Berkhamsted, Penthouse

3rd floor loft apartment

Once upon a time this 3rd floor loft apartment was the archetypal bachelor pad, complete with stereotypical leather panelled walls with televisions in-set, straight out of the 1990’s. Fast forward to 2024 when my client was looking to downsize, with its lofty ceilings and wrap around views across Berkhamsted’s roof tops and countryside it was easy to see how she fell in love with the beauty of the bones of this gorgeous pied-à-terre.

Downsizing is almost always challenging, and downsizing to an open plan living, kitchen & dining space gave us a great challenge to get creative with, presenting a unique set of living requirements from one room that all need to flow seamlessly.

Maximising the floor space in this multi functional space was paramount. Removing an unnecessary step right across the bifold window, having a bespoke curved glass balustrade made and getting rid of various small radiators and replacing with bespoke tall, slim statement pieces opened up the floor space entirely.

Our brief was to create a home that’s focused around entertaining, and to create the perfect dinner party space. The kitchen was small and dated, and we took the decision to replace it with something that not only fits in with the rest of the décor in this open plan space, but increasing the kitchen area by bringing cabinets over into the central area of the open plan room made it feel much more connected for a truly convivial entertaining space too.

The penthouse is flooded with natural light all day which gave us an opportunity to add depth by using a rich, warm palette. We used a soft base of taupe, punctuated with bronze and gold accents throughout the various zones. 11 different but harmonising fabrics in total were used to keep the eye from getting bored in this open plan space. The curtains, bespoke dining chairs, sofas, armchair and oversized footstool are all designed to work together so that when hosting large numbers of people the various zones all come together to create one beautiful room.

With entertaining at the heart of this space, we designed it to really come alive at night with a triple sided glass fireplace and an abundance of reflective crystal for a really glamorous and decadent finish.