Birch Lodge, Copse Hill, Wimbledon SW20

Affecting the atmosphere of any space, texture comes in all sorts of guises. Think how rough stone walls and bare wood give a homely unpretentious air, or sleek steel feels swish and contemporary. And while a lick of paint works wonders when transforming a room, visual and tactile accents should be strategically considered – as they have been so beautifully in this large, lateral apartment in Birch Lodge, on Wimbledon’s Copse Hill, which has recently come 

Like the sound of it? Join us on a walk-through. Let’s start in the open-plan living area, where smart hardwood parquet – smooth and glossy – finds a counterpoint in reclaimed timber doors dating from c1800, their peeling paint a palimpsest of the past, and a sculptural display of a gnarled branch. Mats of woven rush, cleverly echo the floor’s chevrons with their own triangular motifs, while the kitchen beyond, with its matt-charcoal cabinets, balances the warmth of the wood.

Next up, the bedrooms. While the blue room gets a nod, with its gorgeous grass mirrors and lovely linen headboard, it’s the master suite that steals the limelight. Here, wallpaper with a receding roofscape makes the case for pattern’s textural capabilities, while black-and-white textiles in wool and velvet long to be touched, the monochrome making a marvellous statement against the zingy orange wall.

Both en-suite bathrooms in this spacious home deserve a mention – the blue room’s for its mix-and-match approach to surfaces (we love both the combo of rough herringbone on the wall, smooth concrete and warm terracotta), and the master bedroom’s. Here, a blaze of brass makes an ingenious splashback behind the tub, not only bouncing golden light around the room but lending the space a particularly glamorous air. Plus, it only stands to get better with age, as the gleaming metal develops its own depth and patina.

Style over substance? We think not. In fact, as Birch Lodge shows, there’s no style without substance.

A Polite Request

Inspiration of the Week: the textural perfection of a Victorian villa apartment in Wimbledon

Of course colour is important, but how else can you bring depth and dynamism to an interior? This first-floor flat offers a lesson in material terms