This two-bedroom apartment on Regent’s park has been given a luxurious interior designed to appeal to a high-flying potential buyer or tenant who appreciates the finer things in life

The brief for this apartment presented interior designer Peter Phan with something of a challenge. The property, on the outskirts of Regent’s Park, is owned by a busy businessman who wanted to refurbish the property with a luxury interior – planned down to the last knife and fork – with a view to selling or letting the flat. However, this had to be achieved on a relatively strict budget.

‘On one hand, the commercial nature of the brief meant that the interior did not need to reflect the personal taste of a particular client,’ Phan explains. ‘This meant the budget did not need to allow for the cost of things such as unnecessarily expensive quality items, heirloom art and furniture or the inclusion of personal collections which would be the case with a private client. However,’ he continues, ‘the completed project did need to reflect the sophisticated tastes and expectations of potential purchasers or tenants. Such people have glamorous lifestyles and will have been exposed to high-end, well designed interiors around the world through their extensive travels for business and pleasure.’

So although he had been given quite a free reign in design terms, Phan was conscious that the interior shouldn’t be bland. ‘It needs to have originality - delightful quirks and touches that clearly show the care and attention that has gone into creating it.’ In addition to these requirements, there were the complications of listed building consent, arising from the fact that the apartment is in an historic John Nash building. So there was plenty to be considered.

No internal structural alterations could be made so Phan worked with the original layout, which includes an entrance hall, kitchen, interconnected main reception area and dining room, and two bedrooms.

To ensure that high spec feel, Phan has filled the apartment with a wealth of plush textures and deep, classic colours. ‘I like to use lots of textures, fabric and leather – from velvet to linen to embossed leather and raffia material,’ he says. This can clearly be seen in the dining room, where a modern glass dining table is paired with armed dining chairs, both from Lydon Design, that are upholstered in Romo’s herringbone wool/silk blend material and chocolate velvet for trimming. The room also includes silvered raffia wallpaper from Brian Yates and black lacquer sideboards, which add to the variety of different textures.

The Villaverde chandeliers in the sitting room and dining room are made from clear Murano glass, each branch warmed by black lampshades with gold foil lining. The artwork in the sitting room comprises black-and-white photographic details of Rome and over-sized botanical prints, inspired by the view of the park view from the dining room window.

The bedroom windows are dressed with velvet pelmets, while the curtains are linen and silk from Turnell & Gigon. A rabbit-fur throw brings additional warmth and extravagance. The nickel bedstead from And So To Bed and the Andrew Martin plinths in polished chrome (used elsewhere in the flat in antique bronze) bring metallics to the mix.

The final layers of luxury come in the form of the Spanish marble used in the kitchen and the Turkish walnut, which features in the custom made cabinetry that graces the study area in the second bedroom.

This article was first published in idfx Magazine.