Interior designer Fiona Barratt describes the style of her Edwardian London flat as “modern luxury”, but as we walk through the rooms it becomes clear that this is the work of a canny northern lass – not just from the still recognisable Newcastle twang of her mellowed accent but also from the mix of high-street labels among the more expensive and custom-made pieces.

At 27, she is comparatively young to be running her own company with an international client list, and to be comfortably at home in a West London mansion flat, but she explains that her drive to establish a business of her own is inherited from her grandfather, who founded Barratt Homes, and her parents, who set up a chain of garden centres.

Having trained at Chelsea College of Art and Parsons School of Design in New York, Barratt was determined to be running her own company by the age of 25. “I managed it with two days to spare,” she says proudly – and no sooner had that ambition been achieved than she landed a commission to decorate Richard Branson’s Verbier ski lodge.

At her own home, which she bought two years ago and transformed in 11 weeks, she turned rooms that were stuck in a 50-year time warp into calm, contemporary and comfortable spaces. She had the three-bedroom apartment gutted, and the entrances from the hallway and sitting room to the kitchen realigned, while the wall separating the kitchen and dining room was demolished and the two bathrooms replaced.

The kitchen looks and feels expensive but its dark veneer- faced units are from the high-street chain Magnet. “I added the extra thick Portuguese fossil stone worktop to give a more weighty finish, and I chose the Japanese-style table and chairs because the curved arms and bleached wood were in contrast to the strict lines and dark colour of the kitchen,” she says.

In the sitting room Barratt placed the television on the side wall between the windows so that it isn’t the focus. Instead, as you enter, your eye is drawn to the fireplace and the unusual multi-faceted Cuban mirror. A modern L-shaped sofa provides seating along one wall and opposite are two period French chairs with scroll arms – an arrangement designed to retain the open appearance of the room.

“I don’t use a lot of pattern but I like to bring in a variety of textures to create interest,” says Barratt, highlighting the grainy, woven linen curtains, smooth French ceramic side tables that resemble large chess pieces and, on either side of the fireplace,console tables of hammered steel with embossed leather tops. “I like to design special pieces of furniture for a room and I created these consoles to accentuate the width.”

The hallway that runs through the windowless core of the apartment has a black table with a light from Habitat and a collection of framed photographs, many taken by Barratt herself. A large mirror propped up against the wall opposite the front door creates an illusion of space but is also a useful place to check appearances before setting out for the office.

At the end of the corridor by the front door is Barratt’s bedroom, a place she describes as “a little haven”. The clean lines and muted colours could be construed as masculine, but there is a liberal coating of Art Deco glamour. The wall behind the bed head is finished in a satin smooth silver plaster, and discreet silver threads are woven into the fabric of the overlong curtains that pool on the mink grey silk and wool mix carpet. Plush velvet cushions and silver velvet footstools are in contrast to the black stained oak and lacquer wardrobes and Louis XIV style dressing table. And on the bedside tables, antique glass teardrops cascade from the light shades.

The en suite bathroom is now a spacious, stone-lined shower room with a dish-like round basin supported on a slender dark wood shelf. The windows are shaded with shutters and a Perspex candelabra continues the feeling of glamour.

Barratt balances some of her expensive indulgences with thrifty buys. Many of the photographs are mounted in Ikea frames and artworks are mostly from the annual October Affordable Art Fair, where she also sources items for clients such as Branson. Vases, the table lamps in the hall and the Liberty Blaze picture in the kitchen are from Habitat, and the beaten silver dish in the sitting room is from the Conran Shop.

The flat is immaculate, from the colour-coded clothes hanging regimentally in her wardrobe to the perfectly arranged apples in a bowl in the kitchen. “I can’t go to bed without plumping up the cushions,” she says with a smile, and it is that sort of attention to detail that has helped her establish her thriving business at an age when many are still pondering what to do.

www.fionabarrattinteriors.com

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