A colourful Notting Hill apartment belonging to artist Daisy Sims-Hilditch

“I wanted to create a space that would be a hideaway from the busy world outside,” says the artist Daisy Sims-Hilditch of her Notting Hill flat she shares with her boyfriend Alessandro, “somewhere I can feel calm and let my imagination run away with me.” Standing in the spacious open plan main room, it is easy to see why this apartment appealed. Although one of west London's busiest thoroughfares is only a minute or two away, very little of that noise and bustle penetrates on this quiet street. What does pour in, however, is light , via a glorious double height window that allows the room to be bright and airy even on a dreary winter's day. For an artist, light is everything: the flat was Daisy's studio before it was her home, and the temptation to paint in front of that window is still irresistible from time to time.

The process of transforming it from studio to home took place in 2021, and involved stripping everything back to start from scratch. Daisy had a dream team of advisers in the shape of her parents, John Sims-Hilditch, who co-founded Neptune, and Emma Sims-Hilditch, who runs her own eponymous interior design company. Both helped her to redesign the layout, particularly in the main room, which incorporates the kitchen, previously a separate and annoyingly poky room. “Dad was very helpful in coming up with an amazing kitchen design that gave me a lot of space,” says Daisy. It is indeed the pièce de resistance of the flat, with cabinets in Neptune's ‘Suffolk’ design arranged in an L-shape and running into the dining space at the end. It was also John's idea to install a charming internal window between the kitchen and the hallway, which allows light to flow into the darker hallway from the kitchen window.

The really fun part of the renovation, however, was of course the decoration. “This was my first ever project,” says Daisy, “and it opened up a whole new world of fabric and colour for me. I'd never really paid that much attention to it before, I've been so obsessed with painting, but having the chance to choose everything myself was so exciting. I was spending time I was meant to be painting just going down rabbit holes of patterns and paint cards.” Daisy has plenty to inspire her in her own family, not only her mother's serene and elegant designs, but also the interiors of her grandmother, who creates “such bright and fun interiors. I always feel inspired when I'm at her house."

Colour is a key part of the flat's appeal, and something Daisy is used to experimenting with in her paintings, particularly her expressive landscapes. “I wanted everything to be colourful and uplifting in here, colour puts me in a really good mood,” she laughs. The combination of Edward Bulmer's ‘Verdigris’ on the kitchen joinery with Farrow & Ball's ‘Pink Ground’ on the walls is especially delightful. “I’ve always loved verdigris, I put it in the skies in my paintings a lot," remarks Daisy. "From there I thought that a pale pink would work well on the walls and I liked ‘Pink Ground’. Even so at that stage it lacked contrast so I painted the Neptune bookshelf in the sitting room in a dark blue (Neptune's ‘Ink’), and eventually bought the Italian dining chairs from Retrouvius. I love the black lacquer with burgundy leather seats, and they are so comfortable.” Various shades of green run through the space: the pale green pattern of Soane Britain's ‘Seaweed Lace’ wallpaper in the hallway, and a wealth of green patterns and colours in the bathroom, which create an enveloping atmosphere. The two small bedrooms at the back of the flat, meanwhile, employ striking floral fabrics for the curtains and upholstery, laid against gentle, almost neutral hues.