A Notting Hill townhouse revitalised for a young American couple

Moving from the wide open spaces and sprawling houses of Los Angeles to the somewhat more constricted surroundings of a London townhouse under lockdown, as the owners of this charming house did, can't have been easy. An American couple in their early thirties, they arrived in London not long before the pandemic hit, bought a house in Notting Hill, set about renovating it, found out they were having a baby, and then were confined to the house in a strange city, all within a few months. Under these rather overwhelming circumstances, however, they proceeded, under the direction of design studio Barlow & Barlow, to create a supremely comfortable and joyful interior, filled with colour and pattern.

The adjustment from a California lifestyle to a London one brought up two main issues for Lucy Barlow to wrestle with. Firstly, space: this maisonette in a classic Notting Hill townhouse may not be the smallest accommodation you can get in London, but it's a far cry from an American house, so the first priority was to create lots of storage with clever bespoke joinery. Second, colour: while the wife favoured that classic cool white aesthetic that looks so good in the bright sunshine of the Pacific coast, it soon became clear that it wasn't going to work well for grey London days. Lucy was determined to introduce as much colour as possible, and the interior eventually became a meeting ground between them, filled with the unmistakably vibrant colours and patterns Lucy loves, but with areas of quiet and restraint.

At the core of the maisonette, which takes up the top three floors of the house, is the staircase. "It feels like it's everywhere you look," says Lucy, "so we put in calm, discreet joinery on every landing to create storage. It feels light and airy but every little cupboard is custom-designed to house particular things." Joinery is a hallmark of Barlow & Barlow's projects, and the house is filled with well-designed shelving and cupboards. In the sitting room, a wall of built-in shelves at the back of the room is painted in a rich sea-blue, with a central alcove perfect for hanging art.

This sort of clever customisation of the space is evident throughout the house. In the kitchen, Lucy has created a pantry out of one corner, designed to be "more interesting than just another run of cupboards." The top half of the wall is formed from Crittall-style screens, allowing a sense of visual flow while still separating the space. The pantry also forms a corner to allow for a built-in banquette with fluted upholstery. "It adds a bit of cosiness," says Lucy. "I think kitchens are greatly improved with a bit of softness and squidginess."