Inside Designer Isabel López | Huizhou Wooden Bridge Group Co.,Ltd

By Paola Singer

Photography by Miguel Flores-Vianna

Madrid's landmarked colonias date back to the 1920s and ’30s, when clusters of modest patio homes were built on what were then the outskirts of the city to provide affordable housing for working and middle-class families. In the decades that followed, as the urban boundaries billowed out, many of these leafy residential pockets remained untouched, becoming some of the most coveted addresses in the Spanish capital. Interior designer Isabel López-Quesada, a lifelong Madrileña, set her sights on a particularly charming colonia north of El Retiro park, Cruz del Rayo, when she was much too young to own real estate. "I had just started dating my husband and he took me to a party in Cruz del Rayo," remembers López-Quesada, who was only 19 at the time but was already a believer in the power of intention (a subject she talks about unreservedly, jokingly calling it brujeria, or witchcraft). "I said to him, ‘Álvaro, I’m going to live here someday.’ "

In the living room, a Saarinen-style table stands between a pair of 1960s Italian armchairs dressed in a Dedar bouclé.

It took a while, but the prophecy of Spain's reigning queen of design came true. Years later, when she and Alvaro de Llanza, her financier husband, became empty nesters, a relative called with the news that a town house was up for sale in Cruz del Rayo. "I ran over," she says. "It was much smaller than our previous home, which is exactly what we were looking for, and I loved that there was a patio and stairs."

While preserving the architecture of the century-old house, which has a tiled pitched roof and shuttered windows, López-Quesada embarked on a full-scale renovation that included the addition of an attic (the property came with permits to build another level). "It's a three-story home for two people," she says, referring to the unique layout of the 3,000-square-foot space, designed "to grow old in, and to fully enjoy our day-to-day life." The second floor, for example, consists solely of a primary bedroom flanked by two bathrooms and exceedingly generous, windowed dressing rooms. His is awash in dark wood and gray, hers wallpapered with exuberant florals from the Parisian house Zuber & Cie. "It's so we can last another 30 years," she says, tongue in cheek, about this duo of personal dens. "I can spend hours there, with my music, my scented candles, taking calls or doing yoga, whatever I want."

Bookshelves line a wall of the living room. Gustavian banquette with black horsehair cushion; inherited 17th-century ebony-and-tortoise mirror; vintage side table purchased in Paris.

To decorate the home, López-Quesada unleashed her celebrated flair for creating refined yet unconstrained interiors, homes in which a single room can easefully encompass the rusticity of the French countryside, the formality of an English clubhouse, and the whitewashed breeziness of a Balearic island. In her living room, she covered two walls with varnished parchment panels made in the ’60s by Aldo Tura, rare pieces that resemble tortoiseshell and provide a masculine sort of glamour. She then softened the space with a large jute rug, bespoke raffia shades, a curved sofa upholstered in a beige Dedar weave, and minimalist Italian armchairs with bentwood bases and off-white bouclé cushions. True to her style, López-Quesada also added a handful of antiques, including a 17th-century mirror with an ebony-and-bronze frame depicting religious scenes, hung in front of a floor-to-ceiling bookcase, and a Louis XVI escritoire with gilt pulls, placed next to the fireplace. In a bit of hyperbole, she describes the room as "pornographic," because sitting there, she is surrounded by her favorite things: books, textiles, fire logs, and views of her back patio, which she designed with as much care as the rest of the home, if not more.

The terrace off López-Quesada's bedroom suite and other outdoor spaces were designed by Fernando Caruncho. French rattan armchair; floor lanterns from Caruncho Gardens of Light; basket from Isita; flooring patterned with Macael and Amarillo Mare Marbles and Petit Granit.

Designed by Fernando Caruncho, the courtyard includes a marble bench and fountain. Floor tiled with Macael and Amarillo Mares Marbles and Petit Granit.

With the help of landscape architect Fernando Caruncho, a friend and frequent collaborator, she created an exterior space that doles out "beauty in the summer and in the winter." During the warmer months, the patio brims with the crimsons, pinks, and greens of potted flowers and jasmine and magnolia trees, and during winter, thanks to a Macael marble wraparound bench and a shallow central fountain reminiscent of Moorish courtyards, the scene turns shimmery white. "I love patios and plants, the way leaves and branches create shadows, and here, the way the marble reflects light," the designer declares.

Although, as she said, it's a home built for two, there is a small guest bedroom in the attic and a spacious dining room where the couple can host up to eight dinner guests. Lately, though, López-Quesada has been using the dinner table to spread out layouts for her next book, which will feature recent residential projects ranging from a summer house in Minorca to a barn in rural Pennsylvania. When she's not at work, or spending time in her farmhouse in Biarritz, the designer goes for walks around the neighborhood. "It's like living in a little village in the middle of the city," she says. "When I like something, I like it forever."

This tour of Isabel López-Quesada's Madrid home appears in AD's May issue. Never miss an issue when you subscribe to AD.

López-Quesada with her dog, Juana, a Parson Russell terrier.

The living room is clad in striking tortoiseshell-patterned 1960s paneling by Aldo Tura. A Louis XVI desk stands in the back corner. Bespoke curved sofa in a Dedar fabric; 1950s brass-and-marble cocktail table; lounge chair and ottoman in white leather and carved-wood stools by Charles and Ray Eames.

In the living room, a Saarinen-style table stands between a pair of 1960s Italian armchairs dressed in a Dedar bouclé.

Another view of the living room.

By Chloe Malle

By Katherine McLaughlin

By Tim Nelson

Bookshelves line a wall of the living room. Gustavian banquette with black horsehair cushion; inherited 17th-century ebony-and-tortoise mirror; vintage side table purchased in Paris.

A black stone sink with Waterworks fittings in López-Quesada's husband's bath.

Glass-fronted cabinets in the kitchen hold Isabel López-Quesada's collection of dinnerware.

By Chloe Malle

By Katherine McLaughlin

By Tim Nelson

In the kitchen the wall above the Wolf range is clad in Italian Statuario marble.

In the powder room, a white marble lavabo and faucet from Waterworks are inset into an English 18th-century mahogany cabinet. Sconces by Vaughan.

In the dining room an English red mercury glass ball hangs above a 1960s table. 18th-century French chairs upholstered in horsehair; L-shaped banquette in a Howe stripe. Flowers here and throughout by Inés Urquijo.

By Chloe Malle

By Katherine McLaughlin

By Tim Nelson

The creamy-hued attic guest room. Cashmere blanket and patterned pillows by Isita.

The bath features a Water Monopoly tub with Waterworks fittings.

Zuber's Isola Bella wallpaper envelops López-Quesada's dressing room. Louis XVI chair in Brochier velvet.

By Chloe Malle

By Katherine McLaughlin

By Tim Nelson

Designed by Fernando Caruncho, the courtyard includes a marble bench and fountain. Floor tiled with Macael and Amarillo Mares Marbles and Petit Granit.

By Troy J. McMullen

By David Foxley

By Eva Morell