Take a tour around an impressive riverside apartment in London

The ideal Thameside apartment should have unobstructed views, an excellent concierge service and a decent-sized terrace. The owner, when searching for a new home, found all of this in London's Battersea. The situation is made better by the fact the building, designed by architect Richard Rogers, is not densely packed with apartments, meaning the rooms offer plenty of space to breathe and allow for a free hand when decorating, which was done by interior designers Jane Churchill.

I have often joked that many of the London homes I viewed fell within my price range, in the areas I prefer, were like ladders with rooms coming off at each rung. I felt as if I would be missing out on a lot of house, while with an apartment on one floor, you really do feel as if you're using all of the space, all of the time. This place offers the whole package - the concierge staff are wonderful - so that for me, it's like having a taste of America in London.

Entrance hall

The mirrored wall adds a note of glamour and enhances this light-filled space, while an earthy-hued artwork helps to anchor the scheme and provides a warmer detail.

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Living area

The designer was asked to make the apartment feel like the most comfortable hotel suite. While the owner had no requests for a particular colour palette or furnishings, she did give great consideration to the fact that he is six foot eight inches tall and made adjustments to furnishings to suit this: the breakfast bar is set six inches higher than standard, and the bespoke sofas have been made deeper to accommodate longer legs. Here a simple palette of pale greys and soft blues, inspired by the changing colours of the river, blends the seating area with the rest of the room.

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Buy now: Interior design, Jane Churchill Interiors

Dining area

An oversized table, which overlooks the River Thames, is able to accommodate large parties, guests and family members.  'I thought that these tall candlesticks were masculine enough for the apartment', says the designer.

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Kitchen

The designer lined the vertical edge of the newly opened up wall with mirror glass to help blur the boundary between the kitchen and dining area. 'It also emphasises the lovely effect made by the uplights in the floor in the evenings.'

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Dressing room

The elegant, tailored look of the bedroom is continued in this space, with built-in cupboards on all three walls, the door panels of which are lined with striped fabric.

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Guest bedroom

In this comfortable and inviting scheme, ornamentation has been kept to a minimum so guests feel that it is their space during their stay. Plenty of storage options have been carefully and rather cleverly incorporated into the bedroom and beyond. 'I regard myself as allergic to bric-a-brac; I make an effort to keep clutter down to the degree where anyone could come to stay and not feel as if they were intruding on my private life.' The owner's wish was to have a wonderful suite of rooms worthy of a smart London hotel.

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Bathroom

The combination of strikingly veined marble, wood-effect parquet pattern floor tiles and a vanity unit made to suit the owner's height fulfil the brief for hotel-style luxury. The original layout included three bedrooms and three bathrooms, but the designer decided to join two of the bathrooms together to make a room large enough to fit the expansive bath and shower. 'We also made one of the three bedrooms into a dressing room. This was a point of debate for the owner as he was reluctant to lose the third bedroom, but I convinced him that to be really comfortable, he had to have a dressing room.'

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Buy now: Tiles, Cavendish parquet porcelain tiles, Capital Designer Studio

Main bedroom

The set of photographs above the bed record the construction of the Eiffel Tower over a period of two years, two months and five days. There was a debate about which carpet to have in this room, with the designer persuaded the owner to opt for a gentle stripe for added interest, despite his preference for plain.

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Buy now: Headboard fabric, Check Stripe in Navy, George Spencer
Buy now: Wallpaper, Les Mineraux Opale wallpaper, Arte

'A key part of London's personality is the River Thames and, although I'd lived in the city for 20 years, I'd never lived within sight of it. The building sits rather majestically at an angle to the water and the apartment and the terrace have a sweeping view down a busy stretch towards Fulham and Chelsea. In summer, while the rest of London swelters, the terrace catches the river's cooling breezes, so it gets a lot of use all year round.'