Edo Mapelli Mozzi, Princess Beatrice's husband, created his bachelor pad out of one room of a Victorian house
It seems that Edo Mapelli Mozzi has rediscovered an age-old truth: that small truly is beautiful. But it took the young and impressively successful head of Banda, which oversees the development of high-end residential properties in London, a little while to realise this.
Before completely reconfiguring and reimagining his current flat, a single room in a large, late-Victorian house in west London, he lived in a converted nightclub that was three and a half times bigger. 'I thought I would be very happy living there, having spent two years building it,' he explains. 'But there were lots of spaces and echoes. I preferred a cosier and more welcoming space.' He decided to sell it - along with all the furniture - and, with a completely clean slate, started to look for a new home.
His self-imposed brief was that any new flat would have one bedroom, be on a first floor and be south facing. Unlike his last home, Edo wanted a space where every inch was used and he could see every corner. He fancied an open-plan environment and somewhere that, when he came home, would be calm, neutral and a place in which to switch off. The space he found ticked all those boxes, with a huge three-and-a-half-metre-high window and a mezzanine bedroom; it also had a funky en-suite bathtub surrounded by disco lights.
'In planning a development, you do not design by the square metre, but have the end user in mind,' he explains. 'Storage is of enormous importance - every mirror can contain a cupboard, every surface a drawer - as are details such as whether your kitchen has enough sockets, room to chop more than a carrot and oven space.' So with himself as the client, he applied the same criteria.
On entering the flat, you walk into a small hallway with a coat-hanging area and a bench for storing boots; there is a bathroom and cloakroom to the right and a small staircase in the main room that leads to the mezzanine bedroom. Two thirds of the main room is a large seating area, with a dining alcove at the back that can seat up to eight people. In the remaining space, a commodious kitchen is now partitioned from the rest by huge Crittall windows and doors, which maximise the light; it is perfectly proportioned with plenty of space for worktops, two ovens, a wine cupboard and fridges.
To have a relaxing home, Edo decided he needed a fireplace. The original one was beside the kitchen with the ceiling rose centred above it. He moved the rose so that it is now over the seating area. The chimneypiece was shifted across and, since he could not get the flue to work there, he installed a bioethical fire. Upstairs, to provide himself with a large dressing room and space for his books, he brought the mezzanine round two sides of the room. Now the dressing room is hidden behind a wall, upon which hangs a huge Nick Knight photograph, and built-in bookshelves run opposite a simple banister of oak and brass.
Not one for white walls and contemporary paintings, Edo has instead used a muted scheme with flashes of colour, such as strong mustard seating in the dining area. The main room's floor is covered in 'Versailles Tiles' by Cheville Parquet, which have been stained to order, and Michael Anastassiades lights hang in front of the window and over the dining table. Elsewhere, lighting is hidden. 'For me, it is about coming through the door, turning on music and the fire, and putting my feet up - and you don't have to walk very far to do anything.'
Banda Property: 020-7937 9600; bandaproperty.co.uk