Inside Rita Konig's smart London house, created by combining two flats into one
When interior designer Rita Konig's west London flat was first featured in House & Garden's March 2016 issue, the kitchen and dining room that we are currently sitting in was her soothing blue bedroom. Now lined with Antoinette Poisson's pretty 'Petite Indienne' wallpaper, it has become the ideal space for feasting and entertaining, with a 10-seat dining table and a Plain English kitchen in the space that was once an adjoining dressing room. There is, however, one tell-tale sign of its previous life: the heavy wool C&C Milano striped curtains. 'They cost so much that I paid for them in instalments over the course of six months,' admits Rita, with a laugh. ‘So when it came to turning this into the kitchen and dining room, I designed the space around them.’
This is typical of Rita's approach to decorating: she is inventive, refreshingly pragmatic, meticulous in her planning, and understands what it means to live life well. No wonder, then, that the designer, named as this year's House & Garden Interior Designer of the Year, is in huge demand, both here and in the US. As her own flat demonstrates, she is also gutsy - she may have gone to great lengths to keep the curtains, but she has changed just about everything else over the past couple of years, transforming what was a generous ground-floor flat into a two-storey space for her and her 10-year-old daughter Margot. 'I just got to the point where I needed it to grow into the next phase,' explains Rita, who has lived here since 2012. 'I'd turned 50, I was a proper grown-up with proper clients and I wanted to be able to bring them to the flat and show them what I was talking about,' she adds. ‘I wanted it to represent where my business is now.’
She had already extended the flat twice – into the garden when she first bought it and again in 2014, by acquiring the studio flat that had occupied the rest of the ground floor. But the chic dining area that graced the cover of this magazine in March 2016 had become a pressure point. 'I couldn't bear inviting people to dinner, because we'd all be squashed up against the window,' recalls Rita. The catalyst came in 2020, when she separated from her husband and agreed to buy from him the one-and-a-half-bedroom flat above, which he had been renting out. 'I didn't want the emotional turmoil of moving, and this flat just ticks so many boxes, with windows on all sides and high ceilings. Not moving also gave me time to polish my ideas,' she says.
First, it was a case of remodelling the space. A lattice-style staircase – in a pattern Rita loved and copied for the radiator cover in the hall – was designed by architects Johnston Cave Associates (JCA) to connect the floors and was slotted into the space between the sitting room (one of the few rooms not to move) and the new kitchen and dining room. She countered the fact that the staircase had no natural light by commissioning specialist painter Tanya Thompson to enliven the walls with a shimmering stipple effect in soft blue.
Upstairs, Rita created two bedrooms and two bathrooms: a lovely large south-facing room with an en-suite bathroom for herself; and a perfectly formed bedroom for Margot with a shower room. Downstairs, the space that was once the kitchen became an indulgent hall-cum-drinks area. It now acts as the main entrance and is reached through the enchanting garden, which was magicked up by garden designer Butter Wakefield. 'This space is such an unexpected gain,' adds Rita, who has papered it in a joyful Japanese-inspired wallpaper by Mia Ray. What she found particularly satisfying about renovating, she says, were the 'small wins'. Her study, created by extending sideways into the bin area, was one of these. 'It's only 7 by 10 feet, but it's a delight to suddenly have a little room where I can hide away and work from home.'
When it came to choosing colours and fabrics, Rita admits that it took her a while to get going, but once she did, it was all go. In the sitting room, cigar-coloured linen walls showcase an armchair upholstered in a charming chintz by Rose Cumming and a deep sofa covered in a zebra print. 'I love how the sofa feels quite like 1970s New York and stops the room from looking too serious,' she says. Fabric walls feature throughout and are one of the many 'grown-up fantasies' that Rita indulged. "Terry', a paisley design in linen from her recently launched Schumacher collection, gives her study a wonderful jewel-box feel, while her 'Serena Garland' linen, also part of the Schumacher range, is an elegant backdrop for her sophisticated bedroom. Another wishlist dream made manifest is her tall four-poster bed, draped with crisp curtains and trimmed in a gold linen. 'It's me, inspired by Veere Grenney, inspired by David Hicks,' she observes.
Despite the specialist finishes and fabrics, this is a house built on practicality. Masses of storage has been cleverly carved out wherever possible - hidden behind beautiful batik-patterned curtains in the hallway leading to the study, or on full show in the floor-to-ceiling cupboards that fill one wall of the kitchen and dining room. 'I think good storage can make you feel just as happy and settled as having an extra room,' observes Rita. In fact, the space she is most excited by is the tiny linen cupboard - stacked with neatly pressed piles of her favourite D Porthault sheets - that she has created in the basement laundry room by removing a shower. 'It's a game-changer,' she says.
What always strikes me about Rita's interior design projects is the level of detail. Here, it includes the way she has up-sized the internal doors to create a feeling of generosity and her addition of a dado rail and panelling to the sitting room walls, all of which she has had specialist painted in faux bois. She goes to lengths that many would not even consider. For example, she moved the garden gate to improve the route to the house - a costly decision that ended up with the entire garden wall having to be rebuilt right at the end of the project. Ultimately, meticulous planning and attention to detail have transformed her quality of life. 'What it has done is make everything so much more comfortable,' she explains. 'It's brought me a sense of calm.' And now that it is all finished, she can appreciate that the flat was also great in its previous incarnation. 'I'd just grown out of it,' she says. 'You can't possibly want to live the same way forever'.
Rita Konig: ritakonig.com; @ritakonig
Michael Sinclair1/14Wall-mounted shelving accommodates a bar in the garden room.
2/14In the kitchen-dining room, a vintage film poster is flanked by lamps from Mytton Antiques on a 1930s French sideboard that was a gift from William Yeoward and Colin Orchard. The dining table is Rita's 'Oxford' design for Oficina Inglesa.
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Michael Sinclair4/14Units in 'Burnt Toast' from Rita's colour collection for Plain English with Calacatta Viola marble are offset by Antoinette Poison's 'Petite Indienne' wallpaper and curtains in C&C Milano's 'Miguel'. Stools in Farrow & Ball's ‘Folly Green’ pick up on the lights above.
Michael Sinclair5/14In the study, a small space which opens off the hall, a mid-century chair from Quindry, where Rita also sourced the desk, is covered in the original sample for her 'Serena Garland' fabric for Schumacher. The colourful chequered rug came from Morocco. Walls in Rita's red "Terry' linen for Schumacher are balanced by the simple tongue-and-groove ceiling and provide a bold backdrop for artwork including pieces by Hugo Guinness, Julian Barrow and Fiona McAlpine. A table lamp from Max Rollitt and wall lights with hand-painted shades by Rita complete the rich scheme.
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Michael Sinclair7/14Formerly the main bathroom, this tiny space off the hallway is now a powder room, its walls lined with Antoinette Poisson’s ‘Torrent - PP Rouleau'. Rita even had the ventilation fan papered – ‘I had a brilliant wallpaperer and you can barely spot it now,’ she explains. An antique Venetian mirror, which Rita bought from Camden Passage over 25 years ago for her first flat, sits above the sink, while she had an antique unit, which had been knocking around her office, sunk into a void in the wall. ‘It now sits completely flush and I quite like how it’s a sort of vitrine.’ A pretty lantern from Max Rollitt hangs above.
Michael Sinclair8/14Walls painted with a stipple effect by artist Tanya Thompson and a bespoke runner created with Vanderhurd brighten this windowless area. The staircase, painted in Little Greene's "Toad', was designed by Johnston Cave Associates.
Michael Sinclair9/14In the main bedroom, bed curtains in 'Lovelust Linen' in snowcap and gold for the trim, from S Harris, and a rug from Joshua Lumley tone with walls in Rita's 'Serena Garland' for Schumacher. A chest of drawers from Howe London beside the bed bears a blue lamp from Adam Bray. The 'Rattan Templeton' dressing table and stool are from Sane.
Michael Sinclair10/14In the adjoining bathroom, 'Olive' wallpaper from Rita's Schumacher range, panelling painted in Sanderson's 'Cameo White and a bath surround in Arabescato marble give a timeless, elegant look.
Michael Sinclair11/14At the back of the flat, Butter Wakefield has created a leafy haven, featuring an acer and evergreen topiary.
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Michael Sinclair14/14Rita Konig.