Sally Wilkinson applies her decorative magic to a rented flat in Pimlico

‘When we moved into our last flat there was a real sense of urgency,’ says interior designer Sally Wilkinson. ‘It was mid-Covid and we were moving from the States with no furniture and six suitcases filled with clothes.’ Though it was decorated in a hurry, the flat garnered a passionate response from House & Garden's readers, many of whom were shocked that the beautiful, personal space was a rental–let alone finished in a rush. Despite the positive response, when the moment came to move into a new place, Sally wanted to approach things a little differently. ‘This time,’ says Sally, ‘I made every decision very slowly. I was much more intentional.’

The hunt for a new flat began as a result of Sally's expanding family. ‘I was very pregnant and there was no room for a baby in the Chelsea flat, so our decision to move out came down to needing something with a little more square footage.’ As she was going to be renting again, Sally knew she'd be facing certain decorative restrictions, so the new space would need very good bones. ‘Particularly with the timing of our move being right before our first child, we needed a blank canvas to work straight onto.’ After a short search, they hit the rental jackpot in a Regency building in Pimlico on the same square Robert Kime once called home. ‘For a garden flat it has uniquely high ceilings and the skylight towards the back of the residence means it is flooded with light.’ Even better, it had good flooring and walls painted in Farrow & Ball colours. ‘It was such a luxury not to have to worry about painting,’ Sally says.

The woven chik blinds offer the room a sense of stylish privacy. The floor lamp is French, covered in leather, with a paper shade. The throw on the back of the chair is from Toast. It sings against the chair, upholstered in a linen from The Cloth Shop and a seat cushion in a 36 Bourne Street ticking.

Christopher Horwood

The only issue was that the flat was technically a one bed, and Sally would need to be flexible about the space if she was going to make it work. In the end, she chose to convert the second sitting room into a bedroom. ‘It is quite quirky to have a bedroom right in the middle of the flat,’ Sally admits. ‘But the bones and structure made it worth it for us to use the space in a slightly out of the box way. It works surprisingly well for us.’

Working within the confines of the rental agreement, Sally leant on furnishings, fabric and art to direct the style and tell a story. ‘It was by no means a fresh start when it came to furniture,’ explains Sally, who brought almost everything over from Chelsea to Pimlico, ‘but I did have to be strategic about what I paired things with because the bigger flat made all of our old furnishings look like they were from a doll's house.’ The size of the rooms and height of the ceilings was so vastly different to her old flat, and in Chelsea she was constricted by the stairwell and door widths which meant only choosing furniture that she could squeeze in. ‘We have not had that problem in this flat,’ she laughs.