NOT heard of Lili TarkowReinisch yet?

Well, you soon will. She’s one of London’s hottest new songwriters.

Her lyrics are being promoted across the Atlantic to Grammy-award winning singers like Carrie Underwood, and to American Idol.

Not bad going, considering Lili is also a full-time psychotherapist, wife, mother of two, Aikido black belt and marathon runner.

And the sole decorator of her Ralph Lauren-meets-Louis-Vuitton-andAndrew-Martin-style apartment.

The entrance hall to her west London home sets the dramatic tone.

A Senegalese burial outfit hangs on the wall and the corridor is flanked with wooden African fertility symbols in museum display cabinets.

There’s an Art Deco ebony console table and, on the floor, zebra skin.

Even the nearby loo has walls of black oak planks that were used underwater as sea defences to stop enemy submarines during the War.

Lili greets me in Chanel, jeans and bling. Her hair is waist-length and her eyelashes almost as long. “Never underestimate the superficial,” she laughs.

Originally from St Louis, she came to England 15 years ago. “I came here to do a Masters in Economics at LSE.

My knowledge of the Maastricht Treaty made me the darling of every party!”

Afterwards, she returned to her private psychotherapy practice.

The apartment in which she now lives with her hedge-fund husband, Mark, and their children is stylish.

“Home” wasn’t always thus.

“When I was 12, my father left us in such penury that my mother had to apply for a special permit for me to work,” she recalls.

“Our neighbourhood was disparagingly dubbed ‘Indian Ghettos’.

“We got food stamps – which the Government give you when you’re really poor.

Our motto at home was, ‘If it ain’t broke, it will be soon’.”

Her “escape” came with a scholarship to Washington University, and she hasn’t stopped working since.

It was with a desire to put all this behind her that she tackled her décor.

The couple bought the flat five years ago: Mark liked it because it didn’t need any refurbishment.

Lili, however, had other ideas – for changing every room!

It took three years to get planning permission to knock down walls.

“For a year we lived with builders to save money.”

The experience was worse for Mark.

“I dusted him every morning before work.

He was initially resistant to the changes, so every time he travelled, I’d take a wall down!

Once, he went to his beloved steam room but it was already in the skip.”

The new look is bold, masculine, aesthetically harmonious and somewhat disturbing.

There are white walls and bleached lime oak floorboards.

“But everything has a dark side.

The flat’s full of creatures that have been captured.

Analyse that,” she says, surveying the sitting room with its reindeer rugs over sofas, old zebra skins and antler candelabra.

“That’s not just a picture of a rodeo,” she says, pointing to a wall-sized photograph.

“It’s a prison rodeo.

A sculpture, Missing Boy 3, by the Korean artist Ki June Park is purposely unsettling.

And Tim Shaw’s ‘Man on Fire’ bronze should make you cry.”

It’s also an oasis of brown, silver and monochrome.

“When the man came to design the fish tank in the TV room, he thought I was joking when I said, ‘Only black and white fish – anything with colour becomes a fish finger’.”

Underlying this order is a sense of hedonism. “There’s a bar you can dance on, and every room’s set up for a party.

A sound system follows you around the flat – anything by Shwayze, Wrapt-Up productions or Lo-Star.”

And there’s a wine fridge in most rooms.

“Yeah, pure class,” she laughs.

The sitting room is where everything happens, from seeing patients to recording music and writing songs (“with Jerry Meehan who tours with Robbie Williams, Ellie Golding who’s always in the papers, And Leo Whiteley, who signs stars for Notting Hill Music.”)

There are tribal artefacts, a yee-hah! Remington cowboy sculpture and vintage Louis Vuitton.

But also a grand piano, lead-lined acoustic floorboards and ceiling. Ceiling-height black oak cupboards conceal the kind of technical gear that warms her “trailer-park heart”. Like much of the furniture, she designed these cupboards.

“If I can’t afford something, I get it copied or hit Lots Road.”

This stylish thrift extends to the children’s rooms, despite their Ralph Lauren sleigh beds.

“There’s not a single thing they couldn’t take to their first flats.”

(The kids are aged eight and 11.)

And what of the master bedroom, an Asian enclave with Tang horses?

“Our heavenly Vi- Spring mattress is the star turn alongside my closet of car-to-bar vertiginous heels and Ruhlmanninspired tallboy.

The photographs of vintage cars are all Portobello Road finds.”

She pauses.

“Much of what’s here only costs a fiver.

But the cheap stuff’s beautifully lit, so looks expensive.”

It’s also a home bursting with love, laughter and style.

Now all she needs is a Grammy in the loo.

HOW TO GET THE LOOK

Lighting: All Square (020 7727 0606, www.allsquaregrp.co.uk) .

Handmade beds: Vi-Spring (01752 366311, www.vispring.co.uk).

Audio: BOSE sound system (0800 1074999, www.bose.co.uk); integrated lighting and music from Lutron Homeworks (020 7702 0657, or visit www.lutron.com); and Redhorn Audio Visual (020 7486 8604/8605, www.redhornav.com).

Kitchen: Gaggenau appliances (0870 840 2003); units by Clive Christian (020 7349 9200, london@clive.com).

Antiques and artifacts: Ralph Lauren (020 7535 4600) for sleigh beds. Henry Gregory Antiques (Portobello Road, 020 7792 9221) for vintage Louis Vuitton. Sebastiano Barbagallo (020 7792 3320) for African art.

Display items: from Striking Displays, Brighton (01273 423623) for Perspex display cases.

Aquarium: designed and supplied by Aquatic Design Centre (020 7636 6388).

Ever since the tornado ripped through Kensal rise, north-west London, two years ago – damaging 150 homes and rendering 50 (including ours) uninhabitable – the area has become well known.

For more than a year, the streets most affected looked like building sites. Yet since disaster struck, the rise and rise of Kensal rise has continued unabated.

Whether it was due to some creative local energy being stirred up by the cyclone, the final “coming” of a formerly up-and-coming area, or prohibitive rents in nearby Notting Hill prompting the relocation of hip shops, much has happened since the storm. The biggest changes have been in Chamberlayne road, now dubbed by vogue magazine as “one of London’s coolest streets”.

For starters, Sally Wilton opened Pinkham Lighthouse, London’s first not-for-profit arthouse digital cinema and community venue, in an edwardian theatre. And Miro Davda opened Miro’s Grocery, London’s first seasonal, locally sourced, organic grocer.

Still on the foodie front, The Diner, with outposts in Shoreditch and Soho, has just arrived, offering well-priced classic American fare (burgers and shakes). And worth the detour for the décor is Paradise by Way of Kensal rise, with live music, poetry readings and ambitious food.

Indeed, Chamberlayne road is now considered the new Portobello, encapsulating the real flavour of the area.

Among other shops there is Howie & Bell for vintage clothes, lampshades and chairs, and Niche, which offers fashionable, shabby-chic French and english stock.

My family and I moved there five years ago from Holland Park, wanting more space for less money. Our house was badly damaged by the 2006 tornado but after a rebuild we have moved back into an area we love. We got 2,100sq ft of victoriana with a 100ft garden for the price of a threebedroom leasehold in the royal Borough.

“Despite the recession, there’s a huge demand and a shortage of property here now,” says Alan Isaacs, director of estate agent Queen’s Park Partnership. “Prices £ 460,000: three- bedroom NW10. Through Marsh & have dropped by about 20 per cent compared with 30 to 35 per cent in many parts of London,” he adds.

The leading Tricycle fringe theatre is close, Queen’s Park is nearby and the swish Notting Hill Harbour Club is but a quick jog away. Plus there are good transport links and a regular farmers’ market.

It has more than its fair share of cool residents. Jade Jagger has a pad in a groovy former telephone exchange, while the singer formerly known as Cat Stevens resides in gated splendour.

Nearby, emma Thompson has a victorian house, so, too, does vogue editor Alexandra Shulman, while Lily Allen lives just moments away.

Many of the area’s former inhabitants, Irish immigrants and Afro-Caribbeans, have moved away as Notting Hillbillies colonised the area, but Kensal rise remains authentic and ethnically mixed. It has a vibe: it is creative, energetic, bookish and home to writers, artists and media folk.

Delicatessens and BBC employees notwithstanding, the area still retains its appealing edginess and alternative flavour.

Alternative? Well, you can probably find more yoga here than in India. Indeed, little beats the Mother Nature Clinic with its world-class massage by Krenoula evripidou.

The Notting Hillified Gorgeous hair salon has relocated from Westbourne Grove and there’s a brocante-cum-tea shop opening soon in “one of the coolest streets in London”.

Factfile

Council tax: London Borough of Brent. Band D, £ 1,343.

Schools: Kensal Rise Primary.

Public transport: Tube stations are Kensal Green Queen’s Park, both on the Bakerloo line. Silverlink rail services from Kensal Rise station to Euston take 15 minutes and go to Richmond and Stratford.

Restaurants: The Diner (020 8968 9033); Paradise by Way of Kensal Rise (020 8969 0098). Delicatessens include Miro’s Grocery (020 8968 2298) and L’Angolo

(020 8969 5757).

Market: a farmers’ market is held every Sunday in Salusbury Road.

SUZY Maas has bought, decorated and resold her homes, five times in six years, to make a handsome profit.

And much of her experience has gone into her house-doctoring company. She knows that certain simple changes do emphatically push up the price you can ask for your home, and that decluttering is more than just cleaning the windows and hanging up your clothes.

“It is worth spending a little money on getting rid of dusty curtains and replacing them with white, light-reflecting blinds, and putting fresh, white grouting into the bathroom tiles. Little things have a huge impact,” Maas says.

She has done it so many times that her contacts book is full of bargain warehouse addresses, wholesale shops and markets, where she picks up the accessories that save busy Londoners a lot of hassle, time and money.

Maas, 30, started the Final Touch, a housedoctor service for people wanting to prepare their home for rental or resale, in 1999. She offers moneysaving tips and is forever bargain hunting for clients. She charges £75 an hour or £475 plus VAT a day for her services.

She trained as an interior decorator and in 1998 went in search of her first home. Maas bought a dark, three-bedroom Battersea flat for £125,000. “It was like a train compartment, with all the rooms running off the corridor. I gutted and renovated it on a shoestring,” she says. She spent £12,000 on improving it and sold it a year later for £175,000.

Next came the three-bedroom house in Clapham that had been rented out for years. “It was damp and smelly. I put in a new bathroom, kitchen and redecorated,” she says. (Purchase price: £141,000. Spent: £22,000. Sold 18 months later for £240,000.) Her subsequent south London property required a loft conversion. “Cosmetic changes included repainting the kitchen units and retiling,” she says. (Profit made 18 months later was £69,000.) Then there was the four-bedroom house in Brixton in 2000. “I knocked through and extended to make one big kitchen, divided the huge bathroom into two – essential in a four bedroom house – and stripped acres of woodwork,” says Maas. (Purchase price: £275,000. Spent: £41,000. Sold 12 months later for £380,000.) She has learnt from her mistakes. “Before making decisions, it’s best to live in the property. I’ve also made the mistake of choosing colours from charts instead of painting samples on the wall. I’ve forgotten to keep fabric and colour references for touching up. I’ve dispensed with an architect after they have submitted drawings, instead of retaining them for spotting problems and dealing with builders’ disputes, which saves money ultimately,” says Maas.

But she has flair, targets her market precisely and has enjoyed a buoyant property market. “It’s getting harder. So many people are doing it that it’s difficult to find a wreck,” she admits.

Her current three-bedroom Victorian home is in Clapham. She lives there with her boyfriend.

“It hadn’t been touched for 20 years. I put in sash windows, rewired, renovated, redecorated, added a bathroom and extended the kitchen with a glass roof to the side return,” she says.

Thriftily, she changed the ancient nylon carpet for an oatmeal wool Berber for just £12.99 a square metre; made her chenille curtains (£5 a metre at Brixton market) in the bedroom, and bought a stylish oak refectory table with eight dining chairs – for £ 2,000 f rom The Collection in Parsons Green.

The cramped, dark kitchen had broken appliances, Seventies pine and severe damp. “It was like a dark tunnel,” she says. Now, measuring 15ft by 30ft, it is a light and contemporary Alternative Plans creation.

It has glossy tusk-coloured Hacker units, chunky brushed-steel handles, lime-white walls, a mushroom limestone floor, durable quartz/ granite work surfaces, a range cooker and modish Bisque floor-level radiators.

The bathrooms are equally stylish. Out went the migraine-inducing wallpaper, handheld plastic shower and rotten timber bath panels. In came fawns, ceramic limestone-effect tiles (£27 a square metre) and a double-ended Bette bath. She built another bathroom with Castle Grey walls, skylights, Bateige grey tiles on the walls (“£34 a square metre”) and a sheet of sturdy glass as a shower wall. Its elegant wall-hung Saneux loo, elongated Plan basin and star-shaped shower came from Bathrooms at Source.

The house is an eclectic mix. “I like modern with old,” Maas says. In the sitting room, the look is traditional. The walls are crisp calico and there is a Sixties American oval glass and perspex table. But there is also an 18th century French commode and a period Venetian mirror.

Similarly, her Dix Blue bedroom has modern nickel pedestal side tables, a funky mirrored fireplace and fauxfur bed throw. But it also has a Chippendale tallboy, Louis XVI armchairs and an ornate bedhead (“a junk shop find”) of mirror, gilt and turquoise-painted wood.

Maas has perhaps inherited her mother’s passion.

When she was a child, her mother relocated annually over six years. “For years we just moved to parallel streets,” she remembers.

Many people find uprooting stressful and hate renovating properties. “Every time I move, I swear it is the last. Then I get bored.” She has lived in her current home since 2002. It must be time to sell? “Oh no,” she exclaims. “I adore this place.” A week later, she calls with a confession: “I’ve just put the house on the market.”

HOW to get the look
The Final Touch, 12 St John’s Hill Grove, SW11 (020 7228 4233; www.thefinaltouch.co.uk).
Dining table and chairs: The Collection, 76 New Kings Road, SW6 (020 7736 1166; www.thecollection.uk.com).
Floor-level radiators: Bisque Radiators, 244 Belsize Road, NW6 (020 7328 2225; www.bisque.co.uk).
Contemporary Boffi and Hacker kitchen: Alternative Plans, 4 Hester Road, SW11 (020 7228 6460; www.alternativeplans.co.uk) and 160 Notting Hill Gate, W11 (020 7243 9747).
Carpet: Carpet Base, 190 Cavendish Road, SW12 (020 8675 2232).
Bathrooms: Bathrooms at Source, 128 Garratt Lane, SW18, (020 8870 0066).
Paint: Farrow & Ball, 249 Fulham Road, SW3 (020 7351 0273).
Bateige tiles: Granite and Marble International, Westminster House, 35 Pensbury Place, SW8 (020 7498 2742).
Limestone-effect tiles: Moores Building Merchants, 35 Bedford Road, SW4 (020 7737 3539).
Where to get paints colour-matched: Handyman’s Corner, 138 Acre Lane, SW2, (020 7733 1149); Homebase; B&Q.
Architect: Martin Reynolds, 14 St John’s Hill Grove, SW11 (020 7223 1420).
Architectural salvage yards: Bacon Street Salvage, 12 Bacon Street, E1 (020 7613 4672); Old Time Architectural Salvage, 217 Blackshaw Road, SW17 (020 8672 7205).
Fabrics: from markets such as Brixton and Southall, and large retailers such as Fabrics Galore, 52-54 Lavender Hill, SW11 (020 7738 9589), Fabrics Direct (0800 975 7296).
Second-hand/antique items: household clearance shops, junk shops or country antiques fairs.
Many large retailers have clearance shops selling discontinued lines and damaged stock: Sofa Workshop, 8 High Street, Ealing Broadway Centre, W5 (020 8579 0693); Ocean Furniture, 2 Trevelyan Road, SW17 (020 8672 2020); some large retailers such as Heal’s often have one-off clearance sales, ask in-store for details.
Furniture warehouses: Comfortably Off, 70a Silverthorne Road, SW8 (020 7622 9393).
Auction rooms: Lots Road Auctions, 71 Lots Road, SW10 (020 7376 6800); Criterion Auctions, 41-47 Chatfield Rd, SW11 (020 7228 5563) and 53-55 Essex Road, Islington, N1 (020 7359 5707).

WHEN it comes to using interior space effectively, the McKenna family has got it totally worked out. They sleep on beds so high up their walls, they are close to the ceilings and utilise the space below. They work on laptops, eat, read, sleep, listen to music and watch television, often all in the same room.

A lot happens in the McKenna family’s stylish 1,200sq ft, two-bedroom, one-bathroom north London home. Indeed, at one stage, five of them lived there, which included a male au pair who slept in the “cupboard” bedroom.

Not only do the handsome family of four (Nancy, Bill and their student sons, William and Mark) all have their beds raised on bespoke steel frames 7ft off the ground, but shelves, storage space and televisions are also fitted at that level.

“The flat does not appear small to us because it has 14ft ceilings, and using that upper wall area means we have effectively added 50 per cent more space,” explains Bill, professor and clinical director of cardiology at UCLH. His wife, Nancy, adds that their methods mean the home is easier to keep clean. She also has an 800sq ft studio at the bottom of their garden.

Bill and Nancy used to live in Montreal but left Canada in 1976. “We came for a year,” laughs Nancy, a photographer, film-maker and founder of SafeHands, a charity dedicated to reducing maternal mortality and safeguarding the health of newborns. But then they found themselves staying, and in 1983 discovered this apartment.

“We bought it on the recommendation of an artist friend,” reveals Nancy, who, like the rest of her family, is clad in sports gear (Nancy did a degree in PE and met Bill, then captain of the university football team, through sport). “Another artist had been living here. Our kitchen was his studio, our boiler cupboard was his kitchen, there was no central heating and the property cost £60,000. Everything had to be redone.” Through painting the flat entirely in white, fitting a lot of mirrors to reflect the light and laying a light beech floor that flows throughout, the apartment feels spacious and contemporary..

There are also huge windows everywhere and clever lighting. “Most people design and furnish the house and then think about the lighting afterwards,” asserts Nancy. “But, probably because of my photographer’s eye, I think that should come first.” She worked on the lighting design with Maty

Grunberg, an artist friend who also created the beautiful pictures in the apartment. Many of the fittings (“mostly Italian, very expensive and classical”) still look great after 20 years. “Dimmers are essential throughout a small space, as they allow different moods at different times.” We are sitting in their fabulous Alternative Plans kitchen. It is the focus of the flat, with its white-lacquer Hacker cupboards, dark-grey basalt-stone work surfaces, stainless-steel splashbacks and real African-style fire. “Sometimes we cook on it,” says Nancy.

Juxtaposed with the clean, modern lines are old pine chairs and table (today it is being used as William’s office) and African wooden sculptures ‹ all symbolising fertility and pregnancy, reflecting Nancy’s involvement with the charity for safe motherhood and childbirth.

As we wander around their home she tells me that the au pair lived in the broom cupboardcum-boiler room (now used for storage) with a bed up a metal ladder. “We used to have a toilet in there, too,” laughs Nancy. “We always chose au pairs from big families because they would be used to lack of privacy.” Next door is the marital bedroom, which doubles as an office and library. Designed by Maty and executed by their friend, Asaf Tolkovsky, the frame of the 5ft bed is fashioned from steel.

Nancy is 5ft 9in tall. “But we’ve always had small beds. When we go away, the boys take it in turns to sleep in it.” Underneath the bed are beautiful his-and-hers cherrywood desks designed by Tolkovsky. The wall of mirrored cupboards has a flat-screen TV on top. “The only thing we don’t have in here is a gym,” jokes Bill. NEXT door, the boys’ shared bedroom has firemen’s poles, down which they shoot from their beds, which are themselves surrounded by curtains.

“The idea is to pull the drapes like on berths on a train. You get used to no privacy and sharing a bathroom ‹ one minute you are in there alone, the next moment Dad’s jumping into the shower,” laughs Mark.

Then there’s the sitting room, which pays homage to seminal designer Eileen Gray with its sofa, daybed, occasional table and coffee table.

Paintings and Nancy’s powerful black-and-white photographs of women and children are propped against the walls. “As I get older I become more minimalist. I prefer empty walls,” she says.

A woman with prodigious energy and a refreshingly unconventional approach to life, Nancy has cast her magic over the flat. “We have never wanted to move. Instead, we have bought homes for holidays in rural Spain and France.” Artwork by Nancy McKenna and other artists is on sale at the Art for Life Auction (proceeds to SafeHands), 6pm to 10pm 6 March, Mary Ward House, 5-7 Tavistock Place,WC1. Tickets from ndm@safehands.org.

GERALDINE and Michael Leventis cannot resists holiday souvenirs.

First there was the old farmhouse in the Lot in France, which they saw when they were on holiday in 1989. Then they had a vacation on the Greek island of Kea in 1994 and fell in love with a derelict mansion. So, naturally, they bought it. Next they travelled to Cape Town three years ago… and, well, you know how these things happen.

Geraldine is the owner of Raoul’s Cafe and Raoul’s Deli in Maida Vale and is opening another cafe in Notting Hill this month. (If you’re passionate about property, why not?) A former self-professed “bored housewife”, it was a former dinner guest, the late Francis Bacon, who pressed her to open her own restaurant in 1985. Now her shops have become legendary for their home-cooked Mediterranean cuisine consumed by visitors such as Kate Moss, Christian Slater, Russell Crowe and Björk.

Chasing a property deal is the ultimate adrenaline rush for Geraldine. All but the most hardened property addicts would have given up after the couple’s experience of buying a house in Greece. “We were on holiday and had no intention of buying,” confesses Geraldine. “But then we came across this wonderful derelict neoclassical house on top of the acropolis of Kea.” “Originally it was built for the first prime minister of Greece,” intercepts Michael, her husband and an artist. “The Temple of Apollo had stood there in 300BC. Our steps are made from its plinth.”

Geraldine takes up the story: “It took five years’ of red tape before we could get permission to restore the house to its original state. We almost gave up.”

Once they got the go-ahead, there was still an uphill struggle. “We had to transport everything using mules because there is no access to the hill,” explains Geraldine. “Cast iron-baths and suchlike all had to be carried up on their backs!”

Work on the three-bedroom house was finished in a year. The property cost them £100,000. And how much did they spend on it? Geraldine bursts out laughing. “More than £400,000,” she replies.

They decorated it in neoclassical style and filled it with French and English late 19th century furniture, which they shipped over.

Now they spend Greek Easter and two weeks in the summer holidays there.

Buying in Cape Town was simple by comparison. “It’s the least problematic place in which to buy,” reveals Michael. “Everything’s well organised and the builders stick to their schedule and budget.” Naturally, they hadn’t intended to buy a home there. “We were staying in a hotel in Constanzia,” explains Geraldine, “and every day these estate agents would appear after breakfast for appointments with the guests.

“Eventually we thought, ‘Well, what’s this about?’

Out of pure nosiness, we started looking at houses.” And 10 days later they had found one. “It was really good value,” she says cheerfully. “It only cost £150,000.”

The house wasn’t attractive – it is a twobedroom Sixties redbrick bungalow – but it had spectacular gardens, a view of Table Mountain and a swimming pool on the terrace. “We plastered over the red brick and the architects did an amazing job. It looks very Hollywood now.” They spent £200,000 on renovations. (“We’ve already been offered to sell it for double our outlay,” smiles Michael.) The main house has two bedrooms and there is a luxurious guest cottage with one big bedroom and a sitting room. It has a contemporary look, with eclectic furniture from London: from various Fornisetti pieces to a Salvador Dali lip sofa and zebra skins.

Do they know why they became addicted to property? “Michael loves projects,” Geraldine smiles. “I like interacting with architects, choosing materials and visualising the finished project,” adds Michael. “Once we have handed over the money, my role is simply to approve everything,” Geraldine laughs. “To sit there and say, ‘I love it!'”

SHE designed the oak and limestone dining table herself; and the Bulthaup kitchen units were fashioned to her specifications. The modern oak and steel staircase, which leads up from the basement and has lights embedded at foot level, well, that was constructed from her blueprint, too. And let’s not forget who sketched the ergonomic workstation with floating bookshelves and mobile storage – and the delicate, armless sofa in the window of the drawing room. Indeed there’s very little in her house that doesn’t bear testimony to the talented hand of Gail Taylor, the Taylor part of leading interior design duo Taylor Howes.

Gail and her husband Simon, a finance director, moved into the 3,000sq ft early Victorian stucco home in west London eight years ago. “I was pregnant with my first daughter,” says Gail, who is petite and blonde and wears jeans. “We’d been living in Holland Park but needed more space.” She transformed the groundfloor dining room into a drawing room.

The first-floor drawing room was altered structurally to become a master bedroom, walkthrough dressing room and bathroom. And the master suite was turned into a children’s room.

As the family has grown – the couple now have three children under the age of 10 – Gail has altered the Grade II listed house to adapt to their changing needs.

“When you have three kids you no longer have smart dinner parties,” she laughs. So two years ago she knocked down the walls of the basement, making it an open plan family room and extending it with a glass front. “It was a massive structural job. We had to move out,” she groans. “There are no foundations and our home was practically held up by the houses on either side.” She pauses. “Although the alterations were expensive they’ve proved a good investment.”

Gail has created an overall look that is peaceful, clean and modern. “The basement is contemporary and from the ground floor up the style is classic contemporary,” she explains, sipping tea. “You can do that with a tall house.”

The family room boasts an island with a chunky white top and stainless-steel worksurface surrounded by bar stools with chrome stalks, cupboards with sandblasted glass doors, glass shelves, Gaggenau appliances and wide, washed oak floorboards that extend into the garden.

On one side of the room is the dining area with woven chairs from Interdesign and oak and limestone table; on the other, an L-shaped sofa in “childproof ” oatmeal rib chenille, Buddha picture, bespoke gas fireplace and Loewe flat screen television. “The kitchen’s designed for cooking performances!” reveals Gail, who started her career as a kitchen designer in the Eighties.

“Simon’s a great cook. We love entertaining casually. And it’s so nice if guests can sit on a sofa and chat to him while he’s creating.”

Additionally, everything is stored – even the utility area is hidden behind sliding cupboard doors. “I’m the queen of storage,” admits Gail. “I always tell people to lose the clutter. It makes life more relaxed.”

Family and elegance may be an oxymoron. But not in this house. “We use our home for everyday, busy family life,” reveals Gail. Does she really have children? Well, sneak upstairs and you find her son’s bedroom – with his name painted in big letters around the room and a denim blind with denim pockets in which to put his toys. And her daughters’ room has fuchsia felt upholstered headboards, white walls (“they’re always asking when I’m going to paint the walls”) and a colourful playhouse that cleverly doubles as a wardrobe and toy cupboard.

But somehow the chaos of family life hasn’t impacted on Gail’s home, which is filled with flowers and Buddhas. Just take a look at her staircase with its taupe runner with suede border. Or her hallway with its polished plaster walls and cream saturna floor. And as for the glamorous drawing room, well, it’s cream and ivory (I ask you!) with soft taupe sea grass on the walls, a William Yeoward cream sofa covered with exotic cushions, Fox Linton’s John Hutton club chairs upholstered decadently in cream kids’ skin and cream silk Abbot and Boyd curtains, which hang delicately off glass McKinney Kidston curtain poles. A simple contemporary walnut cupboard hides the television. “The children aren’t banned from here,” protests Gail, laughing. “It’s their favourite spot for watching DVDs!”

The couple’s own room is a luxurious sanctuary with an eclectic mix of modern design and treasured items collected on their travels. It has a lacquered Japanese triptych above the contemporary four-poster bed, antique Chinese bedside tables and curtains of soft camel Jim Thompson oriental silk, which hang prettily from dark ebony arrowhead poles. There are bespoke stained-oak wardrobes with sandblasted doors, a bed throw made of woven leather lined with suede, an Interior Bis chaise longue upholstered in Bruno Triplet mohair in front of the fire … oh, and a clean, child-friendly cream carpet, of course.

Now what’s that they say about the patter of tiny feet?

Picture captions Left: the mark of Gail Taylor, the Taylor part of leading interior design duo Taylor Howes, is seen everywhere in her early Victorian stucco home, which is decorated along peaceful, clean and modern lines. Right: at home with the family

Dream cuisine: the family room boasts an island with a chunky white top and stainless-steel worksurface surrounded by bar stools with chrome stalks, cupboards with sandblasted glass doors, glass shelves, Gaggenau appliances and wide, washed oak floorboards that extend into the garden

Below: the chaos of family life hasn’t impacted on Gail’s home, which is filled with flowers and Buddhas and even dares to have a cream-and-ivory drawing room with soft taupe sea grass on the walls

Ancient and modern: a lacquered Japanese triptych sits above the dark ebony four-poster bed, with its curtains of soft camel Jim Thompson oriental silk

High maintenance: in the drawing room, chairs are upholstered decadently in cream goatskin

Made to pleasure: the bedroom’s bespoke stained-oak wardrobe has sandblasted doors. Top: African art collected on Gail’s travels adds the finishing touch

INSIDER KNOWLEDGE SHOPPING
Design: Taylor Howes Designs, 29 Fernshaw Road, SW10 (020 7349 9017).
Kitchen: design by Rob Gelling at Bulthaup (01865 426990). Appliances: Gaggenau (0870 840 2003; www.gaggenau.com).
Fireplace: Platonic fireplaces,Phoenix Wharf, Eel Pie Island, Twickenham, Middlesex (020 8891 5904).
Fabrics: silk by Jim Thompson at Fox Linton, Unit 2/19, Chelsea Harbour Design Centre, SW10 (020 7368 7700).
Chairs: John Hutton’s Ensemble range at Fox Linton (as before).
Lighting: Sally Storey at John Cullen Lighting, 585 King’s Road, SW6 (020 7371 5400).
Furniture: L-shaped family room sofa, Interdesign, G30, Chelsea Harbour Design Centre, SW10 (020 7376 5272), other sofa, William Yeoward, 270 King’s Road, SW3 (020 7349 7828), chaise longue, Interior Bis, 76 Chelsea Manor Street, SW3 (020 7351 1571), curtain poles, McKinney Kidston, Studio P, The Old Imperial Laundry, 71 Warriner Gardens, SW11 (020 7627 5077).
Wallpaper: “Schumacher” by Turnell & Gigon, ground floor, Chelsea Harbour Design Centre, SW10 (020 8971 1711).
Pots: Casalla Design, 2 Caranday Villas, Norland Road, W11 (020 7603 9802).

WHEN Edith Ettedgui and her husband, Franklin, wanted to buy an apartment in which to live while their Belgravia home was being gutted, they were not interested in dealing with more builders. Which is why they chose a split-level flat in west London that had just been renovated to the highest standard. “It was perfect, exactly what we wanted,” explains Ettedgui, who comes from Tours.

And then a strange thing happened … the couple fell in love with the property and decided to live there permanently.

The Ettedguis bought the 3,230sq ft apartment two years ago and moved in two weeks after the purchase – having bought the furniture for it within that time.

“My husband went shopping with his brother, Joseph [the clothes designer],” explains Ettedgui. “They certainly knew what they liked.”

They even purchased pieces that were in the show flat, brought in by interior designer Concetto Marletta of Centimetro Interiors. “I loved his choice of B&B sofa,” laughs Ettedgui. “So we bought it.”

The ground- and lower-ground-floor flat is in a grand 1850s building, which was converted into flats in the 1930s. It has high ceilings, huge rooms and many original features – from cornices to “characterful” Thirties brass-andiron banisters.

The flat had been transformed by Marletta and the developers from a fivebedroom flat, which had not been touched since the Sixties and had had a grotty plunge pool and dark rooms featuring clashing flowery wallpapers, into a luxurious three-bedroom apartment with lots of Zen-like space. “It has amazing fivemetre-high ceilings with space and light,” says Ettedgui, in her French accent.

The developers and Marletta had not skimped: they had incorporated one “very functional” stainless-steel Arclinea kitchen with Sub Zero fridge freezer and wine cellar – “a real luxury; you can control the temperatures of the different areas” – and Miele appliances; another kitchen (“for entertaining”) with white Carrara marble surfaces; B&B Italia wenge bedroom wardrobes; and a snazzy Lutron Homeworks system controlling everything from lighting to televisions, security and Bose sound system that serves every room.

“Look at this,” beckons Ettedgui, bending inside a cupboard with a pilots’ cockpit of electrical switches.

The lighting – from recessed floor-level ones to Thirties-style wall lights, chandeliers and twinkling “stars” embedded in a wall – is clever. “I adore this chandelier,” she reveals, standing beside a Tom Kirk hall-light fitting, which required five men to hang it and is made from test tubes and bronze. “We wanted something modern that still keeps the flat’s Thirties feel,” says Marletta. (The Ettedguis liked his work so much they retained him to add the final touches to the flat after they moved in.) The look is luxurious minimalist with a classic twist. Where once there was a swimming pool, for instance, there is now a television room with Le Corbusier armchairs and chrome angle-poise lamps.

There are acres of neutral colours (shaded white walls, fawn carpets, walnut f loorboards, Fox Linton taupe linen curtains plus wenge, ebony and Chinese black lacquer throughout); furniture in le style Frank, inspired by French 1930s decorator genius Jean-Michel Frank; and an exotic blend of ancient Asian and Western contemporary art. “The colours are in the art,” explains Ettedgui.

The drawing room displays Thirties chairs, black-leather Ciancimino console tables and a beautiful contemporary mushroom silk-velvet sofa by Grillo Demo for David Gill. “It takes six people comfortably,” laughs Ettedgui. “Joseph gave it to us. He gets all his furniture from David Gill.” She uses the room for pre-dinner drinks and Sunday afternoon tea “with my friends, two grownup daughters and a nine-month-old granddaughter”, explains Ettedgui, who also has two dogs.

The master bedroom (“like an apartment within an apartment”) is on the same floor.

A dressing room is hidden behind a sliding glass door. “Sorry, it’s very messy,” says Ettedgui. The bathroom is behind another door. It has limestone and walnut fittings and a television set into the wall. “I watch TV in the bath. It’s fantastic.”

The bedroom has an oriental-style wooden bedhead and a satin upholstered sofa (designed by India Mahdavi, former assistant to Christian Liagre), and there are unusual lamps (including a budding flower one designed by Ayala Serfaty and made of plastified fabric), sharks’ skin console tables, Picasso drawings and a dressing area behind a stud wall, which divides the room and also contains a recessed television. “It’s the only bedroom I’ve ever enjoyed when I’ve been unwell and had to stay in bed,” Ettedgui smiles.

Upstairs is a capacious hallway with vanilla satin Art Deco chairs, Chinese Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD) pottery figures and a fireplace with limestone surround designed by Marletta. “It’s when I saw this,” Ettedgui motions with her hand, “that I knew I had to have the flat.” It’s easy to see why.

Picture captions Liner style: Thirties attention to detail is important in halls as well as rooms, and in the bedroom beyond, oriental touches add a flavour of worldly elegance. In the hall, uplighters and neat Roman blinds work well

Touch of luxury: the main kitchen, used for entertaining, includes white Carrara marble surfaces

Chic: French-born Edith Ettedgui has plenty of space in her drawing room for friends, family and her dogs

Simple and functional: an Arclinea kitchen with Miele appliances is for everyday use

Comfortable: a mushroom silk-velvet sofa by Grillo Demo for David Gill in the drawing room

Warm look: Edith Ettedgui fell in love with the limestone surround fireplace that was designed by Concetto Marletta

Red letter: signature notes of colour are used carefully to accent the whole room. Flowers were supplied by Carter Cherrill Master Florist (020 7225 3725; www.cartercherrill.co.uk)

Switched on: many lamps in the house are designed by Ayala Serfaty and Tom Kirk

HOW TO GET THE LOOK
Interior design CentiMetro Interiors: 9 The Enclave, 2 Dallington Street, EC1 (020 7251 2010).
Furniture David Gill Gallery: 60 Fulham Road, SW3 (020 7589 5946) and by appointment at 3 Loughborough Street, SE11 (020 7793 1100).
Ciancimino: 99 Pimlico Road, SW1 (020 7730 9950).
India Mahdavi: 3 rue Las Cases, 75007 Paris (00 33 1 45 55 67 67).
Lighting Ayala Serfaty: Budding Flower lamp in the bedroom is designed by Ayala Serfaty from David Gill Gallery (as before).
Tom Kirk: lighting designer. Call 020 8766 6715.
Antiques Guinevere: 574-580 King’s Road, SW6 (020 7736 2917; www.guinevere.co.uk).
Kitchen units B&B Italia: 250 Brompton Road, SW3 (020 591 8111; www.bebitalia.it).
Kitchen appliances Sub Zero: Call 020 8418 3800, or visit www.subzero.eu.com.
Miele: Call 01235 554455, or visit www.miele.co.uk.
Marble and stone Stone Age: Unit 3, Parsons Green Depot, Parsons Green Lane, SW6 (020 7384 9090; www.estone.co.uk).
Hi-fi Bose: Call 0800 107 4999, or visit www.bose.co.uk.
Electrical and security controls Lutron Homeworks: Call 020 7702 0657, or visit www.lutron.com.

WHEN Vanessa Higgins first saw the mill house from a nearby public path, she ran back to her waiting husband, David, excitedly proclaiming: “Wow.”

The mill, in a tiny Wiltshire hamlet, is an 18th century building with waterside gardens and paddocks, but a mill was recorded on the site in the Doomsday Book.

“It took months to purchase,” recalls Vanessa, 39.

“We had pulled out of buying a property in Devon at the last minute, then found the mill. It was just so pretty – the perfect family home.” But it wasn’t cheap. It was on the market for £1.3 million, but the drawn-out negotiations – which took not much short of a year – worked in the couple’s favour. By the time it came to agree money, the market had dropped.

“We paid a little over £900,000,” says Vanessa.

“Which was considerably less than we had offered initially.”

So, how many bedrooms does it have? Vanessa is not so sure with these numbers: “I don’t know … one, two, three … six – no, seven.” But the layout is, admittedly, rather complicated; the living areas are in the old mill and the bedrooms are spread among two attached cottages. But, all in all, there is ample space for David and Vanessa, David’s three children from his first marriage, two children with Vanessa, their dalmatian and highland terrier – and the energy consultancy business the couple run from home.

The family moved into the mill in 2001; the previous owners had been there for 20 years but their children were now grownup. “It was quite dilapidated,” says Vanessa. “Water was running down the walls and it was a bit smelly and damp, having been left empty for a while. It also needed major plumbing work.” Other problems were more instantly obvious: “It hadn’t been touched for years. The walls were covered in buttoned green fabric and psychedelic herringbone wallpapers.”

It was stripping these off the walls that revealed the “cracks, bits falling off and treacherous wiring”. Vanessa laughs: “We felt glad we had survived.”

The house is listed, of course, so there were constraints on the refurbishment.

“We weren’t allowed to alter anything at all on the outside, but we won approval to make changes on the inside, mainly because these preserved and improved the house,” says Vanessa, who is particularly taken with the approved dampproofing material – “like mega-giant bubble wrap”.

Some walls were removed to open up internal spaces, and a conservatory was built to provide a dining area. The kitchen windows were enlarged (“it was so closed up and dark”). Finally, another conservatory was built to provide a link to a barn, which is now a double garage and an office.

A local joiner built the home’s three new staircases, but a crew of builders had to travel down every day from Birmingham to turn the Seventies kidney-shaped swimming pool into a state-of-the-art 12-metre model.

“We lived in a building site for a year. We thought it would all take six months, but after two years we are only just finishing.” And then there was the bill.

“We spent about £500,000,” she says.

The results are an interesting fusion of traditional and modern: a large and original buttress in the new open-plan kitchen area has a bespoke modern cabinet hanging from it, for example. A glass panel in the kitchen floor looks onto the mill stream, while a cool, flat TV is suspended from an antique timber eave in the couple’s bedroom.

In the bathroom, a freestanding roll-top bath, Thirties-style polished chrome fittings and Art Deco-style walnut and bird’s-eye maple furniture are juxtaposed with contemporary sandblasted doors and panels for the walk-in shower.

There are cream carpets, Travertine and oak floors and white walls. (“I might introduce colour later. But I wanted to make it light.” ) Authentic Art Deco furniture sits alongside Simon Bray’s modern bespoke GK Design furniture and contemporary John Lewis pieces. Boys toys include a fancy Bang & Olufsen sound system that can be turned on by remote control anywhere in the house.

“We spent more than £30,000 on B&O; one of the TVs was £11,000 alone,” says Vanessa. She is looking at the specially built and studded sitting room wall that was recessed to take the Odeon-sized beast.

“You can even turn the telephones down by remote control,” she chirrups.

The kitchen is by Bray, too, and is something of a focal point, with black granite surfaces, lacquered cupboards, glass-fronted cabinets and Miele appliances. A large and bright open space has been divided with furniture by Bray. A glass-topped curved oak bar with chrome and leather stools connects the cooking area to the conservatory and the family room. “Even when I’m cooking, I’m still in touch with everyone,” she says.