A mid-century Holland Park house is given a colourful update by Lonika Chande

When interior designer Lonika Chande first entered this mid-century house in the elegant west London neighbourhood of Holland Park, it was perfectly preserved and “deceptively spacious”. Built between the 1950s and 1960s, the house is a true emblem of the era's functionalist architecture. While beautiful, the house was still “dark and dated", something Lonika was keen to tackle head-on. “We needed the house to be more comfortable, more contemporary, more functional… something that really worked for the client's family”, she says. Sentiment added another layer to the project, as the house is the owner's childhood home, “full of lovely memories and stories”. After gathering initial impressions of the house and holding many a meeting with her new client, Lonika understood her design mission: “breathing new life” into the house whilst still preserving its history.

Before beginning the decorating process, Lonika and her team first needed to transform the layout of the house, where a series of small rooms was preventing the flow of daylight. “Lightening the downstairs area and opening it up was a natural first step,” she says. After stripping away the existing dark parquet flooring, Lonika worked closely with LAB Architects and a skilled team of contractors to combine the galley kitchen and sitting room into a unified, light-filled space. To maximise this newfound light, Lonika opted to keep the walls throughout the house a neutral colour ('School House White' by Farrow & Ball), one certain to reflect any and all sunbeams. A skylight was installed on the second-floor landing, disseminating much-needed light downwards, rays falling onto the below landing, on which sits “a lovely little antique table, linen curtains and that bright red lamp – the perfect vignette” (and Lonika's favourite spot in the house).

After the structural changes came the intense “pops of colour” which Lonika slipped into each room. Working closely with the client, together they chose a myriad colourful pieces from the high street to add to the client's own collection of antiques. The streaks of bright orange in the still life that hangs above the sideboard in the dining room – a painting that holds sentimental value to the client – particularly influenced the space's colour palette: “we knew we wanted to use orange, as it offsets the kitchen and gives the room a contemporary feel". "Also", Lonika reveals, “it is the client's favourite colour”. Tucked away in the built-in niches that flank the sitting room's fireplace sit sculptures made by the client's husband, Johannes von Stumm (the fireplace's stone surround, too, was built by Johannes). It is small, personal details like these that Lonika returned to again and again when designing. Each room is filled with colour, decorative objects and “meaning and family connection," says Lonika.

Indeed, the artwork and antiques throughout the house hold special significance to the client and her family. As well as her husband's sculptures, it was “important to the client to make use of her existing collection of antiques". Together, she and her client “worked quite hard to look at what there was,” says Lonika, both relishing the opportunity to “mix and marry different periods, finishes and fabrics” from the client's archive with newer pieces Lonika and her team sourced from high street shops, vintage markets and trusted dealers. In one bedroom, a vintage bamboo headboard was repurposed into matching headboards for twin beds, a detail Lonika particularly loves (“so much fun!”). Vintage fabric found whilst rifling through her client's textile collection was used to reupholster pieces throughout the house. “Mixing periods and furniture so you are not wedded to just one period makes for the most interesting houses,” says Lonika, “and this project is no different".