ALL CHANGE

Clare Morton’s considerable ingenuity has resulted in her apartment getting an extra bedroom and plenty of design flair

- EMMA J PAGE

HOME TRUTHS

THE PROPERTY Victorian first-floor flat

LOCATION Northeast London

ROOMS Kitchen-diner/living area, two bedrooms, bathroom

PURCHASED 2018

PREVIOUS PROPERTY ‘I moved here from a house in Essex,’ says Clare.

LIVING AREA

A moody wallpaper (below) plus a palette of blues, from midnight to rich teal, add a dramatic note. Large Valentin bench with oak legs, £650, Sofa.com; upholstered in Wild Card in Butterscotch, £120m, House of Hackney.

Alderney armchairs in Deep Turquoise cotton matt velvet, £890 each; Bluebell 2.5 seater sofa in Black Velvet, all Sofa.com. Fading World medallion rug in Jade, £526, Louis De Poortere at Woven. Walls in Mizzle estate emulsion, £47.95 for 2.5ltr; fireplace in Hague Blue estate eggshell, £64 for 2.5ltr, both Farrow & Ball. Limerence wallpaper in Ink, £125 per roll, House of Hackney

If ever there was an example of successfully transferring large-scale living into a small-scale space, it’s the cleverly reformatted apartment of interior designer Clare Morton. Three years ago, she downsized from a house in Essex to a first-floor Victorian flat in northeast London – and hasn’t looked back.

‘I was on the hunt for a roomy two-bed, which would allow me to comfortably store a large collection of clothes and shoes,’ she says. ‘This flat was decoratively underwhelming, and only had one bedroom, but its generous proportions were appealing.’