'It's all about me': How interior designer Louise Bradley created her perfect home
When it comes to her own home, interior designer Louise Bradley is not afraid to describe her approach as 'selfish'. The house - which she shares with her two much-loved miniature wire-haired dachshunds, Bebe and Ellie - is very much one woman's vision of how she wants to live. For her, 'selfishness' is simply the luxury of being able to put herself first.
Most interior designers will admit they make demanding clients, and it took Bradley nearly three years to find her property, because there was always something just that little bit wrong when she walked through the door of a prospective home. 'It might be that the drawing room was on the left-hand side, whereas I am a right-hand-side person - or the back of the house would be looking out to the windows of the houses behind,' she says. In other words, not problems that she herself could rectify.
When she walked into this elegant Chelsea town house, she breathed a sigh of relief. 'I had always envisaged being able to look right through the house to the garden as I came through the front door, but what really struck me was the aspect,' she explains. 'The house sits at the end of two parallel terraced streets, but rather than being back-to-back with another property, it looks out over neighbouring gardens. It has so much natural light and these big, borrowed views of wonderful mature trees and shrubs.'
Bradley had always dreamt of being surrounded by nature, not usually a possibility in the heart of London: 'I wanted to be transported away from city life, while still being at the heart of it. Here, I could create a home where I can see greenery from every window.'
Not that there wasn't some challenging reconfiguration and refurbishment still to do - it became a two-year project, in fact. There was an existing basement kitchen and dining space, but Bradley dug down and back in order to increase the footprint and achieve significantly higher ceilings, resulting in a kitchen/dining area/snug that is the core of her home. Light floods in from both the tiny garden to the rear and the light well at the front.
On the ground floor, she removed the narrow corridor in order to open up the space into an elegant, lateral drawing room, and by sacrificing most of the garden, she created enough room on the same floor to build a glazed garden room. An ingenious touch here is the bespoke console table that can be extended into a dining table.
The first floor was originally the drawing room, but is now entirely given over to Bradley's master suite, with potted bay trees on the balcony to provide that all-important view of greenery from her bed. She has also extended the landing on this floor to give a view out to an AstroTurfed roof garden with sculpture by Michael Speller. Above this, the original master bedroom has become a guest suite - and on the third floor, where there were originally two tiny bedrooms, is a second guest suite that doubles as a yoga room. Each bedroom is lined with closets, giving Bradley ample storage for clothes and shoes.
'Whatever kind of day I have had, I walk in and feel immediately relaxed and cosseted at home,' she says. 'It is so calm and quiet that I feel cocooned by nature.' The different spaces also lend themselves to different seasons: the lower-ground kitchen/snug is the natural autumn-to-winter retreat, and the drawing room and garden room above are perfect for spring and summer. While the core palette is tranquil, each room is layered with tactile fabrics and textures to create a feeling of comfort.
Bradley's studio is a 10-minute walk from the house, giving her the chance to practise her daily yoga routine and exercise Bebe and Ellie before starting work each day. She is currently working on a number of luxurious projects in London and abroad, and this autumn will launch a new edition of her furniture collection.
Considering the pleasure she clearly takes from her home, did she manage to exceed her own expectations? 'Yes, I did,' she laughs. 'When we were installing it, it was so exciting to see it transforming into the beautiful, peaceful home I had envisioned. There is no compromise here. It is all about me.'
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