NStudio’s team is made up of a diverse group of individuals with a broad range of skills and specialisms. Head of Interior Design Holly Stone and Creative Director See-Beng Ng are at the forefront of N Studio. Here, Holly and See-Beng take Inex on a tour of their affluent project in West London’s esteemed location, Notting Hill.
Open-plan living
The brief N Studio received for the Prince Edward Mansions was all about optimising the space for family living, whilst staging an elegant style. Holly explains how they achieved this specification: “This started with the layout and although the apartment had a good footprint, it was divided into too many separate rooms. It needed reconfiguration that was suitable for today’s preference for open-plan living.”
A specific cue within the brief centred around the master suite where N Studio was asked to create a spacious master bedroom with ample storage space seamlessly integrated into the fabric of the architecture and a luxurious bathroom space. N Studio was briefed to create a large, sociable family kitchen with space for dining, as well as a separate formal entertainment space and a family chill-out space.
“We are always inspired by the style of the property itself,” comments Holly. “It is important that design is sympathetic to its environment and the architecture. The team takes inspiration across our travels and we are often at markets or auctions to find unique items for our homes imbuing them with personality and originality. We find that even finding one item can inspire an entire room scheme.”
It was important to N Studio that the bedroom felt like a sanctuary. “We didn’t approach the scheme for this room in terms of forming a main focal point,” Holly clarifies. “It was more important that the colours and style were sympathetic and soft with light feminine touches. Having said that, there is a pair of large, vintage Italian mirrors above each bedside table that increase the feeling of space in the room, which creates a sense of history and naturally draws the eye when you enter.”
Light and fresh
The palette within the main bedroom combines pale blues, soft greys and creams with touches of tan. N Studio chose this palette to complement the dove grey and bianco p marbles in the adjoining master bathroom. “The palette is serene and, on a sunny day, its lightness and freshness makes it a stunning place to be,” Holly enlightens. “It is not often that the bathroom leads the colour scheme of a bedroom, but in this case it felt right.”
The wallpaper chosen for the master bedroom is from Fromental and depicts a rockscape with hand-finished detailing. The design was worked out and scaled to fit the wall, resulting in a bespoke element to the design. “We wanted something that would be an interesting but not overwhelming backdrop to the bed,” comments Holly. “The wallpaper’s fluid design and calm colours are a perfect addition to the scheme and serve to open up the space, drawing your eye around the horizon of the lines and around the entirety of the room.”
N Studio wanted the important formal drawing room to really respond to the period of the property. The dimensions of the room means that full-height panelling creates a sense of grandeur, rather than closing it in. Additionally, with such dimensions, features like the beautiful fumed oak herringbone flooring can really be appreciated.
“We considered installing a period fireplace in the room, but felt that we wanted to create more of a statement,” explains Holly. “We designed a travertine and brass contemporary fire surround that brings a touch of modernity whilst also nodding to the period features of the apartment.
The drawing room and dining room had previously been separate rooms, so once N Studio had combined them into an open-plan space, the maximisation of space and light was seamless. To make sure that theme continued, N Studio kept the colours neutral, light and fresh.
A work of art
Each piece of art within the drawing room is a bespoke commission. “The oil above the fireplace was commissioned to complement the vast canvas in the dining room and is predominantly neutral in colour, with a hint of the teal present in the large piece,” explains Holly. “We were influenced by the layout of the panelling when choosing the series of artworks for the wall behind the sofa. With three large panels, there was scope for a collection to be displayed prominently. We planned for a set of eight and found that watercolour would be the best medium to give a bright and abstract feel to the walls. Watercolours provide that brightness of colour, but with a softness and subtlety of line that create such a delicate and beautiful backdrop.” The art was also influenced by a rug N Studio designed in collaboration with Allegra Hicks to ensure that the colours worked harmoniously together.
Making connections
N Studio successfully connected the drawing and dining room through the flow of space, achieved through the room layout and choice of the furniture. “Approaching the rooms with one colour palette helped,” explains Holly. “As well as a continuous and symbiotic flow of finishes throughout.”
As a family home, the family kitchen is where most meals would be eaten, leaving the dining room reserved for more formal occasions. With this in mind, N Studio treated the dining table as though it were a hall table, propped with books and interesting artefacts.
N Studio found a striking mid-century painting at the Battersea Antiques Fair which is hung outside the panelling within the dining room, rather than inside, giving a more contemporary feel to the piece. “This was actually our first purchase for the room, but we thought it was special and dramatic enough to create a scheme around it,” explains Holly.
“Personally, excluding the artwork, I find the main focal point within the dining room the beautiful dining table. It was created as a bespoke piece, so it could fit the space perfectly. The real beauty in the piece is in the timber. We used a beautiful poplar burr and the piece underwent many rounds of sampling for the stain finish, as we wanted to get the honey colour just right to work with the fumed oak floor, as well as the room as a whole. Clients increasingly want to know that they have a one-of-a-kind item that no one else will have.”
N Studio fulfilled the brief by making a beautiful home that suits the functionality requirements of a modern family. The layout now works for a modern family, with spaces opened up such as in the entrance hall and staircase, improving the sense of arrival in the home. “Our eclectic approach gives the impression that both the furniture and the artwork have been curated over a number of years, providing an authentic and homely feel. We’ve created a home with soul and character,” concludes Holly.
Rise to the challenge
One of the biggest challenges N Studio found with this project was the integration of the various ‘mod cons’. See-Beng Ng elaborates: “Usually this is a complex task on any building project, but it has been significantly more challenging working on a heritage building. We had to ensure that modern technology was seamlessly designed into the apartment whilst not compromising on the architectural integrity and the quality of the interior spaces.”
Working with an existing building meant N Studio was constrained by existing structures and interior features. “This made the coordination of the technical design more complex,” explains See-Beng Ng. “The technology of a home is quite often overlooked and the irony is that these are often the items that eat up a large amount of space. Working collaboratively and closely with the engineer is key.”
Authenticity is very important in N Studio’s design, particularly when working with an existing building with a very particular heritage style. Whilst there were only a few surviving original architectural features within the apartment, the external facade of the building (red brick Edwardian mansion block) and the fine architectural detail within the communal hallway (for example the cage lift) helped set the scene for N Studio’s design approach.
“This became our point of reference,” clarifies See-Beng Ng. “Our design put emphasis on being contextual without resorting to pastiche. We wanted to create something contemporary to reflect a ‘modern lifestyle’ while remaining authentic to the grain of the building.”
An example of this is the timber flooring. N Studio specified a hand bevelled product that had gone through several stages of the drying and smoking processes to achieve the exact balance of tonality and colour that sat comfortably within the apartment. “We are very pleased with the high quality of the craftsmanship and how it significantly enhanced the quality of the interior space,” comments See-Beng Ng.
Pure luxury
Historically, bathing and self-grooming were much more of a ritual and people took the time and pleasure in getting ready. N Studio felt this ritual was somewhat lost and forgotten in the rush of our modern lives where everything is instant and speed is of the essence. There is currently a growing awareness of health and wellness which N Studio wished to channel in this serene apartment. N Studio created a bathing space that is inviting and conducive to encourage people to relax, unwind and reflect.
Marble has long-established itself as the prestigious material for the more luxurious bathrooms. Take the grand bathing houses of Budapest and the Turkish bathhouses in Istanbul for example. N Studio wanted to recreate this sense of luxury and grandeur within a domestic scale. The veining of the marble provided an added layer of sophistication and design interest. Marble is also a very practical material – its natural properties for withstanding environments of high humidity and heat also makes it a very practical choice for the bathroom scheme.
“The neighbourhood around Prince Edward Mansions is already very well established. Potential clients, in our minds, will have very high expectations. Our astute understanding of how people would like to live has allowed us to create a home of very high quality; a well-designed layout with generous living and functional spaces,” concludes See-Beng Ng.