The Rainbow Connection

With dazzling colours and skilful planning, Emma Deterding turned a bland apartment into a bright city bolthole.

- Maggie Colvin

Reflecting the pace and style of the buzzy west London street life outside, interior designer Emma Deterding has chosen to furnish her home with a cacophony of dazzling hues. ‘I’ve always been one for colour,’ she says, ‘irrespective of the style and age of my furniture.’ Emma’s other inspiration for her interior decor was Sixties pop art and contemporary graffiti, both of which she has a passion for, and some of the walls are hand-painted works of art in their own right. ‘I was keen that this place should be totally different from our country home, which is muted and traditional,’ she says.

Tucked at the top of an apartment block, the formerly drab London maisonette appealed to Emma because of its generous space and unusual floor plan. Spanning four levels, the layout is similar to a mews house with short flights of steps broken up by spacious landings. It provided a perfect second home for Emma and her husband Nicholas and their two children, who are now grown up. With its three bedrooms and the same number of shower rooms, it has also proven to be ideal for when friends stay over.