Noble Profile

Gilt and brass endow a discreetly patrician edge to this elegant Eaton Square apartment in exclusive Belgravia made over by French interiors maestro Jean-Louis Deniot.

- Ian Phillips

French designer Jean-Louis Deniot has a pragmatic, down-to-earth approach to decorating. He often likes to say: “You’re not going to change the course of the world by hanging a pair of curtains.” And although his interiors ooze elegance, they are not necessarily filled with hugely expensive, collectible pieces of furniture. “It’s what I call design confidence,” he asserts. “Some people need to have things from a certain gallery with a certain pedigree and then there are others who are ready to have fun simply with things that speak to them.” He says he is certainly not averse to buying something for a steal at a Los Angeles garage sale and transforming it with just the right choice of upholstery.

He is also a firm believer in investing both energy and money where they are going to have the maximum impact. A perfect example can be found in this grand three-bedroom London apartment, where he added a brass profile around the doorways in the entry hall. “Let’s face it,” he says, “it’s more or less a corridor and you need to distract from that fact by adding a detail that catches both the light and the attention of visitors”. For him, entrances are always of capital importance. “First impressions last,” he adds, “and when people walk into a place, they either love it or hate it. There’s nothing in between. It’s as simple as that.”