3 Bedroom Apartment Interior Design

3 Bedroom Apartment Interior Design

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95 ways to decorate a flat

All the most stylish flats from the House & Garden archive collected in to one handy gallery

Like all small spaces, flats can require a bit of ingenuity to get right, but it's so satisfying when you manage to organise everything to exactly accommodate your requirements. We've gathered together some of our favourite design ideas from the archive, as well as helpful tips from interior designers below.

• Make as much use of height and light as you can. In a tiny flat in London, Beata Heuman has positioned bookshelves high up on the walls, drawing attention to the considerable height of the room. 'With all that vertical volume, extending details like the artwork and bookshelves draws the eye upwards,' she says.

• Install as much custom joinery as you can afford. In Irene Gunter's small London flat, the bed in the main bedroom sits against a false wall a couple of feet from the actual wall, creating a useful area of hidden storage behind, and there are floor-to-ceiling wardrobes and window seats with integrated drawers.

• Eliminate or hide bulky objects wherever possible. In a 25 square metre Paris flat, designer Marianne Evennou installed underfloor heating as a way to avoid having to install cumbersome radiators, and managed to hide the washing machine in a corner cabinet in the kitchen, with a door opening in the entrance hall at the machine's rear.

• Zone the space carefully. It might be tempting to tear down all the walls in a small flat and create open plan spaces, but Marianne Evennou says she is a great believer in creating a number of distinct zones, 'I find you have a much greater sensation of space that way. You have the impression of moving around, rather than being stuck in a box. Plus, it's more cosy.' Half walls or walls with internal windows can be a helpful way of separating spaces while still allowing the flow of light and air. For a more affordable option, try internal curtains, especially if you're in a truly small space like a studio flat.

• Find flexible furniture. When it comes to furniture, Marianne Evennou recommends flexible pieces like folding chairs and bistro tables. 'You often need to move things around in small spaces,' observes Marianne. 'So it's best to stick to furniture that is mobile and flexible.' Don't feel that you have to be confined to modern pieces, however. As our decoration editor Ruth Sleightholme points out, " Georgian furniture often has quite narrow proportions and could be brilliantly utilitarian at times." In the kitchen, don't waste space on a draining board, but consider an open storage option like a stainless-steel unit from Stovold and Pogue that doubles as a cupboard and drainer.

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  STEPHAN JULLIARD

  Take inspiration from Marianne Evennou's creative use of colour and choice of flexible furniture to enhance the proportions and maximise space in this Paris apartment. A pair of foldable 'Pliante' chairs from Maison Gatti flank a French bistro-style dining table from the same company in the kitchen.

• Simon Brown

  Small London flats require a clever use of space, which Beata Heuman has achieved wonderfully here. An open plan kitchen-living room has plenty of storage, but building a banquette onto the kitchen counter allows for a dining space that doesn't take up too much room. The custom-made banquette, covered in 'Heritage' leather in mustard from Yarwood, and an oak and powder-coated brass table – both by Beata Heuman Studio – are teamed with 'Vilda 3' bentwood chairs by Gemla. The 'Hackney' floor lamp in a bronze finish is by J Randall Powers for Visual Comfort

• Rachael Smith

  A former studio flat was transformed into a new hallway in Cecile Gavazzi's flat, situated between the kitchen and the dining room, for the three-storey apartment. She originally bought one duplex flat, then bought an adjoining one when it came up for sale and finally, another adjoining flat in the next door building. Smart wooden panelling in a bespoke shade of blue from Papers & Paints conceals plenty of useful storage.

• Paul Massey

  When it came to decorating her small south London flat, designer Irene Gunter said 'One of the key things I wanted to achieve was to create plenty of storage without feeling compromised on space.' The bed in the main bedroom sits against a false wall, behind which is a useful area, and there are floor-to-ceiling wardrobes and window seats with integrated drawers.

• James McDonald

  Rients Bruinsma built every part of this studio flat in Shoreditch himself, creating a seamless open plan living space that combines the kitchen, dining room, living room and bedroom in one. Part of the genius of the design is the compact, sleek kitchen. "It looks almost like it could be a bar," says Rients, "but I cook huge meals here and I manage perfectly well." The walnut kitchen was built onto the outside of the marble bathroom. Although it takes up little space, it includes a dishwasher and washing machine hidden behind the cabinets.

• Alexander James

  Landscape architect Kim Wilkie has furnished his flat in a way that perfectly complements architect William Smalley's quietly austere design, with a collection of pictures, ceramics and furniture that reveals a deep interest in craftsmanship. His bed was purchased from Heal's and is covered in an antique geometric quilt.

• Alexander James

  In Kim Wilkie's flat, architect William Smalley 'wanted the interior to look massive but simple at the same time,' William explains. 'Almost as if it had been carved out of a single space. The flat is also divided by two substantial walls, and I wanted the whole design to share that feeling of solidity and weight.' The effect is achieved by matching the depth of the solid walls throughout with sturdy detailing, keeping each surface as simple as possible. The bathroom is a wonderful example of this aesthetic - it is built around clean lines and fitted with taps from Vola and a matching bath and basin from Holloways of Ludlow.

• Alexander James

  Landscape architect Kim Wilkie bought his flat in December 2012. It is flooded with light, thanks to five large south-facing windows, left uncurtained apart from discreet white-linen blinds. The study is no exception - at one end there is a glass-topped 'Dublin' desk from Habitat and a Seventies Perspex and steel chair provide a small work space. The adjacent door leads in to the sitting room. 'Three things sold the place to me,' says Kim. 'The windows, the proportions of the rooms and the entrance stairs.'

• Alexander James

  In the dining area of Kim Wilkie's flat, a large oil on linen map of London by Barbara Macfarlane hangs behind the Arts and Crafts oak dining table and chairs. To the left, a door leads into Kim's bedroom and to the right, into the entrance hall and kitchen beyond.

• Alexander James

  Natural light floods in from the south-facing windows in the sitting and dining room, where the furniture is kept simple to draw the focus onto the industrial artwork. To the right of the Purbeck-stone chimneypiece, shelves hold 35 sculptural ploughshares dug up on Kim's farm, with cast-iron gratings and schist roof tiles on top.

  The first things that catch your eye in the sitting room are the powerfully sculptural ploughshares, dug up from the fields around Kim's Hampshire farm and arranged on backlit shelves below a 'frieze' of decorative cast-iron gratings. Arts and Crafts furniture, outsize wood engravings by Julian Meredith and contemporary ceramics testify to his love of the handmade, as does the beautifully dovetailed ladder in the study, made for Kim by the sculptor Simon Thomas.

• Sarah Hogan

  The bathroom of this Holland Park flat is fitted with encaustic floor tiles sourced from Portugal. They complement the freestanding bath from The Water Monopoly. The fresh palette works with the abundant natural light to make the room feel spacious.

• Sarah Hogan

  In this Holland Park flat, the main bedroom, with its en suite bathroom, is one of designer Nicholas Spencer's great triumphs in terms of use of space. The bed is positioned on one side of this division, facing the window, meaning the owners can lie in bed and watch the sun set.

• Sarah Hogan

  This flat is at the top of a substantial Regency house in a part of Holland Park where some of its unconverted counterparts are home to minor embassies and consulates. At 140 square metres, it is hardly a shoebox. That said, Nicholas and his wife Sophie, who make up the interior architecture practice Spencer & Wedekind, have created an interior that is far more than the sum of its square metres. An excellent example of Spencer's ingenuity is the reappropriation of the wall between the kitchen and living room - it has been extended and deepened to make space for storage, while also creating the effect of a mini-hall.

• Sarah Hogan

  This flat in Holland Park is a perfectly ordered space, with a small hall at the entrance dividing the bedrooms from the living areas, which include the east-facing sitting room at the front and the kitchen and dining area at the back. Dividing these two spaces is a set of glazed pocket doors, which allows natural light to always fill the middle of the rather deep building. Cleverly, the doors have been positioned to hide the working area of the kitchen, saving the owners from staring at pots to be washed while they relax in the sitting room.

• Sarah Hogan

  This sitting room in Holland Park is at the front of the flat and illustrates how designers Nicholas Spencer and Sophie von Wedekind have fulfilled a 'comfortable but without clutter' brief. There are inviting sofas surrounding a 'Jean Marc' coffee table by Julian Chichester, and plenty of discreet storage. Detail is provided by pieces including a Seventies brass sculpture from Fiona McDonald, which sits to the far right of the windows, and cushions from Violet & George.

• Luke Edward Hall

  In a flat belonging to artist and interior decorator Luke Edward Hall, a mid-century style dark green 'Fleetwood' sofa from Sofa.com marks the division between the seating area and dining table. It was chosen for its neat size - 'As much as I'd love a big squishy George Sherlock sofa, they're not always practical in a London flat,' says Luke. A colourful array of cushions, including a velvet ikat and a burgundy cushion from Luke's own range, decorate the sofa.

  A spectacular 1960s Fontana Arte mirror, found on 1stDibs, hangs above the sofa. 'I love the segments of peach and blue glass together and the bronze frame on this one,' explains Luke. The mirror is framed by a pair of shell sconces from The English Lamp Company and a pair of plaster ones from Peter Hone. They're ideal for balancing a couple of pineapples on when throwing a party, according to Luke!

  The peach coloured marble topped table was found at one of their favourite shops, Ebury Trading and was something of an investment piece. They have balanced it with six Marcel Breuer style chairs, which were a steal from eBay. 'It's good to mix things up; it's worth spending money on important items that you've fallen in love with, but not everything has to cost lots of money,' says Luke.

• Luke Edward Hall

  The hallway of Luke Edward Hall's London flat is painted in Farrow & Ball's fresh 'Folly Green' colour - this choice brightens a potentially dark space. A colourful antique kilim from the Rug Store in Richmond sits on the floor beside a plaster ionic capital by Peter Hone. The walls are covered from floor to ceiling with framed prints, exhibition posters and maps. Luke and Duncan collect 20th century exhibition posters from the likes of Picasso, Hockney and Calder, with the yellow Matisse one in the hall being a favourite of theirs. For framing, they use Circa 48 on Brecknock Road, which is just a stone's throw from their house. 'It's incredibly reasonable and they can supply just about any frame you wish,' says Luke.

• Luke Edward Hall

  An ebonised oval mirror sits above the sink in the bathroom of Luke Edward Hall's London flat and the large flamingo print complements the wallpaper. A roll top bath and a large shower was installed four years ago along withtongue and groove panelling on the bottom half of the wall, which is painted in Farrow & Ball's 'Pigeon'. The walls are hung with 'Apothecary's Garden' wallpaper, a 1926 Charles Voysey design, which is printed by Trustworth Studios.

• Luke Edward Hall

  At Luke Edward Hall's flat, a mustard velvet sofa from Sofa.com is decorated with cushions from Svenskt Tenn and from Luke's range. This sits opposite Duncan's study nook. The overall effect is warm, cosy and welcoming.

• Luke Edward Hall

  The large main living area of Luke Edward Hall's flat is painted in Leyland's bold 'Forest Storm'; this makes the space cosy. There was initial concern about how dark it was ('I did think for a moment, what have we done - we're living in a dungeon,' says Duncan) but the final result is very beautiful. Fortunately, the room benefits from two large sash windows, so it remains bright and light.

• Jake Curtis

  In the spare room of Ben Pentreath's Bloomsbury flat, leads out to a small terrace. Ben ha used several pieces of traditional brown furniture to furnish the room. Vintage Wedgwood Jasperware can be seen in the cabinet on the left. The walls are papered in the timeless 'Willow Boughs' by William Morris, one of Ben's favourite designers.

  'Timelessness interests me; it's important in both architecture and decoration. I think about longevity and am interested in looking outside what is completely current. Jokey animal heads on the walls are not my thing; nothing dates faster than fashion.'

• Jake Curtis

  In Ben Pentreath's flat, the bathroom and the two bedrooms are both wallpapered. As Ben explains, 'I like using wallpaper because I love the layers of pattern and colour that it brings to a room.'

  In the main bedroom http://www.soane.co.uk/Soane's delicate 'Seaweed Lace' wallpaper contrasts with the bold blanket from Pendleton.

• Jake Curtis

  You pass through a white door as you enter Ben Penreath's flat. In the stairway, the walls are covered in framed artworks. The print based on Radio 4's Shipping Forecast (centre) is from Flowers and Fleurons, a small letterpress workshop in Brighton that produces hand-printed limited edition prints. This particular one is the 'Finisterre' edition in subtle greys, printed for Ben.

  The pendant light is 'Beat Wide Black' from Tom Dixon, while the red chair on the right is a Prince of Wales Investiture Chair from 1969 designed by the Earl of Snowdon.

• Jake Curtis

  Ben Pentreath's flat is contemporary, but also quite traditional. 'Both styles are equally valid simultaneously, but whereas architecture has more rules, more right and wrong, decoration is more fluid. Things that shouldn't work do; even if something jars, it can unexpectedly feel just right. Architecture, of course, is there for ever, but decoration can come and go. Nonetheless, my favourite approach is to mix things that will endure.' Which is, in essence, a pretty intelligent - and certainly timeless - philosophy for design.

  The compact galley kitchen is monument to Ben's approach to design - white units and shelving are matched with unusual dark green walls (try 'Euphorbia' by Paint Library for a similar colour).

• Jake Curtis

  Ben Pentreath's flat is on the top floor of a peaceful Georgian building belonging to the Art Workers' Guild. It is light and bright - an ideal Sunday morning space where you really can smell the coffee, a place that requires no huge effort on the part of the viewer to appreciate its manifest charms.

  The living room is a perfect example of Ben's approach to design. The fireplace overmantle, from the Aesthetic Movement, is tasteful yet unusual. Spalshes of colour, such as the Green 'Turquoise Flower' Ikat Lampshade by Melodi Horne, pepper the room and bring a sense of relaxed fun to the space.

• Paul Massey

  In Rita Konig's bathroom, Hinson's 'Martinique' lines the walls. Wallpaper in the bathroom may seem a little kooky but the surprise is a welcome one. The iconic leaf print sits nicely next to the high-gloss 'Deep Brunswick Green' from Papers and Paints that Rita has chosen for the horizontal and vertical boards that surround the bath.

• Paul Massey

  Rita Konig's spare bedroom has curtains in 'Broadcloth' felt from Hainsworth and is lined in Tyler Hall's 'First Bloom' wallpaper from Tissus d'Hélène, with a Guatemalan tapestry that Phil brought back from his travels.

• Paul Massey

  The blue and white kitchen in Rita Konig's flat has Corian-topped units.

  Rita talks about the merits of one level, flat living - 'People are spending so much money on these vertical houses. I have friends with houses worth millions and they spend their whole time in the kitchen in the basement. Not having stairs when Margot was crawling was amazing. It was like being in an enormous hotel suite, where no one has to go downstairs in the middle of the night to get the milk.'

• Paul Massey

  Rita Konig bought her flat in 2012, having spent six years in New York. Today she lives in an amalgamate of her original flat and the one next door.

  A few steps up from the kitchen leads to the dining area, where the walls are painted in 'Greville Pink' by Adam Bray. Contrasting with this are the yellow leather-upholstered chairs from Philippe Hurel and a drawing by Bill Mauldin from Honor Fraser Gallery in LA. The effect is striking but not alienating: the room is at once clean and cosy.

• Paul Massey

  Rita Konig is not a woman who is afraid to speak her mind. Reassuringly opinionated on anything from cut-pile carpet (loathsome) to kitchen sinks (should never be visible from the sitting room), she administers her design dictums with a confidence and certainty quite at odds with her easy-going, almost girlish manner. She is at once a style commentator - as European editor for T: The New York Times Style Magazine - and a design agony aunt, dispatching regular, compulsive decorating advice to readers of House & Garden through her column, 'Rita Notes'. The daughter of design royalty Nina Campbell, she has been brought up on good taste, and is herself a decorator in high demand on both sides of the Atlantic, with current projects including a US hotel refit and a London townhouse.

  The sitting area of her flat in west London is a masterclass in layering, with textiles in different patterns and textures covering the sofas and cushions; Etro's red cotton velvet 'Palinuro' from Pierre Frey is used on one sofa and China Seas' 'Ziggurat' from Tissus d'Hélène on the other. The open fireplace surrounded by a chimneypiece found at Petworth Antique Centre, and walls covered with a mix of framed prints, photographs, drawings and paintings, add to the relaxed look.

• Paul Massey

  The bedroom of this Edwardian flat in south London is simple but, like the rest of the house, is furnished with a blend of classic contemporary designs and understated antiques and vintage pieces, many bought at The Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair at Battersea Park.

  The lack of preciousness is refreshing and luckily does not come at the cost of sophistication - there is an elegant spareness to the space.

  'Everything I look at, I love,' says owner Caroline of the choices she made with designer Harriet Anstruther. Harriet is equally as thrilled: 'You absolutely hope that is what you will be able to offer your client'.

• Paul Massey

  Designer Harriet Anstruther kept the colour palette pared back in this South London flat, but there are a few well-placed hits of bold colour - the most dramatic of which is the wet-room tiles. 'I loved the idea of my client waking up to this rich blue, which is offset perfectly by the glamorous gold fixtures and fittings,' she says. The electric blue tiles used to inject a pop of colour are by Bisazza.

• Paul Massey

  At the rear of this south London flat, designer Harriet Anstruther raised then cuffed the kitchen ceiling at both sides to create a flat top, to which she added a pair of skylights. She also removed one of the kitchen windows and enlarged and repositioned the remaining two. The kitchen itself is entirely bespoke, and much is concealed behind a wall of built-in storage. 'Storage was the biggest challenge in this flat. Now every little void has built-in cupboards,' explains Harriet. Glass pendant lights from Curiousa & Curiousa hang above the table, which is surrounded by vintage Tolix chairs by Xavier Pauchard in their original paint.

• Paul Massey

  The loft space of this south London flat is now a bedroom with an en suite wet room. The loft conversion meant that Harriet could create a sitting room-cum-study at the front of the house in lieu of the bedrooms. This new room she connected to the original sitting room by adding sliding pocket doors built into the dividing wall. She added a new wall (also with pocket doors) between the landing and original sitting room so it could be closed off and used as an additional bedroom when needed. 'I also use it as a cosy place to relax on winter evenings,' says Caroline.

• Paul Massey

  After living in it for 20 years, in 2012 Caroline O'Donnell decided her flat needed an overhaul. 'I was so much busier and needed my home to be better organised. I had also come across that phrase: a place for everything and everything in its place. It really struck a chord,' she says. Caroline found designer Harriet Anstruther the twenty-first-century way: through a Google search. 'I narrowed it down to three interior designers, but in the end it was about personality,' she explains. 'Harriet and I were a good fit, and that was vital.'

  A small study area in the corner of the sitting room is pictured above. A 'Bertoia Side Chair' from Skandium has been paired with an antique desk.

• Simon Upton

  Around the bathroom walls in Patrick Williams' flat, above matchboard panelling, runs a narrow shelf made from oak from a table his parents had when he was a child. A bigger piece forms the loo seat. The old bath was bought for £80 and the Victorian taps were reconditioned and de-chromed, as was the shower-curtain rail and waste pipe. The basin is from Labour and Wait - Patrick got a deal on it as it was chipped; for him this is welcome patina.

• In interior designer Patrick Williams' flat, books are transformed into a design feature. Vintage Penguin paperbacks are arranged in colour order: the spectrum created is visually stunning.

• Simon Upton

  The round window that allows light from the kitchen into the hall in Patrick Williams' flat was found in Epsom. It is just one of hundreds of unique finds that furnish the house, such as William Morris fabric that was used for cushions on the church pews - 'a nod to my God,' quips Patrick, who brought the pews back on the roof of his car.

• The bedroom in Patrick Williams' flat is entirely painted in Farrow & Ball's 'Lamp Room Grey'. It is a haven of calm watched over by a stone statue of the Virgin Mary. Patrick enclosed the bed, hiding the original chimney breast and cleverly making use of the voids either side for a bedside shelf and walk-in cupboard. Here, the floorboards were bought on eBay at 8am, collected from a house in Clapham by 9am, and installed by the end of the day, swiftly moving from one house to another.

• Rachel Whiting

  The parquet and all new joinery in this Barbican flat - including the discreet wall-hung television unit, the bathroom panelling and the 10-seater dining-room table - is made from old laboratory worktops; the darkness of the wood echoes that of the window frames. Oranges, reds and browns bring warm to the Brutalist architecture.

• Rachel Whiting

  Despite the almost complete redecoration, the owners of this Barbican flat did decide to keep the original galley kitchen, designed by Brooke Marine, which had been well kept. It is simple and light, stylish and timeless.

• Rachel Whiting

  The owners of this Barbican flat immediately liked the idea of using reclaimed materials, such as the beautiful Hopton Wood fossil limestone on the floor and walls of their bathroom, rescued from Heathrow Terminal 2 - 'it seems made for the Barbican, its colour aligns with the concrete.' As an aside, the last batch of Retrouvius's 2,000-square-metre haul has found its way to a rather different home; it was sold to the Duke of Devonshire to be laid at Chatsworth - the quarry is local - and Lismore Castle, his Irish estate.

  It was an easy decision to get rid of the original Barbican bathroom - 'though appropriate for the architecture, it was 40 years old and tired and dated,' say the owners - but they were able to donate useful or unique parts to the Barbican Salvage Group for others to reinstate elsewhere.

• Rachel Whiting

  As soon as you enter this flat, with its two bedrooms off to the left and the living areas to the right, the atmosphere is one of enveloping cosiness and delightful details and textures. Voile curtains are adorned with delicate pieces of lace from a collection Maria has accumulated over the years. The furniture is mostly mid-century Italian; its elegant shapes add femininity and soften any harshness, and as the wife is Italian, it seemed fitting.

• Rachel Whiting

  The Grade II-listed Barbican, a Seventies brutalist London landmark divides opinion; many dismiss it as harsh, ugly and 'municipal'; others, as this couple do, see it as 'something to be cherished'. Europe's largest multi-arts venue is on the doorstep, and 'the vibe of east London is close by, yet it is a very peaceful place to live. You grow to love the concrete,' they enthuse.

  The couple loved the architecture of their flat but were less taken by the decor when they bought it. They went in search of somebody to help them rethink the interiors, and Maria Speake was the undisputed first choice. Having spotted a stand for Retrouvius - the reclamation company that Maria runs with her husband, Adam Hills - at the Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair in Battersea, they took a card, came straight home and looked up the website. 'All was revealed,' says the wife. 'I knew Maria could make the flat special.' In fact, so certain were they that they waited over a year for this popular designer, by which time the wife knew all Maria's projects on the website off by heart. While they waited in the queue, they hoped that the Barbican would be a lure.

  Maria chose mostly mid-century Italian furniture for the study, as she did for the rest of the house; its elegant shapes add femininity and soften any harshness, and as the wife is Italian, it seemed fitting.

• Rachel Smith

  Interior designer Ann Boyd has forged a reputation for creating crisp, elegant, predominantly pale interiors. She was brought up on the west coast of Scotland, so the pale hues of sand, sea and sky are her allies. 'It's not in my nature to live with strident colours; I like serenity,' she says.

  In the tiny kitchen of her west London mansion flat, Ann has applied a stripped down aesthetic. While the kitchen is fitted with handle-free Ikea units, the bathroom has been clad glamorously in mirror glass, so that it appears twice its size.

• Rachael Smith

  Some small flats shriek 'space-saving solution' at every turn, but this cool, calm space just looks effortlessly elegant. 'It is literally half the size of my previous home, but I like a challenge,' explains owner and interior designer Ann Boyd.

  In the bathroom, Ann has installed a short-projection loo and wall-hung basin - both from Bathstore - in combination with a backdrop of mirror-glass panelling to 'cheat' the room's compact proportions.

• Rachael Smith

  In the bedroom of interior designer Ann Boyd's mansion flat, tucked discreetly behind the custom-built headboard, open shelves are piled with Ann's favourite white, grey and black clothes. She surveys her mini dressing area with pride. 'It works brilliantly, doesn't it?'

• Rachael Smith

  Interior designer Ann Boyd admits that her instinct for spatial planning makes her the 'guest from hell'. When she downsized to this tiny London flat, she put her principles into practice, creating an ingeniously ordered, bright and luxurious pied-à-terre.

  To create a feeling of cohesion through the flat, Ann painted the walls in the drawing room and the bedroom in 'Lead III' from Paint and Paper Library; the sofa, from George Sherlock, is covered in a Bruno Triplet linen.

• Alexander James

  The calamine pink used in the bathroom of Lavinia Bolton's flat makes us long for the days of the powder room! The 1950s-inspired pastel shade is chic and feminine.

• Alexander James

  The kitchen of Lavinia Bolton's flat sits immediately opposite the large drawing room. It is pretty, light and functional. Lavinia's gorgeous glassware is put on shelves rather than hidden in cupboards; a discreetly decorative touch.

• Alexander James

  Lavinia Bolton's London flat is an object lesson in unassuming good taste, as well as a testament to her own creativity and enterprise. The bedroom displays her approach to interior design beautifully. The soft, muted blues and greys sit elegently next to metallic accents.

• Alexander James

  A French mirror creates a focal point on the sitting room wall of Lavinia's flat, which is densely hung with Lavinia's collection of paintings. The sofa, from Lavinia's Bolton Sofa Bed Company, is upholstered in a Sister Parish fabric from Tissus d'Helene; the patterned cushion is from Paolo Moschino for Nicholas Haslam. Throughout the flat, the high is mixed with the low and the family heirloom with the cheap-as-chips. It's an engaging style, and one that reflects a long personal and professional acquaintance with many of the best interior decorators in the business.

• Alexander James

  Lavinia Bolton needs no introduction to regular readers of House & Garden, as she has been one of its legendary house finders since 1986. Between then and now, she has scoured the British Isles and beyond in pursuit of the best in interior decoration, and at last count has visited about 4,000 houses on behalf of the magazine. Yet this is the first time that one of her own houses has featured here. 'After all these years,' she says with a laugh, 'I thought, well why not?'

  The layout of her Chelsea flat is sensibly arranged. From the hall - wide enough for departing guests to put on their coats without bundling into each other - a left-hand turn reveals an arched central corridor, with a kitchen to the left and a large drawing room immediately opposite. At the far end of the hall is the study/second bedroom on the left, with the bathroom and bedroom round a dog-leg corner to the right.

• Simon Brown

  To heighten the dimensions of the tiny bedroom in her west-London flat, interior designer Beata Heuman has painted the ceiling in 'Lulworth Blue' from Farrow & Ball. To emphasise the leafy view on to Brompton Cemetery, she has placed 'Pax' wardrobes with mirrored doors from Ikea on either side of the window. The blinds are in 'Serafina' (white) by Marvic.

• Simon Brown

  This bed, belonging to interior designer Beata Heuman, has been dressed up with a luxurious mix of textures and patterns, including a blue and white throw from Lisa Corti in Florence. A 'Geometric' mirror from Mufti takes the place of a traditional headboard. 'It's quite glamorous and a bit unexpected,' says Beata.

• Simon Brown

  The sitting room in interior designer Beata Heuman's small west-London flat is filled with improvised artwork; she has hung an acrylic-painted sample, originally done for a fresco later installed by NH Design on a project in New Orleans, with a sample for a door panel beneath it.

• Simon Brown

  Interior designer Beata Heuman believes that 'People are sometimes afraid of custom-made things, but you just need to know where to go.' The antiqued bronze table found in the sitting room of her west-London flat cost £30 from Portobello market. She recommends looking for inexpensive off-cuts, available direct from individual fabric manufacturers; the sitting room curtains, for example, are made up in a discontinued fabric that Beata was able to buy cheaply as it was water marked.

• Simon Brown

  In her small west-London flat, interior designer Beata Heuman had an L-shape sofa custom-made to fit the corner of the sitting room. It is upholstered in 'Pods' linen from Christopher Farr. Not an inch of storage is wasted - the sofa even includes a useful pocket to hold magazines! Above the sofa is an abstract that she painted herself.

• Davide Lovatti

  A large, internal glazed window provides views from the main bedroom into the sitting room and vice versa in this small London flat reworked by Italian architect Daniele Petteno while a concealed Venetian blind provides privacy. The bed sits on a 60cm podium which acts as storage in its own right as well as elevating the floor level to allow access to all the cupboards.

• Simon Brown

  Throughout her small west-London flat, interior designer Beata Heuman has used mirrors to reflect light and create an illusion of space; in the sitting room, a pair of bronze-framed mirrors, hung opposite one another above the doors, increases the sense of ceiling height.

• Davide Lovatti

  'My clients had asked me to include an office space within the apartment,' says Daniele Petteno, the architect who reworked this London flat. So in the main bedroom, he designed a built-in desk to the right of the access steps, made in European oak and treated with the same wax by Turgon used on the wooden flooring. The continuity of the materials makes the room feel larger.

• Simon Brown

  In the dining room of first time buyer and interior designer Beata Heuman's west-London flat, the bespoke blackboard acts as a constantly changing piece of artwork and was made to Beata's design.

• Simon Brown

  In her small west-London flat, interior designer Beata Heuman has combined an inexpensive 'Glendevon' kitchen from Howdens with Chloe Alberry antique brass handles (top right) and a calacatta marble worktop from Stone Interiors. She also added shelves above the units and painted the walls to match, with Dulux '2005Y20R', so the kitchen blends in rather than stands out.

• Davide Lovatti

  The kitchen in this small flat, reworked by Italian architect Daniele Petteno was designed by DPAW in conjunction with Space Cucina, with units by Schüller made to order off-site and further customised during installation. To add textural contrast within the black 'L', the MDF cabinets have a laminate finishin 'Lava Black', and the rougher textured Compac Quartz worktop is in 'Nero Ebony', supplied and installed by Space Cucina. An internal window by the hob allows views into the main bedroom.

• Davide Lovatti

  Architect Daniele Petteno has used two intersecting L shapes to demarcate space in this London flat: one white, one black. The black 'L' comprises storage cupboards in the kitchen and adjacent sitting room, and faces into the sitting area. It is only 2.25 metres high - why?

  'I deliberately created the lower height for the storage unit so that both this side of the living space and the kitchen area feel cosy, especially at night,' says Patteno.

• Davide Lovatti

  When faced with the task of reworking this compact London flat, Italian architect Daniele Petteno's solution for storage in the sitting room was 3.8-metre high, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. They look striking within the modern grey decoration scheme.

• Ola O Smit

  House & Garden stylist Alexander Breeze lives in a rented flat. His landlady was reluctant to let him paint over the eighties 'Regency-stripe' wallpaper below the dado rail, so he chose to 'kill this pattern was more pattern.' The upper half has been decorated with a mural inspired by Classical antiquity and the art of Giovanni Panini (a man Breeze deems to be a very Primitivist de Gournay). The background colour is 'Burlington Arcade' by Mylands. Recreating this look in your own home isn't difficult and doesn't recquire a paint brush - simply mismatch one pattern with another!

• Ola O Smit

  It is always worth spending money on paint, as stylist Alexander Breeze says, 'It's obvious when you say it, I know, but it's the backdrop to everything else. You see more of the walls than anything else in many rooms, so choosing the right paint is very important.'

  In this living room of his London flat Alexander has used Mylands 'Egyptian Grey' marble matt emulsion.

• Ola O Smit

  In the living room of stylist Alexander Breeze's flat, the mantelpiece is home to lots of odds and ends and pictures of friends and family. The mantelpiece has proved to be the perfect place to display decorative bits and bobs, candid photographs and small trinkets with sentimental value. Follow Alexander's lead - layer them put and don't be too precious!

• Ola O Smit

  The table in this dining room is a lesson in how to mix and match - there are two twentieth-century mahogany reproductions of Chippendale classics and two of them are sabre-legged Regency dining chairs but all of them have seat pads covered with 'Carriacou' fabric from Pierre Frey. This fabric's expensive, but it is detail like this that really makes a space. Splash out on the finishes and the final effect will be irresistible!

• Ola O Smit

  House & Garden stylist Alexander Breeze has generally kept the furniture neutral in his living room, creating a foil for the bright artworks and accessories, like the cushions on the sofa. If he decides to go monochrome in the future, he needn't have to start all over again.

  The ottoman is from Oka, which, though expensive, should last the test of time. The largest picture on the wall is a portrait from c.1900 was found, unstretched, at an auction used as a rug (which may account for it's distressed state) - Alexander got it for almost nothing. Re-stretching it was inexpensive, costing less than £100. The thangka of the left purports to be nineteenth-century Tibetan.

• Ola O Smit

  Colour is the focus of Alexander Breeze's kitchen. The room is big enough for a dining table and chairs and Alexander 'wanted the room to be bright, fun and conducive to lively conversation, hence the broad swathes of bold colour.'

  The table is from Ikea but have been given a complete makeover by Alexander 'When I saw it I couldn't help but think of painting the top of it. The legs just wouldn't be enough! After stripping the lacquer back I quickly painted it with a fun stripy pattern, purposefully done by hand without stencils so it's obviously rustic, then two coats of varnish to protect it.'

• Ola O Smit

  House & Garden stylist Alexander Breeze has used his professional knowledge in his small flat. The beauty is in the detail, the scheme emerges through small decoratice touches.

  For example, the imposing picture above the original fireplace that was found at auction. Breeze admits that, 'It's not everybody's taste, but I'm a sucker for Catholic art and couldn't resist this Christ-like figure. It was described in the catalogue as by 'a follower of Théodore Géricault', so now I refer to it, optimistically, as 'the Géricault'.'

  The mantelpiece is home to lots of odds and ends and pictures of friends and family. The bronze sculpture of Hercules is a Chinese copy of a seventeenth-century original - unusually for lots of Chinese copies, it's the most terrific quality - and I bought it on eBay for a song.

• Ola O Smit

  In the small London flat of stylist Alexander Breeze, a Japanese screen can be found on the wall facing the window in the main bedroom. It was chosen because 'It ties together the reds and greens in the room.' The chest of drawers and the Regency-style chair, both found in a junk shop, where given a fresh lick of paint by Alexander; he plans to cover them with red and white ikat fabric. We can't think of a better finishing touch!

• Ola O Smit

  Stylist Alexander Breeze's bedroom is painting in a very matt yet rich grey-green: 'Olive' by Farrow & Ball. He bought an inexpensive bed and painted it himself. The striking plywood headboard was designed by Breeze and made with the help of bespoke laser cutting service Cut Laser Cut.

  This bedroom is an ode to antiquity with touches of the Neoclassical, Empire Style and Classical-inspired littered throughout the space, most of which was designed and made by Alexander himself - the headboard with colours of an Attic vase, for example. Follow Breeze's lead, pick up a pot of paint and get experimenting with patterns and motifs from your favourite era!

• The ultimate modern scheme for a ground floor Victorian flat. Victorian Crittall screens differentiate the living room from the dining room by Turner Pocock. The patterns on upholstery and rugs mimic the statement made by the mirrors - both are bold and graphic. The twin mirrors on either side of the fireplace reflect the natural light beautifully and really open up the alcoves.

  View Turner Pocock on The List

• Simon Brown

  In Hannah Cecil Gurney's west London flat, cushions from Beaumont & Fletcher are among the golden accents in the spare room. Despite the small floorspace of the flat, the ceilings were restored by Hannah to their original double-height meaning every space in the flat has been made larger without losing its cosiness.

• Simon Brown

  The main bedroom in Hannah Cecil Gurney's west London flat features an ornate cream mirror which elegantly mimics the branches in the pattern of the antiqued 'Badminton' de Gournay wallpaper. Floral bedding as well as a floral lamp build on the theme.

• Simon Brown

  In Hannah Cecil Gurney's west London flat, the artwork in the dining room includes a painting by Alf Löhr from Broadbent Gallery and a graphic piece based on a design by Kelly Wearstler - contemporary artwork freshens the space. Two mirrors are included in the long, narrow dining space to make the room feel bigger.

• Simon Brown

  The long narrow spaces of Hannah Cecil Gurney's west London flat posed the biggest decorative challenge, when Hannah and Rachel first moved in the space was boxed in and almost 'coffin-like'. Now the space is bright and airy without compromising on privacy - this corridor separates the bedrooms and entertaining areas.

• Simon Brown

  In the sitting room of Hannah Cecil Gurney's west London flat,, velvet pieces, including an antique lamp from Les Couilles du Chien, contrast with the peacock-print wallpaper from de Gournay. Hannah prefers silk wallpapers, explaining how 'painted walls feel much colder as it becomes part of the architecture, not the decoration'.

• Simon Brown

  De Gournay's 'Early Views of India' lines the hallway walls in Hannah Cecil Gurney's west London flat; the pineapple sconce was a wedding present, while the brass-shaded lamp came from Collier Webb. This wallpaper is a perfect example of why Hannah feels that 'there's always something new to look at, always new things to find' in her home.

• Simon Brown

  In Hannah Cecil Gurney's west London flat, a table and chair create a work space in the living room. The table is placed next to one of the double height windows which is accessorised with dark blue blinds. de Gournay wallpaper once more makes an appearance, one of the joys of the paper is that it can be taken from house to house as Sophie explains - 'I can take it with me if I move; it just peels right off in full pieces'.

• Simon Brown

  A glass shower cubicle in the bathroom of Hannah Cecil Gurney's west London flat, allows the de Gournay wallpaper to become the main decorative feature of the room. Though neutral in colour the paper is not devoid of interest - it features gilded lucky fish.

• Simon Brown

  'Lining the kitchen walls with gold leaf and painting the woodwork turquoise has made the tiny cooking space feel like the inside of a delicious chocolate box'. This room in Hannah Cecil Gurney's west London flat, was designed with cosiness in mind; it is the only space where the celing was not restored to double height and the wenge worktop was chosen specifically to be 'more cosy and warm than stone'.

• Make the most of every surface, as in this Ikea design, by attaching rails, shelves and hooks to the side of a cupboard. Its stainless steel 'Rimforsa' rail, £6, holds everything from cooking utensils and chopping boards to tablets. The bamboo tablet stand costs £10.

• The use of a natural palette full of texture and earthy tones in this modern flat by Sophie Ashby continues in this bedroom, creating a calm and peaceful space. Naomi Paul was commissioned by Studio Ashby to make the beautiful hand-woven, offset wall and table lights.

• Studio Ashby designed the dining table in this modern city flat, which consists of an angular pedestal dining base topped with a thick slab of beautiful Verde Guatamala marble. The deep green colour of the stone enriches the flat's natural palette and matches the paint colour on certain feature walls.

  The pendant light made by Giopato & Coombes from hand blown glass was inspired by soap bubbles, emphasising the lightness of the space.

• The living room area in this transformed flat features a curved sofa designed by Studio Ashby, the shape of which was inspired by the River Thames, and was decorated with pale colours.

  The joinery piece maintains the open layout of the flat, keeping the overall scheme light while using strong angles and varied materials to add interest. Its design reflects the strong lines of the modern architecture along the Southbank. Calacatta marble, unlacquered brass (forming a characterful patina over time) and birds eye maple were used to create the facets.

• Ashley Hicks

  Designer Ashley Hicks has put an immense amount of thought into the deign and layout of his rented Lonon flat. Apart from the Louis XVI sofa in turquoise silk, he designed all the furniture in his sitting room, and painted the walls and faux-mosaic, coffee-table top himself.

• Ashley Hicks

  The corridor seen from the sitting room. Speaking to House and Garden, Ashley described his vision: "I gave the long, white corridor some added zip with David Hicks Sixties-style striped borders of braid on red vinyl and a hot pink, lacquered top for a console with a camel's leg that I carved and faux-bronzed. On the walls, I hung a group of my father's portrait prints from 1967, including Sandie Shaw, the King of Tonga and little me, aged four."

• Ashley Hicks

  The main bedroom, which Ashley shares with his wife, has a blue scheme with a matching geometric screen. The bed had hangings held by a giant hexagon, with a David Hicks by Ashley Hicks embroidered fabric on the headboard and cushions, and its hexagon design repeated in huge scale with appliquéd ribbon on the bedspread. Screens on either side were covered with Cole & Son's 'Hicks Grand' paper - more hexagons. Ashley turned the wardrobes into a faux museum with stuck-on vinyl prints of my photographs of small objects in real museums, which gave the room a quite different dimension and feeling. He also bought a cheap, walnut-veneered chest of drawers online and customised the handles with polymer clay in his own coral-inspired forms.

• Ashley Hicks

  Ashley's daughter Ambrosia's bedroom has been made to look bigger with mirrors the family already owned with vintage braiding used to cover the joins. The bed includes a tented canopy in his brown-and-white 'Openweave' print, with leopard cushions and a chaise longue in a print named after Ambrosia. Accents of bright grass green included Tingewick lamps with shades trimmed in pheasant feathers.

• Simon Upton

  At Nicky Haslam's London flat, a canopy inspired by a Cecil Beaton drawing and matching miniature lights affixed to the bed make for an intricate and detailed use of a small area. Nicky brought the bed with him from his former flat and found the table lamps in a second-hand shop.

• At Vanessa Branson's flat in Holland Park, no space goes to waste. In-built cubby holes with basket drawers fill an otherwise awkward space under a slanting wall, creating stylish storage space, and a shelf for trinkets. On the exposed brick wall hangs a collection of artwork, adding to the character of the small space.

3 Bedroom Apartment Interior Design

Source: https://www.houseandgarden.co.uk/gallery/small-flat-ideas