
Inside the mesmerising home of Sera Hersham-Loftus, interior designer to the stars
With its ravishing interiors, this Little Venice rental feels like an actual Venetian palazzo
Here’s a piece of not-so-specialist advice: if you can, buy or let from an interior designer. Unsurprisingly, their properties are usually amazing. If possible, that interior designer should have a long list of celebrity clients, having been trusted with the homes of Sadie Frost, Courtney Love and Yoko Ono, among others. Say, perhaps, Sera Hersham-Loftus.
Our Property of the Month, which is available to rent, belongs to the aforementioned decorator to the stars, who has also curated the homes of Eliza Doolittle, Twiggy and Patsy Kensit. She recently helped design singer Charlotte Church’s retreat in Laura Ashley’s former family home in Wales, as well as the Chelsea apartment of artist Charlotte Watts, granddaughter of the late Rolling Stone Charlie Watts. Tenants of Hersham-Loftus will live among her bespoke furnishings which, when displayed in a recent pop-up, Vogue described as ‘the most beautiful in London’.

The apartment is every bit as special as you might expect, and feels a bit like the home of a bohemian aristocrat. For £2,000 per week, you can live in this fully-furnished dream house, which is located on Randolph Avenue, a sought-after neighbourhood in Maida Vale devised by architect George Gutch in the 1820s.
At 1,442 square feet, the two-bedroom apartment is specious, occupying the entire first floor of a white stucco-fronted terraced house. It boasts cavernous ceiling heights, original floorboards, and two huge reception spaces with private balconies. As impressive as this 1850s gem is, it’s what Hersham-Loftus has done to it that sets it apart.

The light-flooded property combines period furniture, vintage fabrics and layered lighting to create an ambience of old-world elegance. The centrepiece is the two interconnected salon-style living spaces, which feature floor-to-ceiling windows that open onto balconies, as well as all-important period details such as cornicing and ceiling roses, wooden wall panelling, and antique gilded sconces. The romantic space is featured in Hersham-Loftus’s coffee table book, Little Venice Rooms.



The apartment is populated with an eclectic mix of textiles and furnishings, including pieces from Hersham-Loftus’s design house, Sera of London, such as her ‘Foxy’ satin cushions, billowing ‘House Gowns’ (swathes of muslin and lace used on windows or as room dividers), and ‘Rude Lampshades’, which have distinctive corset-shaped metal frames.
The kitchen and dining area is equally dramatic, with black brick walls, a large fireplace and a black stove with gold detailing (just imagine the dinner parties here). Elsewhere, an Oriental-themed bathroom adorned with Chinoiserie-style wallpaper comes complete with a free-standing tub, and the principal bedroom suite boasts a walk-in dressing room fitted with upcycled French shutter doors.

In a luxury property market that so often seems to emulate different shades of the same thing (sleek, modern and polished; obsessed with restoring period features and pairing them with coffered lighting and herringbone flooring; intent on boucle and Crittall doors), this property is a welcome gear change. Clearly, it’s not for everyone – it’s not a crowd-pleaser. But if you’re between homes or need a London bolthole, and you have a romantic streak, this could be the perfect no-strings-attached proposition. Like we said, if you’re going to rent, it may as well be from one of the most tasteful women in London.
The Randolph Avenue apartment is available to let for £2,000 per week, visit beauchamp.com