I
t isn’t difficult to see why Natasha
Nuttall, who was born and bred in
north London, completely fell for this
f lat on the top f loor of an Edwardian
mansion block overlooking
Hampstead Heath: it has tantalising
views of Parliament Hill Lido.
“The blue is so vibrant, particularly on a
sunny day,” says Natasha who, together with
her husband and their two children, aged
13 and 11, holds a pass to the pool for six
months of the year. “We’re not quite at the
stage of swimming throughout the winter,
but we may get there.”
While the f lat’s views and location were
ideal for them, the interior was a little less
so: the property had been tenanted for
nearly half a century and felt pretty unloved.
The couple began by replacing the
polystyrene ceiling tiles and some
potentially life-threatening electrics,
painting the walls and refurbishing the two
bathrooms. “We lived in it like that for five
years, just to give ourselves time to work out
what we really wanted to do,” says Natasha.TAILORING THE SPACE
Helped by their architect, David Stanley,
the couple drew up plans to knock the living
and dining rooms into one in order to create
a light, open-plan kitchen and dining area,
with double sliding doors leading to a living
area at the core of the f lat. With a modest
1,000 square feet to play with for a family
of four plus their dog, Rockford, storage was
also of paramount importance.
“You need to be able to put everything
away sometimes,” says Natasha. “It was
also crucial that both children had decent-
sized bedrooms, which are at the other
end of the f lat to ours.”
The catalyst for the kitchen design was
the purchase of a cabinet reclaimed from the »HOME TOUR