Brockley Loft: Story-Driven Loft Design, South East London | Chizitera Interiors

When we moved into our 1930s home in Brockley, the top floor was nothing more than an empty attic. With two young children, a constant flow of visiting family and a house that is almost always full, what we wanted was the opposite of all that: a sanctuary. A calm, spa-like retreat at the very top of the house, and one that told our story rather than anyone else's.

We built the space from the ground up, designing and managing the entire project alongside our architect and build team. From the joinery to the electrical plans, every element was drawn by us. The result is a light, airy loft that holds two influences in balance (my Nigerian heritage and my husband's years in Barcelona), both grounded in the Art Deco language of the 1930s house itself. It's shaped, too, by the approach that runs through all my work: a bold, intentional use of colour and pattern, disciplined by clean lines and restraint, so richness never tips into clutter. Everything here starts from a story and works outward; nothing sits in this room that we didn't choose for what it means to us.

The palette begins with a warm neutral, Joa's White by Farrow & Ball, chosen for its soft red undertone so the space feels airy and tropical while sitting comfortably with the deep reds and greens that run throughout. Those reds are, for me, the colours of Nigeria. A jute carpet brings tropical texture and a cosiness that earns its place through a British winter. The wardrobes are louvred: a nod to the homes of my Nigerian childhood, and a way of adding depth so you sense something beyond a flat wall. Open them and you meet a glossy, jewel-like Bronze Red by Little Greene, a finish that belongs equally to Nigeria and to the Art Deco period. Walnut shelving and slatted detailing, pleated lighting, chamfered bespoke bedside tables designed to fit the room exactly, and a custom headboard in a Lewis & Wood fabric drawn from a Nigerian print layer the story further. Velvet, linen, jute, gloss and matte are set against one another deliberately; it's the mix of textures that gives a room its depth.

Nothing here is accidental. The lighting is layered and considered: bedroom lights controlled from the door or the bedside, and a soft glow set above the bath like candlelight. The joinery is built seamlessly into the architecture and wrapped around the chimney breast, with shallow runs for jewellery and documents, deeper sections for hanging clothes, every possession accounted for. Tucked among it is a built-in coffee station, because a slow morning coffee is one of our daily rituals, and I believe a home should make room for the things you actually do. Planned from the very start, it hides within the joinery as a small, indulgent surprise.

The open-plan bathroom carries my husband's Mediterranean years. A terracotta floor, laid in herringbone for a more elevated feel, blurs the line between bathroom and bedroom so the whole loft reads as one continuous space. Zellige tiles line the shower (Moorish in origin, a thread back to the Moorish history in Spain), set above Spanish-designed floor tiles. In the WC, the two stories meet at full volume: palm-print wallpaper, an Art Deco emblem of the exotic and a piece of Nigeria too; a bold jewel-red; and a glint of gold. Glamorous, layered, and unmistakably ours.

Every decision, right down to where the budget went, was made to earn its keep: the boldest spend landed where it would be felt most, on the shower tiles and the wallpaper. It's the signature in miniature: colour and pattern used with confidence, always held by clean lines and restraint. A calm, flowing, deeply personal sanctuary at the top of a busy family home, and exactly where it needs to be.

This loft has been featured in Livingetc.