Natalia Miyar brings a modern touch to a formerly chintz-adorned penthouse
What makes the perfect home? It is a question to which the answer evolves over the course of a person’s lifetime, inviting the possibility of reinvention each time we consider our response. For the owner of this grandly proportioned penthouse, which spans the top floors of two stucco buildings on a pristine garden square in Belgravia, rethinking her home was the physical manifestation of an exciting new chapter. Living between London and Tel Aviv, she had occupied this penthouse – which she created by merging two separate apartments – for more than 25 years. But with her children now off starting their own families, the interior was in need of a radical overhaul to align it with this new, more liberated phase of her life.
It is this spirit of positive potential that the architect and interior designer Natalia Miyar sought to harness in the apartment’s transformation. ‘The owner is a dynamic and beautiful grandmother, who wanted a youthful and colourful New York-loft-style space,’ explains Natalia, who was hired on the strength of her work in a neighbouring flat. ‘The interior had become a bit frozen in time.’ While this mid-19th-century building may not be the obvious choice for a modern Manhattan moment, the designer embraced the brief with gusto. ‘The space was just for her and I loved that,’ says Natalia, who swept away any remnant of the past, dispatching the faded chintz of the existing Eighties country-house-style decoration with cool-headed – and creative – efficiency.
Overseeing every aspect of the project – from the interior architecture to the furnishings – Natalia made a decisive first move in reconfiguring the layout. Tipping the space on its head, she turned the upper-floor spaces into a pair of smart bedrooms, each with an en-suite bathroom and a dressing room, to accommodate the owner’s growing gang of grandchildren, plus a separate laundry room.
This all-encompassing plan was set in motion the moment that Natalia caught sight of the existing high-ceilinged sitting room on the upper floor of this bi-lateral apartment. Its exposed beams and open fire were deemed to contribute to an overridingly fusty air. Now, with walls swathed in the geometric patterns of Porter Teleo’s ‘Zeta’ and a sweep of vivid printed textiles and upholstery, it forms the vibrant main bedroom. It sets the playful and feminine tone that now permeates throughout.
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‘I am an architect rather than an interior designer by training,’ says Natalia, whose transatlantic studio has offices in both London and Miami. ‘So spatial sequencing is particularly important to me. If the proportions are wrong, everything is wrong.’ Her clever, fresh configuration, with new oak flooring laid throughout, makes the completed interior feel more like a house than a maisonette, a quality that the owner has come to particularly love. It is down, in part, to the installation of a new stairwell to the rear, which, framed by Crittall doors and a skylight, draws even more light into the double-aspect space.
Natalia prides herself on her ability to sensitively divine and translate a client’s tastes and desires. There is, she insists, no set Natalia Miyar studio style: ‘Ultimately, it’s someone’s home; I just want them to be happy in it.’ There are sometimes discussions though and, for this project, Natalia managed to temper the owner’s pursuit of loft living by convincing her to stop short of making the entire apartment open plan. ‘If Covid has taught us anything, it is the value of walls,’ says Natalia.
With the owner’s aspiration in mind, Natalia removed as many partitions as the structural architecture would allow on the lower floor to create a vast, L-shaped sitting and dining room, complete with a raised Lilliputian, russet-hued study, a couple of steps above the dining area. On the other side of the linear entrance hall and the stairs that centrally divide this level, there is a more intimate family room, which leads into a sleek, monochrome kitchen with worktops in Calacatta gold marble and access to a terrace.
Decked in a deep forest green woven wallcovering from Élitis, the family room has a warmly cocooning feel that is a counterpoint to the openness of the sitting room next door. If there is one piece that sums up the decorative mood of the project for Natalia, it is the glitter-flecked rug from Sinclair Till in this room. ‘It’s so bold and simple, but the sparkle detailing lifts it,’ says the designer, whose interiors are filled with these subtle moments of decadence.
None of the owner’s original pieces of furniture remains except for a solitary wooden cabinet. In their place, there is an array of bespoke creations designed by Natalia, the elevated finishes of which contribute – along with the jewel-like glass and brass lighting designs – to the easy, high-octane atmosphere.
Even the downstairs loo, with its soft-veined Namibian rose marble and modernist print wallpaper, feels decidedly luxurious. ‘I love pink,’ says Natalia. ‘It is such a warm and sophisticated colour, but I rarely get to use it.’ What she manages to pull off so effortlessly in this project as a whole is the skilled balancing act between masculine and feminine elements (the owner’s partner gets his own moment in his monochrome bathroom on the upper floor), and between warm and enveloping spaces and more minimalist communal zones.
While the initial design process was executed swiftly, the transformation took close to four years to complete due to practical delays (not Covid related), making it the longest in the studio’s history. Thankfully, for both designer and client, it remains the perfect home.
Natalia Miyar: nataliamiyar.com
Simon Brown1/7Walls in a faux parchment paint finish by Mathew Bray & Matthew Collins are the backdrop for a bespoke sofa by Natalia Miyar, covered in ‘Soho Coast’ linen by Kirkby Design from Romo, and vintage armchairs covered in Lelièvre’s ‘Regate’ fabric.
Simon Brown2/7To the left of the ‘Inox Cloud’ mirror from Mint gallery is Gabriele Cappelli’s Composition 313 painting from Cadogan Contemporary; its colours complement the curtains in Zimmer + Rohde’s ‘Zagora’ linen mix.
Simon Brown3/7The ‘Coiba’ abaca wallcovering from Élitis complements the sofa in ‘Konyak’ linen from Designs of the Time, while the vintage copper side table sourced in Miami and Vandra Rugs’ glitter-flecked ‘Adda’ rug from Sinclair Till add hints of decadence to the scheme.
Simon Brown4/7The units are finished with Calacatta gold marble worktops. The ‘Ansel’ bar stools are from Arteriors.
Simon Brown5/7Above the bespoke table, with chairs by Holly Hunt, is Giopato & Coombes’ ‘Dewdrops’ pendant. On the wall is Alberto Biasi’s Eclisse artwork from Tornabuoni Art.
Simon Brown6/7The headboard in Rubelli’s ‘Venezia’ silk velvet in rosa is vibrant against Porter Teleo’s ‘Zeta’ wallcovering in a custom mauve, which tones with the curtains in Pollack’s ‘Dasher’ linen mix from Altfield. Stools in Porter Teleo’s ‘Silk Scarf ’ hand-painted silk taffeta stand on a bespoke rug.
Simon Brown7/7The walls and floor are lined in Statuario marble, while the vanity is in Nero Marquina marble.
