Rhapsody In Blue

Copenhagen-born Julie Simonsen is happiest surrounded by blue, which is why her London home is delicately tinted with azure shades

Popping into one of her favourite antiques shops on a visit to London, Julie Simonsen walked away with more than a vintage heirloom – she ended up buying a house. After casually enquiring if the owners of the shop knew of anyone selling a house in leafy Holland Park, she was amazed to discover that they did.

‘I was moving back to London after living in Gstaad in Switzerland,’ says Julie, who is an interior designer. ‘And I was looking for a new challenge.’ She found one in the shape of the property tipped by the antiques dealer: a four-storey, Grade II-listed Georgian townhouse in need of major renovation. ‘The bones of the house were there, but the whole place had to be reconfigured,’ says Julie. ‘The side wall was giving way, the kitchen was inadequate and the basement had been turned into a flat.’

Moving temporarily into a cottage along the street, Julie set to work, enlisting the help of architects Studio Indigo and fellow interior designer Gemma McCloskey. Due to the property’s listed status, and its location in a conservation area, they had to be faithful to its original style. ‘We weren’t allowed to change the exterior of the house at all,’ says Julie. ‘But we did get permission to open up and extend the rear to create a kitchen-diner with a glazed wall and roof.’