Apartment in Vida Residences, Dubai Marina

A compact apartment high above Dubai Marina, made for a young owner who wanted character rather than wall-to-wall beige.

The living room wall is painted a dusty teal and divided by slim arched mouldings in the same colour, so the pattern is felt rather than seen. Everything in front of it is black, white or grey: a tweed sofa, a leopard-print lounge chair on a thin black frame, a rug with oversized ink blots, a white mushroom coffee table. A sheepskin and a zebra cushion keep it from becoming too serious.

Opal glass arches on a black chandelier echo the mouldings. The TV sits on a black brushed-oak sideboard. The floor stays light so that the window, with the towers of JBR and the sea behind them, remains the brightest thing in the room.

The bedroom is warmer: a large plaster relief roundel over a ruched upholstered bed, cocoa curtains and a fluted oak bench. The second bedroom uses sage green panels and a cone pendant hung low over a black pedestal table.