This is the latest instalment of The Inside Story, Wallpaper’s series spotlighting intriguing, innovative and industry-leading interior design.
If proof were ever needed that good things come in small packages, this one-bedroom apartment at The HiLight in Battersea in southwest London is it. Conceived by Los Angeles-based interior design studio House of Honey, the fully furnished show apartment is on the market for £575,000, and there are nine additional one-beds within the development.
Named The Evelyn, the apartment is the vision of House of Honey founder Tamara Honey, who has created a layered, sensorial environment inspired by the life of Evelyn Dove – cabaret singer, BBC trailblazer and international stage icon. Rather than recreating her era through period styling, Honey approached the interior as an emotional portrait, inviting residents to inhabit Dove's spirit.
From the moment you step inside, the apartment declares itself, in Honey’s words, ‘a space for fantasy’. A hand-painted mural in the corridor by artist Maria Cristina, which celebrates women linked to Battersea’s history, sets the tone for the journey ahead.
The bedroom feels like the smoky backstage of a cabaret, with ombré tones and cashmere drapery casting a golden glow and sculptural, gauzy lighting dancing above walnut nightstands.
If the bedroom is the inner sanctum, then the living room is the stage. Anchored by House of Honey’s Morris Sofa, a watercolour-toned, tasselled creation in collaboration with Lulu LaFortune and Megan Jorgensen, the space is crowned by a Parisian-style, antique-feeling chandelier from Cox London. Carved sculptures, faceted stone lamps, mirrored surfaces and standout pieces from Elitis, Nilufar Gallery and Pinch complete the scene. The space feels both aspirational and deeply inhabited – which is difficult to do – as though Dove might actually walk through the door at any second.
The Evelyn is a performance – one rendered in silk, stone and candlelight. In a city saturated with new-build interiors that prioritise the safe and the sellable, this apartment makes a compelling case for design with genuine soul.
