21/08/2026
Nothing in this room was chosen from a catalogue.
A closer look at the bedroom of our Albion Gate apartment — a 1930s art-deco building on the edge of Hyde Park — and why each material is there.
The headboard is upholstered to the width of the bed and set into a polished timber frame, with a single line of antique brass nailheads run by hand along the seam.
The wall behind it is not painted. A fine woven cloth absorbs light instead of bouncing it back, set against one dark lacquered wall to give the corner some weight.
The cushions are bouclé, edged in a dark brush fringe so the pale bed has an outline rather than dissolving into the linen.
The bedside chest is dark timber polished to a mirror, inlaid with fine brass lines and finished with a leather-and-brass ring pull. The lamp beside it is a hand-blown bronze-mirrored body on a slim plinth, chosen because it reflects the room back rather than adding another colour to it.
Above the headboard, two framed works on paper. In a room this restrained, the art is the only thing allowed to be busy.
Every surface here was chosen for how it behaves: in daylight, under lamplight, and under the hand. That is the difference between a room that has been decorated and a room that has been designed.