Painted brick mews house with a purple front door, Juliet balcony and slate mansard above
Ground floor sitting area with yellow buttoned armchairs, an antique bureau and a dark timber stair
Living space with yellow velvet seating, open-tread stair and a library visible beyond
Yellow buttoned armchair with a cat, beside a cantilevered stair with lit treads
Dark timber open-riser staircase beside a white grid bookcase screening the kitchen
Study lined with white bookshelves, a brick niche with wine storage and a library ladder
Round dining table with black chairs beside a sliding panel that conceals the kitchen
White handleless kitchen with the sliding panel drawn back, dining table in the foreground
Dining area looking back through an open grid bookcase to the living room and French windows
Compact white kitchen with black worktops, mirrored splashback and integrated appliances
Living room with French windows, a grey sofa, blue armchair and glass-balustraded stair
Mews doorstep with a lavender window box, potted olive tree and a metal cafe table
Bedroom with a red damask flock feature wall, dark headboard and matching red bedding
Pop art portrait in a green-lined recess, seen past the white edge of a partition
Study with green-backed shelving, a brick opening with wine racks and a ladder to the top shelves
Bathroom with purple and grey mosaic tiling, a countertop basin and a rooflight overhead
Grey mosaic-tiled bathroom with a bath, shower screen, wall-hung WC and chrome towel rail

– Project: Residential

11rms

To meet the varying needs of this client, this pretty mews property required a complete refurbishment.

The connecting feature is a multi-purpose staircase, running over three floors, naturally dividing space which in turn, has been opened up completely.
 
The re-worked layout and addition of skylights, allow natural light to enter. Additionally, we worked with lighting designer Viabizzuno to maximise the artificial lighting of the property and ensure this was a stunning feature.
 
Whilst the open space allows comfortable, family living, a ground floor studio area can be closed off using a clever sliding panel, to conveniently separate work and home life as needed.
 
On the first floor, through a bookcase integrated into the staircase, the area is divided between kitchen hidden with a sliding wallpapered panel, dining and the living area. The use of an open bookcase allow the natural light to flood all the floorplan trough the skylight at second floor over the staircase.
 
We kept the façade of the building intact to preserve the integrity of the street.

Concept

Line drawing showing a section through the house with the staircase rising over three floors
Dark interior before the works, with the original curved staircase and a small fireplace
Room stripped back to ceiling joists, with ladders and a boxed column during construction
Construction view with exposed joists, the old stair partly removed and bare plaster walls
Living room before the works, with a curved balustraded staircase and dated finishes
Old staircase stripped of its finishes, treads and carriage exposed during demolition
Panelled doors stacked against a stripped wall with exposed studwork beside a sash window
Ceiling opened during works to reveal a structural beam, an old lantern pendant still hanging

Facts + Figures

Appointed

2011

Completion

2012

Area

95 sq m

Location

Knightsbridge, London UK

Photography

Carlo Carossio

Press

London Mews Roof Garden
Above & Beyond: The London Mews Roof Garden Reinvention
Lilac-painted mews house on a cobbled Knightsbridge street with planters and a bicycle
Urban Retreats: Retrofitting London Mews Architecture
Live in Design page showing a four-poster bed on parquet flooring
11 RMS featured in Live in Design
Magazine page featuring the mews staircase, with the owners photographed on the treads
11RMS on Home & Property – Evening Standard

Client feedback

“Pardini Hall understood that in ninety-five square metres every decision counts. They gave us light where there was none, a kitchen that disappears behind a sliding panel, and a staircase that is somehow also a library. Nothing about the house is ordinary, and nothing about it is impractical.”

— Private Clients, owners of the house, 11RMS, Knightsbridge, London