An elegant Regency house in Marylebone with a soft, light-filled interior by Anahita Rigby

“I can’t believe I live here!”, exclaimed the owner of Harley House after stepping into the recently redecorated sitting room, “I can’t believe it…” This reaction is one that interior designers delight in, proof that their clients’ decorative visions have come true and that their house is now truly—finally!—their own. It is a particularly extraordinary reaction given that the owner had already been living in the house for 20 years; proof if any were needed that interior design has the power to transform the way we live.

Designer Anahita Rigby was initially hired by the owners simply to refresh the living and dining spaces. After years of the owner’s own modifications and decorative amendments to the house, a period during which Harley House “lost its way with consistency” says Anahita, the interior designer (and trained architect – she received RIBA Part I and II degree qualifications) decided to get back to basics and let the “age of the building and its classical features” shine. At first, the designer presented architectural-style drawings for the two spaces, proposing both contemporary- and traditional-style designs wherein the living and dining rooms would no longer be separated, as formal rooms such as those were “not conductive to how the family lived,” says Anahita, “so I didn’t want to hide them away”. However, inspired by Anahita’s sketches, the owners saw potential to do more with their house: what could be done with the kitchen? The bedrooms? “It didn’t start out to be a whole project,” says Anahita, “but it turned out to be just that.”

Harley House sits on a verdant street in Marylebone, hidden behind massive, 150-year-old London plane trees. Despite being blessed with an ample number of large-paned windows – such as the beautiful bay windows at the front – “nearly all of the light was obscured,” says Anahita. By adding a glazed screen between the dining and living rooms (both of which were, pre-renovation, used infrequently), Anahita brought new life and light into the house. Additionally, she scrupulously designed the houses’ curtains to maximise the light coming in – “a little detail thought through”, she says. The use of soft, lighter paint colours also helped to illuminate the space and catch any passing ray of sunshine. “The whole point [of the initial design] was that the house be light and airy,” says Anahita, “I wanted Harley House to be liveable and family-friendly… to be a generational home in which everyone could feel comfortable. Not too traditional but appropriate.”

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The living room was the first Anahita sought to overhaul, implementing a decorative scheme that would be “sensitive to the original architecture and period [of the house]”. The family already owned one Murano chandelier, for example, but it wasn’t wired in. After sourcing another nearly-identical chandelier in Italy and installing it in the living room, the family could now finally benefit from both beautiful pieces – and their light. The rest of the living room is a clever mix of high and low: the sofa hails from high-street shop Loaf, the armchairs from Arlo and Jacob and the travertine coffee table – “the owner and I loved this piece,” says Anahita – from Golborne 44. The bookshelves were designed by Anahita with the house's owners, all academics, specifically in mind; the house’s joinery, too, was all bespoke.