Living the high life: mezzanine floor and clever design tricks have transformed this small Earls Court flat into a spacious home

Joanne Leigh took advantage of very high ceilings in a one-bedroom flat to create an additional bedroom by adding a dramatic mezzanine floor.
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Claire Bingham3 August 2017

Joanne Leigh, a former banker with a passion for doing up property, downsized from a large home in Knightsbridge to an Earls Court apartment in 2014.

It is on the first floor of a smart Queen Anne terrace — and it is a testament to the new design that Joanne hasn’t packed her bags and sold on.

“Before this, I was living with my ex in Knightsbridge in a much bigger space,” Joanne says. “I was looking for something that was comparable for my price. I was shown this apartment in Earls Court and it had the same high ceilings. I fell in love with it and put an offer in that day.”

Since the first viewing, the 1,000sq ft flat has had a complete overhaul. Originally a one-bedroom property with a convoluted layout — you had to walk through the kitchen to get to the bedroom — Joanne wanted to add storage space and a mezzanine to make the most of the generous ceiling height. “I wanted high ceilings, big windows, lots of light. That was my requirement,” she says.

To this end, she employed Erfan Azadi of Notting Hill-based architecture and design studio Duck & Shed to exploit the 12.5ft ceilings and create a home that wasn’t only a development but a place for Joanne to live.

The ceiling wasn’t quite tall enough to add two spaces on top of each other so the architectural challenge was to create a mezzanine that you could stand up in. Erfan had to think creatively to resolve the brief. “The steelwork is quite complicated,” he explains. “We had to arrange the spaces so that they stacked on top of each other without needing to hunch down. It wasn’t just building a simple platform, but cranking the steels so that they were at the right height for the function above or below.”

Clever design: the sleek, mirrored kitchen is tucked under the mezzanine for easy concealing
Erfan Azadi

This arrangement allowed Erfan to get two full-height rooms on top of each other in the space — with lots of added drama. For the mezzanine, a vintage copper light window from Retrouvius looks down over the glamorous living area below. Mirrored gold furniture, silver accents and vintage Serge Mouille lighting all set the style for the scheme.

The use of mirrors plays a part in adding theatre, space and light. A short corridor is mirrored at both ends to make it appear longer. In the kitchen, the mirrored splashback feels like a window to another room. At the entrance, mirrored units provide storage for all Joanne’s cutlery and glassware.

New space: the second bedroom overlooks the luxe living and dining room
Charles Hosea

Giving the perception of a more glamorous space, the beauty of the living room is being able to close off the kitchen when it’s not in use. Foldaway kitchens are nothing new. What’s unique about this one is that it’s a garage-style lift-up door. “A bit of engineering went into that,” explains Erfan of the steel-reinforced, veneered MDF door. “It’s counter-weighted so that when you push the door up, it glides really easily.”

Extra bedroom: building a mezzanine has added 16sq m to the property, it's now worth £1.6m (Erfan Azadi )
Erfan Azadi

Thanks to clever use of space and storage, Joanne gained an additional 16sq m, an extra bedroom and an improved layout. “At the end of the day, floor space is what you are going to sell — or how your property is valued,” Erfan says. “In a rudimentary form, a real estate agent will walk in and do a calculation based on floor size.”

Erfan's top tips for maximising floor space


Go tall: if you have high ceilings you can often gain space through a mezzanine or high-level storage

Go low: coal vaults can be a good  source of additional internal space if  you live in a lower-ground-floor flat, or you might be able to add a subterranean room in your back garden (planning permission permitting)

Go minimal: declutter and live with less furniture

Go wireless: TVs on walls, wireless satellite boxes and built-in ceiling speakers look tidier and make a room feel more spacious

Here they have managed to increase the floor space while using quality materials that give the space its luxurious edge. “The materials are the things that you touch and therefore help to create an emotional bond in a home,” says Erfan. “You don’t fall in love with the electrical feeds in the walls. These are important but they don’t pull the heart strings.”

It goes to show that through good design and increased square metreage, a flat can turn from something standard into something quite amazing. In fact, like Joanne, you may choose not to leave.

Timeline and cost

2014: Bought 89sq m one-bedroom flat [Joanne doesn’t want to disclose how much it cost]

Works done by Erfan Azadi, excluding fees: £170,000

Value of 115sq m, two-bedroom flat: £1.6 million

Get the look

Architecture and interior design: Erfan Azadi at Duck and Shed

Contractor: Geiser R Cardoso and Fabricio S Rosa at Creative Room

Stone work: by Mike Davis at Oxford Granites

Joinery: Nick Willis Woodworking

Flooring: fumed oak herringbone flooring in living room and hallway from Solid Floor

Copper light window: from Retrouvius

Bespoke velvet sofa: by Amir Khamneipur in New York

Wall lights: from Serge Mouille

Chandelier: from Jason Miller Studio