40 Winks, Stepney Green, London

Remember when you used to crash with friends to save money? 40 Winks is like that—if their pad were completely pimped in an over-the-top surreal style and their model friends came over for drinks and literary pajama parties in the salon. Yeah, just like that. Celebrated interior designer David Carter's whimsical private home is a sexily renovated four-story 18th-century Queen Anne townhouse in the East End's as-yet-ungentrified Stepney Green. All chenille and vintage texture, it offers two rooms with shared bath, one single (£95) and one double (£140), sized appropriately. Think of it as a kind of boutique B&B "nano" aimed at the fashion and arty set. Although there's Wi-Fi, breakfast, a charming garden, and an honor bar, if convenience to Covent Garden (30 minutes by Tube…on a good day) and typical amenities (room service, in-room TV, locks on the doors, showerhead in the tub) are important, look elsewhere. But if you like the feeling of taking your shoes off at the door (required) and sharing a cuppa with a fashionably hip friend whose house happens to double as a Vogue photo set, join Carter amid the kitchen frescoes.

40 Winks
109 Mile End Road
Stepney Green
London, England
Tel: 44 20 7790 0259

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