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The Househunter: Room by Room

And so we come to the final Househunter of the year. I have twice moved in December and I read a quote from an estate agent recently saying that December can be a good time to sell as you tend to receive (and see) only serious buyers as the timewasters are busying doing their Christmas shopping and annoying shop assistants rather than housesellers.

So the ultimate fantasy house – pricewise at least – is this grand west London townhouse which is on with Vanhan (via Zoopla) for £9.75m. I love the outside but, on balance, still prefer the doer-upper from last week although the spaces here are lovely and big.

There are five bedrooms and the house is nearly 4,000 sq ft with another 2,000 of outside space, which is enormous for London.

There are things I would change, of course. But, on the whole it’s a pretty nice house don’t you think? I’d have a much bigger desk in this office – or put it facing the window.

This bedroom is pretty luxurious with a huge bathroom to one side and a dressing room to the other. Although that leaves you streaking across the bedroom between the two which may not be idea. One thing to consider if you are trying to make the space for a bathroom and dressing room is that the bathroom is where you want the luxury, the dressing room requires the storage and the bedroom part can be the smallest as it only needs the bed. The temptation is often to keep the largest space as the bedroom and try and shoehorn the rest into smaller spaces.

I will also point out that, having looked at the floorplans, it may have five bedrooms but four of them are pretty small and three are in the lower ground floor by the gym. I think I might have had four big bedrooms with a bit more ensuite and a bit less gym myself but let’s be honest, this one probably isn’t for me. It is lovely though.

I suspect this two bedroom flat in Dalston, north London, will be more to everyone’s taste. And it costs £595,000 via The Modern House.

The doors, windows and floors have all been stripped back to the original wood and strong paint colours used throughout. I’m going to take a punt on Studio or Smoke Green above and Nancy’s Blushes below (all Farrow & Ball).

This pink room is the second bedroom – currently arranged as a study. But have a look at this fabulous bathroom below. Marble tiles a gogo which look wonderful with the dark window frame. And the casual placing of the Vitra Butterfly stool. If you’re blowing the budget on Christmas gifts then imagine giving that with a stack of lovely bathroom smellies and a monogrammed towel…

From bathroom to bedroom and navy blue rules in here. It’s not an enormous room but it’s filled with character and has wardrobes at the foot of the bed out of shot.

The great thing about this flat is the size of the hall. Large communal spaces will make a flat feel much bigger than it is which is why buying a small flat in a large Victorian conversion can be a good idea. We had a house with four tiny bedrooms once but the landing was so big it doubled up as a playroom and made the upstairs feel much more generous than it was. In contrast to our last house which had bigger rooms but narrow stairs and landing and the whole thing felt more pinched.

It’s not really something you have that much control over but if you’re hunting this December then don’t rule out a small room with a big hall. It can work out well. This ground floor flat basically has all four rooms (and the bathroom) leading off a wide hall and note how a coupe of the doors have windows above which sucks in more light from outside as well.

 

Right there you have it. I know which one I’m having this week, what about you?

Kate Watson-Smyth

The author Kate Watson-Smyth

I’m a journalist who writes about interiors mainly for The Financial Times but I have also written regularly for The Independent and The Daily Mail. My house has been in Living Etc, HeartHome and featured in The Wall Street Journal & Corriere della Sera. I also run an interior styling consultancy Mad About Your House. Welcome to my Mad House.

5 Comments

  1. Neither.

    Whichever eejit did that bland, hotel style in such a beautiful period house for the first one, needs a bloody good slap. Soulless, utterly soulless. The rooms remind me of those “luxury new build show-homes” by the likes of Octagon. Eurgh…

    Second one: I have just used dark green (Fired Earth’s Malachite – much deeper and richer than Fired Earth, I found) in my narrow, dark hallway, but with crisp white too. But I’m so sick of these “hipster” flats. I don’t know if it’s because they started being “the thing” on Apartment Therapy four years ago, but they have just become a cliche:

    – lots of plants? Tick.
    – that shaggy, Moroccan-style (Berber?) diamond-patterened rug? Tick.
    – dark, dark walls that just look gloomy in some rooms (bet that bedroom is miserable without lights on)? Tick.
    – “artful” empty picture frames – “just because…”…? Tick.

    Aargh……or am I just being grumpy?

    1. So with you on that…the bland, bland, bland interior in what was probably once a fabulous building, ick! Both show a huge lack of individuality & imagination.

  2. I’m with you, I like the second one. Great advice about the hallways. And what a hoot, “marble tiles a gogo” makes my day! Happy Christmas to you.

  3. Ooooh the first one please! I agree the outside is fabulous but the inside isn’t bad – that dining area and living room space is lovely (albeit I would have to inject some vibrant coloured cushions I think!!). Agree about the bedroom layout though…

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