A Penthouse Apartment Renovation Inspired by Ceiling Beams

There are few designers whose work appears in Livingetc quite as often as Maddux Creative. Helmed by Scott Maddux and Jo leGleud, their projects are like treasure chests, filled with delights: jewel tones, antiques, bespoke fabrics, and character aplenty.

The ohouses they work on tend to be period properties, those high ceilings and ornate detailing lending themselves to the Maddux approach and all the riches they like to layer in. This makes their take on this modern home, a modern penthouse apartment in Clerkenwell, all the more intriguing — the way they have still managed to fold in their trademark personality despite the flat itself having, well, not very much of its own.

“It’s sat on top of a brand new development, with floor-to-ceiling windows,” Scott Maddux says. “A timber frame construction with a timber frame grid on its ceiling.”

A modern, eclectic style living room with exposed beamed ceilings. white walls, and large book cases on the two far walls. The seating area is comprised of one large curved sofa, two red armchairs and a multi-level coffee table. — “The Eva chair is one of our favourite designs,” Jo says of the two red armchairs opposite the sofa. “They’re a lot more comfortable than they look.”

“There is a grid running above you across the ceiling, making the apartment even more square than it already is,” says Scott. “We decided to celebrate that rather than work against it.”

Ah yes, the ceiling. Its modern rigidity sets the tone for a highly contemporary space. “But I actually really loved it,” Scott says. “It gave the apartment a kind of shell, so at least it had something to counteract all the glass windows, a little bit of pattern to balance out the poured resin floors.”

In fact, that ceiling decorating pattern became the through line for Maddux’s work in the apartment: the inspiration for the lined formation of tiles in the bathroom and the vast square panels of dyed cork on the wardrobe doors in the second bedroom.

“Once you soften them with a rug and some fabric, they’re pretty easy to work with,” Jo says.

A green and cream marble clad bathroom, with a tall, free-standing bath tub on the left wall, with a tall bath tap in front, and a small wooden stool to the left.

“We wanted this to feel like a spa hotel in Asia,” Scott says. “Quite Zen, a place to relax, to read a book. The big skylights make it almost feel like you’re in an outdoor shower.”

(Image credit: Michael Sinclair. Design: Maddux Creative)

Fabric is Jo’s specialty. Having trained in the arts of embroidery, we’re used to that translating into the pair’s projects being highly decorative. Here, though, the sheer curtains have only a subtle pattern; the rugs are graphic, but contained to certain areas only.

“The flat was already quite busy with all the books and the art, so it didn’t need it,” says Jo. “We wanted to focus more on material than embellishment, on the shape of things rather than their pattern.”

“Floor-to-ceiling windows can make you feel like you’re living in an aquarium. So we made a sheer curtain to add a little bit of pattern and texture; a bit of variation in transparency,” adds Scott.

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A modern study with a glass desk facing with window, with a matching patterned partition and curtains. There is a floor to ceiling book shelf on the far wall and a rug in the left hand corner. — “The screen is covered using leftover material from the curtains,” says Jo. “The owner complained of glare from the big windows, so we wanted to do something that felt quite soft.”(Image credit: Michael Sinclair. Design: Maddux Creative)

The result is a general softening — proof that sleek surfaces and hard corners can be relaxed when the pieces around them have the right sense of warmth and conviviality.

Even the modern kitchen, a contemporary slab with a glossy black counter, manages to be pleasingly dulled thanks to the collection of art that now hangs above it. “If we had full reign I might have painted the cabinets red, but that wasn’t going to happen,” Scott says. “Instead, just changing up how the owners had displayed their art made a huge difference.”

And that is where the secret of Maddux Creative’s work lies, their understanding that it’s the grouping of items that holds a room together — a skill at curation that turns all their designs into works of art.

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