FULL OF WONDER

Interior designer Elnaz Namaki’s apartment is a masterclass in fluid layout, clever storage, ingenious details and luxe layering

- EMMA J PAGE

Coming home re-energises me,’ says interior designer Elnaz Namaki, whose stucco-fronted Victorian apartment on a quiet west London street exudes a sense of graceful serenity. ‘At the end of a night out, I often joke that I’m retreating to my charging station, much like an electric car,’ she says. Elnaz was initially drawn to this property for its lofty proportions and view of the lush gardens at the rear. She could see that the well-worn one-bed interior had the scope to be transformed into a two-bedroom, two-bathroom home. ‘It was a question of tweaking the layout,’ she says, ‘though those tweaks involved significant restructuring.’

After turning to business partner Hugo van Bilderbeek to check that her plans were feasible (‘I always like his nod of approval on projects like this’), Elnaz embarked on a detailed six-month renovation. The galley kitchen was knocked through to the adjoining sitting room; the master bathroom borrowed space from the bedroom for a roomier feel; a wall was removed from an awkward L-shaped nook to create a guest bedroom-study; and a shower room was turned into a glamorous cloakroom.