Words Billie Brand
Photography Genevieve Lutkin

As Tatjana von Stein so rightly says, the apartment she shares with her wife Gayle Noonan feels like a 1970s cocktail bar. Situated on the top floor of a converted townhouse in Hampstead, with soaring views of the Heath and London beyond, the space has a warm filmic glow, plush finishes and a pleasingly opulent aesthetic. But you wouldn’t expect anything less from the founders of Sella, the interiors, furniture and branding studio known for its tactile and soulful approach to design.

The apartment, which was once, as Gayle says, an unloved white box, was transformed by the couple. Tatjana specifically drew on her background in designing hospitality spaces, and set about creating a space fit for entertaining. Each pocket of their living space, for example, has its own function – you can head to the bar for a tipple, or to the lounge area for a conversation by the floating fireplace. Unlike their previous projects, however, their apartment is designed around objects rather than architecture – and their cherished belongings, which include pieces they have made, inherited and collected, is what brings the space to life. Here, we sit down with Tatjana and Gayle and discuss their approach to interiors, their favourite things about their home and why Hampstead Heath has their heart.

Tatjana: “We both love the idea of being close to nature and in the city at the same time. Here we’re uphill and in the trees, but get the view of the whole of London. That’s what first attracted me to the space – you feel like you’re in an urban treehouse. I just love the wall-to-wall windows, it means we’re surrounded by birds and leaves all the time. I don’t care how many steps there are, I just want to be at the top. This view and sense of space is quite rare in London.”

Gayle: “When you come up here, it feels like you’re surfacing from underwater! When we first moved in it was a really shabby white box. It was tired, old and unloved. There was a bookcase in the wall in the living area and relics you just could not live with every day.”

Tatjana: “It’s amazing to see how someone uses the same space in a very different way. We have definitely added a layer of indulgence throughout. We clad the stairs in yellow velvet, there’s the gold bedroom, and we created the bespoke Sella colour on the wall in the living area in collaboration with Mylands. The space feels like a 1970s cocktail bar – which we love. I just love the 1970s vibes.”

Gayle: “Tatjana is the interior genius really. We get so excited about the idea of transforming a space. As a married couple that lives and works together, we already knew there were certain things we’d want to do in certain rooms. But there’s a balance: I knew Tats was going to get her crazy gold room, but I also knew that we were going to create a womb-like, cosy, pared-back bedroom that would be really zen.

“It’s the same in the living space. I knew the kind of flare Tats would bring to the room. It really does feel like a little bar up here sometimes and that’s magic. It’s spot on us and a reflection of Sella, too.”

Tatjana: “I love to design a room with lots of different moments and that thinking comes from doing hospitality spaces. I love it when you can just roll around. Here, there’s the bar you can have a little drink at, there’s the lounge area, somewhere you can have a dance. It’s really fun at night too – it helps when you’ve got the red light of the London sunset at 5pm coming through the big window.”

Gayle: “There’s a flow of movement in the space. The first time we had a dinner party, Tatjana’s grand plan really worked: we had people kneeling by the sofas, dancing by the vinyl, out on the terrace having a cigarette.”

Tatjana: “This project was interesting for me as a lot of what we do is interiors and architecture driven whereas this is very furniture heavy – the bones of the building were already here.”

Gayle: “Space is so sacred and if something isn’t working, you need to respond to it. We’re very good at looking around and seeing if there are any parts of the jigsaw that don’t quite fit. I have made my peace with the fact that things are transient, and you don’t need to own and conquer everything.”

Tatjana: “We really fall in love with things. All the pieces in the living room I love. I love the dining chairs, they’re beautiful and go really well with the table I designed. When you design a table, it’s hard to find chairs that don’t overpower it. These are Italian and I love the delicacy of them.”

“But my two favourite pieces are the coffee table and secretaire. The coffee table is everything I love – the stainless steel with the black glass, and it opens to show this bar component. It matches our floating spaceship fire too! The secretaire was my grandmother’s. It’s an antique and it gives off a warmth for sure, but the design is delicate and intricate.”

Gayle: “Yes, for me, it has to be the secretaire. It has such a powerful impact on the space. It feels emotional and I love it even more because it came from your grandmother. The wood is beautiful, and it sparks joy every day.

“I also love the dining room table because Tatjana made it. We live with it every single day and use it for lots of different things: for working, eating, doing arts and crafts with my cousin’s kids. Living with things we’ve made intensifies the connection we have with them, because there is an emotional attachment.”

Tatjana: “It’s really lovely to live with my work but it has to be mixed with the work of other people. We have art by our friends here and the painting above the sofa is by Gayle. There’s a nice mix of things we have made and found. This flat will be a continuation – pieces will come and go.”

Gayle: “There are two different ways I love to enjoy the space. It’s either when it’s super relaxed, there’s music on, we’re reading and being still. Or it’s the total opposite, when we’re having a dinner party with loads of friends, and everyone is running around in different rooms.”

Tatjana: “I totally agree with Gayle. It’s the Sella colour! It makes the space very versatile.”

“You really feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere here – when you’re lying down on the sofa, you can just see the sky. There is something so gorgeous about the background sounds too – in the summer, you hear the people out for lunch in the gardens behind us. There is this lovely village thing going on. Hampstead is amazing, it has got such a community of old sculptors, actors and writers.

Gayle: “There are neighbourhood restaurants here that have been going for years. Lots of the older people have an alfresco glass of wine in the middle of the afternoon and it’s because there’s a huge community that has lived here for so long. It’s nice to tap that, because we have moved a lot.

“We feel really connected to Hampstead Heath. The day after we got married in London, we wanted an us moment, so we came to Hampstead Heath and went swimming in the ponds. Tats then did a beautiful collection of stools inspired by the ponds.”

Tatjana: “The collection is called ‘Ladies Pond’ – the stools are shaped like the water and the colour is inspired by the algae. I’m half French, half German, but my mother grew up in Hampstead, so there is an affinity with the area. All the signs were pointing us here.”

Like what you see? For more of Tatjana and Gayle’s home, be sure to discover Tatjana’s House Style here.