I came across this fab flat over on The Guardian UK, and the perfectly shabby antiques, vintage accessories, and rich colors throughout the home make me swoon! While I typically gravitate towards Scandinavian style and a mostly white palette, Jo flawlessly plays with light and dark, faded neutrals and bold brights, and vintage and modern. Plus, you gotta give her mad props for pulling off a leopard ottoman...a fall fashion" must-have" that looks right at home in her home. This is one stylish flat with a flair for the dramatic and bohemian....and I really dig it. Read on for the article and more photos....

The owner of this Victorian terrace house in Kensal Rise, north London, is a set designer and so has an eye for the theatrical. Jo Kornstein has painted her living room walls Black Blue from Farrow & Ball – and that includes the ceiling – giving the room intense drama. "It gets a lot of light, so it could take a dark colour," Kornstein says. "In winter it's cosy and in summer it's surprisingly cool." She kept the 60s ceiling cornice white and injected mustard, cerise and aubergine shades into the room with velvet and satin fabrics. The curtains are from antique fabric and pool elegantly on the floor for extra opulence. The black velvet sofa is from Sofa Workshop. "Not everything is vintage," Kornstein says. "New sofas are much more comfortable than antique ones. When I buy new furniture, I try to look for traditional shapes." The pair of pale, buttoned cushions are from Laura Ashley; for other accessories, she has scoured markets and antique shops, looking out for Victorian artefacts such as china figurines, bell jars, taxidermy and oil paintings.
The kitchen is the darkest room in the house and faces north,' Kornstein says, 'so we tried to make it cosier by using lots of wood – it’s warm and inviting.' The kitchen is stripped back to its bones: exposed brick, salvaged wood walls, and naked beams and pipework on the ceiling. The floorboards are varnished. "The kitchen is the darkest room in the house and faces north," Kornstein says, "so we tried to make it cosier by using lots of wood – it's warm and inviting." Racing-green factory lights (try trainspotters.co.uk), reclaimed laboratory worktops (try lassco.co.uk) and utilitarian, metro-style white tiles right up to the ceiling add a more functional look (brick tiles are widely available from DIY stores). The units are one-off, freestanding: "We wanted to get away from a fitted kitchen look," Kornstein says.