A friend recently asked me to help him give his London flat a bit of a makeover. Given that I’ve run out of things to do to my own flat, I didn’t need much persuading.

The flat is a split-level Victorian conversion. It’s a fairly neutral space: there’s not much in the way of Victorian period features (a negative to most people but a positive to me) and the ceilings and windows are of regular height given that the flat occupies the top floor and attic of the building. Some of the rooms are irregularly shaped (more on that later) but it’s a good size overall and has the potential to look good.

We’ve decided to start with the living room: due to the placement of the stairs leading up to the loft conversion, a chunk has been cut out of the corner of room, resulting in a slightly restrictive L-shape. The way the room is currently furnished isn’t making the most of the space: each item of furniture is too big for the room and there is just too much of it.

For the room’s new look, I looked to the interior design section of the Skandium website, which contains a number of period houses furnished with mid century pieces, for inspiration (let’s face it, the style was always going to be mid century modern) and decided that these rather ambitious photos were going to be my goal:

Sadly, we don’t quite have a Skandium budget at our disposal so I’ve sourced the furniture from various low to mid-range stores with the odd bit of Heal’s:

1. Hektar ceiling lamp, IKEA
2. DSW Eames-style chair, Vita Interiors
3. Suki round drop-leaf table, Habitat
4. Yves black tripod lamp, Habitat
5. Eclipse coffee tables, Heal’s
6. Mistral sofa, Heal’s
7. Vince walnut sideboard, Habitat
8. Raskmölle flatwoven rug, IKEA

“After” photos to follow…