Beata and her team sourced it from far and wide. There are IKEA pieces, antiques, Pinch sofas, Beata’s own designs and high street finds all mingling together in perfect harmony. The team did not have very long for the project, pulling the whole thing together in a mere four months, but as Caroline enthuses, “it had a good effect because we looked to source more vintage items than we normally would, which helped create a sense of character in a building without the architectural features that make it feel old.”
Where does the flat go from here? For Beata, “it’s so unrealistic to think that it’s going to stay how it is, so we offer schemes that have lots of different styles combined so they can naturally add to it and new things will look at home. By doing that, you get more of a sense that it’s been built over time. It was a very good fit with us and them so I have every confidence that they’ll make it look even better. It’s exciting to see what they’ll add.”
Beata Heuman: beataheuman.com
Simon Brown1/19The staircase was the major structural change that Beata and her team made, creating a more swooping style than the clunky shape that was previously there.
Simon Brown2/19A bespoke Beata Heuman radiator console table sits by the entrance.
Simon Brown3/19The kitchen was inspired by a trip Beata made to Swan House in Atlanta. The colour is ‘Oval Room Blue’ from Farrow & Ball, and all the door knobs again are from Beata's own range. The butcher's block trolley table was designed and had this made by Caroline's brother. “The end grain oak top was incredibly heavy and so watching him get it up the two flights of stairs to the kitchen was probably the most nerve wracking part of the project!” she exclaims. Underneath the skirt there is ample storage for pots, pans and trays. The surface itself gives a hardy additional work surface but also is perfect for serving when entertaining.
Simon Brown4/19Pinch ‘Moreau’ sofas sit opposite one another in the living room, framing a chalkboard fireplace. The oak mantle has a little groove in it to keep the chalk, and is adorned with notes and doodles form the clients' visitors. Above it is a Beata Heuman custom TV cabinet; the doors feature the clients' personal photographs and open to reveal the TV behind.
Simon Brown5/19Patterned Yinka Ilori cushions introduce a pop of colour, with a bespoke Beata Heuman ottoman between the sofas. The other chairs, side tables and lamps were all vintage finds, which sit on a Beata Heuman ‘Hampa Matta’ rug
Simon Brown6/19As the clients love to entertain, a large dining table was essential. The team sourced this one from Bonham's, surrounding it with Gemla dining chairs. The fireplace was inspired by a design in Julian Schnables' Palazzo Chupi, but, as Caroline explains “we turned the legs upside down so that the paws were holding up the mantle, and had it made out of plaster so that it felt light and sculptural in the space.” The lampshades on custom versions of Beata's Lyre Cabinets were painted by the team's Junior Designer Lois Bryson Edmett, who worked on the project.
Simon Brown7/19The staircase delivers you to this area of the living room, where Beata and her team made a statement with a bar made with a custom paint finish and Beata Heuman button knobs.
Simon Brown8/19The library is accessed from the main living space and adjoins to the study next door.
Simon Brown9/19The library leads into a studio, with the study door under the stairs that lead up to a large roof terrace.
Simon Brown10/19The study has the same pink floor as downstairs, with cork walls and bespoke joinery. The desks are custom-made with lino tops from Forbo and the team loved them so much, that they've inspired a design that will soon join the roster. The desk drawers are from Ikea.
Simon Brown11/19A bespoke Beata Heuman bench, covered in the company's Dappled Velvet, sits at the end of the bed, with vintage bedside chests on either side. Above these hang artworks, which were commissioned from artist Molly van Amerongen; she requested a collection of personal photographs from the clients as the starting points for the pieces, which were painted as a pair with this location in mind and so are very sentimental.
Simon Brown12/19“We knew we wanted to do more than just a headboard for this room," says Caroline “but it’s so rare to get a bedroom with a double aspect like this in London, and so we wanted the canopy to feel light, airy and soft.” Opposite the bed is a vintage Knoll sofa, reupholstered in Beata Heuman Jumbo Gingham.
Simon Brown13/19Built-in wardrobes in the bedroom conceal the entrance through to the en suite space next door.
Simon Brown14/19The bedroom leads through to a bathroom and dressing room, which has wardrobes with Svenskt Tenn fabric. The door to the dressing room is a jib door disguised as a mirror with a yellow frame.
Simon Brown15/19“This is such a generous bathroom that we wanted the bath to take centre stage and for it to feel like an extension of a living space,” says Caroline. To the left of the bath, a vintage slipper chair in Beata Heuman's Palm Drop fabric adds to the feeling.
Simon Brown16/19The washstands are from Drummonds, with matching nickel taps, with hidden cupboards behind the mirrors above. A Dodo Egg pendant takes centre stage.
Simon Brown17/19The dressing room is filled with bespoke designs, including the mirror, mirrored cabinets and dressing table. The right hand mirror cabinet conceals a coffee machine so that the clients can enjoy morning coffee here or on the adjoining terrace without having to venture upstairs to the kitchen.
Simon Brown18/19The guest bedroom has a custom headboard, an appliqué design inspired by an artwork. The quilt is custom too, made using alternating coloured strips of fabric - “it was important we got the width of theses trips exactly right so it sat on the bed in a perfect square,” says Caaroline. “Many samples were made but it was well worth it in the end.”
Simon Brown19/19The room that most excited Beata and Caroline, and which they designed first, was the utility room. The cabinetry is all custom designed with doors painted in ’Stone Blue’ from Farrow & Ball and BH Coin doorknobs. The flooring is a red and cream chequered lino and the counter top is custom stainless steel with an integrated sink.
