A new-build London maisonette given stylish personality by Jessica Schuster

What do you do if you are a transatlantic businessman who visits London a few times a year and would prefer to have your own pied-à-terre rather than stay in a hotel? If you are the Bahamian owner of this flat, you buy a two-bedroom maisonette in a new 15-storey development in the heart of Marylebone and call on Manhattan-based designer Jessica Schuster to work her magic.

‘Our challenge was to get away from the feeling of a white box and give it personality,’ says Jessica, known as Jessie, who began work on the project in 2019. ‘We didn’t want it to feel like a brand new flat.’ She had already worked on two of the owner’s homes – a house in the Bahamas and an apartment in Manhattan – so had a good grasp of what he liked and he, in turn, gave her carte blanche. ‘We wanted to make it comfortable while staying true to its new-build roots, striking a balance between contemporary and traditional.’ 

The flat – her first London project – is accessed from the first floor, and is spread across two floors, with an open-plan sitting and dining room and a kitchen on the entrance floor, and two bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms upstairs. The layout worked well, as did the design of the kitchen and the bathrooms, which had been installed by the developer. ‘It felt a total waste to rip these out, as they are quite pretty and subtle,’ says Jessie, pointing out the onyx splashback in the kitchen. The parquet floors stayed put, too, as did the wood and glass staircase. 

With the bones in place, Jessie’s efforts were mainly focused on sourcing pieces that would bring a richness to the interior. Her most significant intervention was in the sitting and dining room, where she added a black marble Jamb chimneypiece. ‘It was a long process to get it approved by the freeholder, but it transforms the space and gives it a focal point,’ she says. Next to this, MDF panels concealing electrical equipment were swapped for embossed leather panels, introducing more interesting texture. 

This room is filled with light, as two of its walls are actually floor-to-ceiling windows. However, this did present Jessie with a challenge when it came to finding a place to position the television. Her solution was floating wood and bronze shelves made bespoke by Porada, which sit lightly in front of one of the windows. ‘I didn’t want the shelving to feel heavy or dominating,’ she says. Vintage pieces add to the mix, such as a handful of mid-century ceramic vessels displayed on the shelves and a Seventies wall-mounted sculpture, which was bought from antique dealer Dorian Caffot de Fawes, above the Jamb chimneypiece. 

The same paint – ‘Stony Ground’ by Farrow & Ball – has been used on all the walls on the lower floor. ‘We wanted to establish an earthy feel and the colour gives the illusion that the rooms are bigger than they are,’ explains Jessie. Shades of green are threaded throughout the space – in the sitting and dining room in the form of a sofa from Galerie May covered in forest-green velvet and a dining table by Società Vetraria Trevigiana with a green lacquered glass top. ‘The owner doesn’t love colour, but the green works as a calming neutral,’ she observes. 

Upstairs, the colour has a stronger presence. The main bedroom is covered in a hand-painted wallcovering from Angela Brown, with the ceiling also in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Stony Ground’ and a moss green Alt for Living carpet. ‘It was all about layering in order to create a lush, slightly moodier feel up here,’ Jessie says. The spare room is similarly cosseting, with a wallcovering from Porter Teleo lining the walls. 

The interior was installed in 2020. In a feat of pandemic persistence, Jessie – grounded in Manhattan – called on a team of people in London to bring the project together. ‘I’m so pleased with how it all turned out,’ she enthuses. If the fact that she has just finished working on a fourth project in Miami with the owner is anything to go by, it seems he wholeheartedly agrees. 

Jessica Schuster Design: jessicaschuster.com