{"id":3007,"date":"2025-07-29T05:57:38","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T21:57:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homeofmaterials.com\/2025\/07\/29\/paddington-pied-a-terre-a-colorful-small-space-london-design-by-beata-heuman\/"},"modified":"2025-07-29T05:57:38","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T21:57:38","slug":"paddington-pied-a-terre-a-colorful-small-space-london-design-by-beata-heuman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homeofmaterials.com\/de\/paddington-pied-a-terre-a-colorful-small-space-london-design-by-beata-heuman\/","title":{"rendered":"Paddington Pied-\u00e0-Terre: A Colorful Small-Space London Design by Beata Heuman"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you ask Beata Heuman, the problem with most rooms is that \u201cpeople lack an imaginative approach.\u201d The same could not be said of the rising star interior designer. Heuman, 37,  is based in London, where she runs her own seven-person firm\u2014in lieu of going to design school, she trained, starting at age 21, in the bustling office of Nicky Haslam, another fan of letting loose. Heuman grew up on a farm in northwest Sweden\u2014her father is a farmer and her mother a doctor. From Haslam she says learned about English comfort and where to get just about anything fabricated; from her Swedish heritage, she was taught to \u201cthink very long term\u2014I aim for my designs to last for generations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The owner of this tiny Victorian mews apartment in Paddington, a novelist in her thirties who divides her time between Cornwall and London, gave Heuman the following direction for overhauling her compact quarters: \u201cShe had just returned from Venice and loved the feeling at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum of turning a corner and having an unexpected world open up.\u201d In other words, she spoke Heuman\u2019s language. Join us for a peek inside.<\/p>\n

Photography courtesy of Beata Heuman.<\/p>\n


Above: The flat is on the ground floor of a long-ago converted stables. Opposite the entrance, Heuman created a dining area\/home office in the existing \u201corangerie-like\u201d extension, which she enhanced by elevating the formerly flat roof. <\/p>\n

It has a custom-designed upholstered banquette and an oak table set on a plinth \u201cso there\u2019s room to get in and around it.\u201d The lights are from Habitat.<\/p>\n


Above: Lacking space for a door, Heuman hung a curtain of unlined white linen that \u201cemits a soft glow\u201d while separating the dining room from the living space. Here, to make up for a lack of sunlight, she covered the walls with Phillip Jeffries seagrass wallpaper and went with a palette of greens and blues that reference the natural world. <\/p>\n

As is her custom, Heuman designed all of the upholstered furniture and mixed it with antiques.  She scaled the sofa to double as a guest bed (\u201cthe back cushions just have to be removed\u201d) and the octagonal ottoman opens so that bedding can be stored inside.<\/p>\n


Above: The kitchen is tucked in the other end of the room, set off by a marble-topped breakfast bar faced with rattan (which in the corner cleverly serves as a ventilated radiator cover). The arched wall was \u201calready there but not prominent.\u201d <\/p>\n

Note the shallow cabinet over the fireplace: it hides the TV behind doors covered in Fornasetti cloud-patterned wallpaper. The floor throughout is the original painted in Farrow & Ball\u2019s graphite Downpipe, \u201can affordable upgrade.\u201d<\/p>\n


Above: By installing bespoke kitchen cabinets\u2014painted in Dulux\u2019s Woodland Pearl I\u2014Heuman was able to make use of every centimeter: the slots are for trays and cutting boards; the vented cupboard over the range holds a self-circulating extractor fan. <\/p>\n

The counters are Carrara marble and the bridge faucet is by Barber Wilsons.<\/p>\n

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Above: As a flourish, Heuman designed the marble backsplash to rise in a half moon: \u201cmarble has to be cut for installation, so it\u2019s an opportunity to add curves and movement,\u201d she says. Of the marble shelves, she explains, \u201cthe wall would been too severe without them, plus we needed a place to put things.\u201d
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Above: \u201cIf you want a stronger color in the bedroom, I recommend blue because it\u2019s also restful,\u201d says Heuman, noting that she has this same shade\u2014Mylands\u2019 Bridge Blue in her own bedroom. The blanket chest is cushioned in a linen from Heuman\u2019s own fabric collection called Palm Drop.
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Above: The headboard is upholstered in a stripe from Claremont. \u201cRed,\u201d Heuman says: \u201cis a daring choice: it can be uplifting but also overbearing. In this case it works because when you\u2019re in the bed, you don\u2019t see a lot of red.\u201d <\/p>\n

The pillow with the glove is the Hold mE.U Cushion by Kate Hawkins. The owner added the portrait of a woman\u2014a sign to Heuman that the two of them were completely in sync.<\/p>\n


Above: Bert & May Alalpardo tiles pattern the bathroom floor and the bathtub wall in an abstract design. The walls are in a Lakeland Paints\u2019 dusty pink called Castaneda. The client requested the bathtub; Heuman designed it to match the sink cabinet \u201cset in a corner for practicality in such a tiny space\u2014the tall ceiling also helps.\u201d The old-fashioned cistern toilet from Drummonds accentuates the height of the room. <\/p>\n

In a feature we ran on her own London home\u2014see Every Room Should Sing\u2014Heuman told us: \u201cAlthough my interiors use print and color, I also think a lot about how to design an environment that\u2019s practical to live in, where items can be stored away and a sense of calm can be created.\u201d She\u2019s currently at work on a book of her own designs out next March from Rizzoli.<\/p>\n

Considering adding some color and pattern to your own quarters? See:<\/p>\n