Fashion designer Bella Freud is a master in mid-century modern style. That we know from her ready-to-wear collections, with their instantly recognisable seventies-inspired slogans, but behind the doors of her west London home, the same is true. A collaboration with interior designer Maria Speake of Retrouvius, also behind the look of Bella’s Chiltern Street store, her apartment is a feast of colour, pattern and texture that captures Bella’s inherently artistic spirit, in-part inherited from her father, the late painter Lucian Freud. “The key for me is to have a beautiful interior that is not anonymous,” says Bella of her characterful home. “I try not to have a formula so I can be open to new ideas. I like to examine why I’m resistant or drawn to something, then see if I can go beyond that. I do have lots of things I hate and love but I don’t always know what they are at first.”

Two predominant colour schemes run throughout the apartment, dominated by shades of green and orange respectively. The former is represented in the hallway, with its metallic green wallpaper and fig trees, and the sitting room with its grass-green feature wall and carpet. “I have a major crush on carpet,” says Bella, “I love the velvety fineness of it, the way it absorbs and quietens the light and sound. I feel happy whenever I walk into my sitting room and see the big strip of green.” The kitchen, with its ornate parquetry, has a green and pink floral wallpaper for a feature wall while the downstairs loo and panelled laundry room are painted a dark forest green. Accents of brass add warmth to the spaces, from wall sconces and taps to the trims of furniture and doors.

Bella’s bedroom and bathroom encapsulate the orange scheme, with the walls and carpet a burnt orange, offset by geometrically-arranged marble tiles in the bathroom, and the pink and red bed linen. The colours combine in the library, where a bold orange-red carpet is mellowed by pastel mint-green walls. “I want both excitement and calm in my interiors,” says Bella. “The way I put colours together is similar in my fashion and interiors. I am always looking for ways that a colour will give extra life to another colour, it is exciting when that happens.”

Large Crittall windows separate the rooms, creating a seamless fluidity and sense of space. “My home is so beautiful, I love being in it. My favourite activity is having breakfast – that moment of bliss while eating toast with marmalade and drinking black coffee,” says Bella. “The rooms are divided by big internal windows so I feel like I’m connected to it all while I sit in my kitchen, waiting for the adrenaline to kick in.” Contemporary artwork is arranged throughout, including numerous recognisable pieces by Bella’s father Lucian Freud. “Art, whether it is a poster from a magazine or a Picasso, should look natural rather than a showpiece that everything is arranged around,” says Bella.