Tara Craig's tiny London flat is a lesson in making a small space sing

In the Sixties, Tara Craig’s flat was part of a Chelsea pub, which was the haunt of local actors, notably Oliver Reed. In those days, actors rather than bankers lived in Chelsea. The late Georgian building was converted into flats in the Seventies, and none too carefully. Tara arrived in 2013 and the little flat did not know what had hit it.

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The hall – an area no larger than many a kitchen table, with three panelled doors opening onto it – is painted a delicious glossy khaki green from Papers and Paints, which gives it a Georgian air. ‘It’s more early Georgian,’ says Tara, who is hot on such details. The geometric black-and-white lino flooring is inspired by a Georgian oilcloth floor design in Dublin, and a curtain of fine off-white linen hangs at the window that takes up much of the fourth wall – the effect is effortlessly elegant.

Tara describes the process that makes the fall of this linen so perfect – the thread for the weft is covered with wax, which is washed off once the fabric is woven and dyed. There is further discussion of the correct proportions of stand-up headings to curtain drop – and we are not yet in the main room.

Tara has years of training behind her: at both the Inchbald and KLC schools of design, followed by a postgraduate course in 20th-century design at Sotheby’s Institute of Art. She went on to spend time interning with the Decoration team at House & Garden, and assisting interior designers, stylists and photographers. She has an enquiring mind and a fund of knowledge about the history and technical aspects of interior design and furniture making – and just has to know how each process is done. Tara’s company, Ensemblier London (French for interior designer) works with artisans to make furniture by hand, using traditional materials. The legs and framework of each piece are carefully crafted from the most appropriate wood, cushions are filled with 70 per cent down and she is very exacting over sizes and types of castor.

Tara opens a door to reveal the main sitting room, which is like a slice of a grand country house with a kitchen in one corner. She took down the existing flimsy kitchen partition and her friend, Marcus Ayshford Sanford of Archidrum, worked out the proportions and internal fittings of the new kitchen area. ‘I wanted a classic look – utilitarian, but not too kitchen-ish,’ she says. And its distinctive cornice, excellent joinery and generous plate rack fit that bill. The warm apricot gloss paint of the cabinets is a good foil for the greenish blue of the room’s walls and woodwork. Tara has picked up these apricot tones in her Ensemblier ‘Montgomery’ chairs and ‘Hanmer’ sofa, with its seat cushion in George Spencer’s cotton ‘Spencer Velvet’ in paprika. The most striking thing is her sure handling of the many different sizes and weights of pattern – from the tiny repeat lining of the festoon blinds, via the bold brown and milky-white curtains, in a Fortuny-like damask by Marialida, to the Vanderhurd rug that defines this area. A handsome mahogany pedestal table near the kitchen is surrounded by 19th-century French dining chairs. ‘Look at the angle of the upholstery on their backs,’ says Tara, plainly most satisfied with the work.

Through the tiny hall to her bedroom, where the walls are covered in a deep blue Marialida damask with a pattern similar to that of the curtains in the sitting room. ‘All bedrooms should be fabric walled,’ she says. ‘It is really indulgent, but it dampens the sound and gives a room more of an intimate, calming atmosphere.’ This room is made cosier still by its blackout blinds in Bennison’s ‘Banyan’, framed by full-length plain interlined linen curtains, and a half-tester effect created by suspending a generous quantity of a fine Isle Mill wool above the head of the bed. A pair of elegant bedside tables, made to Tara’s design in cream gesso with a dark horsehair top, hold bold ceramic lamps by Miranda Berrow. The bathroom next door is lined in cream, pink and burgundy tiles by Balineum. ‘I love the fact that these have proper glazed edges – there is nothing worse than those metal edgings,’ she says with a shudder.

Tara has just completed a London house for an art-world grandee as well as a flat in Paris, whose owners, I’m sure, would agree that though good fun and charming when you meet her, Tara can be reassuringly strict when it comes to quality.

Tara Craig; tcraig.co.uk
Ensemblier London: ensemblierlondon.com