Gallery
The house is a Grade II-Listed Georgian property in Brentford, south west London. It is in a conservation area called the Butts, so named due to local 16th-century history - Henry VIII originally commandeered the land north of the High Street for archery practice. Our home is one of several beautiful residences built in the 18th century. The previous owner had lived in the house for over 40 years, so when we purchased it in 2020, it was desperately in need of renovation.
Since 2020, we have gradually transformed the property, starting with reconfiguring the layout quite significantly.
We moved the kitchen and dining area into the basement and moved the bedrooms, which had been there, to the upper floors. The previous kitchen and dining area on the upper-ground floor is now a formal living area with a separate TV room/snug.
When choosing the interiors, we wanted to retain traditional English design details but add a more contemporary and colourful twist. We created our designs to work alongside the property’s Georgian architecture while still making sure the finished house felt both vibrant and homely. When we first moved in, we painted a couple of rooms in neutral shades, but I disliked it immediately. In our industry, we often find people are “scared of colour”, so we were pleased that the house can, in fact, take colour really well. Our design features a lot of strong yellow, blue and green tones.
One main concern was about the basement kitchen and dining area being too dark, so I chose a bright and sunny yellow for the joinery. I contrasted this vibrant shade with a chequered marble floor and oak details on the island and dining table. Instead of downlights, which were not an option, I added in lots of recessed lighting, decorative wall lights and pendants throughout the room to make the space as cosy and welcoming as possible. One of the original features we retained was the arch surrounding the cooker, which we fully covered with glazed white tiles and feature bee tiles – a subtle nod to our local football team, the Brentford Bees.
In October 2023, we had our baby girl, so I had a lot of fun decorating her bedroom with another bright yellow and pink theme. I even just about managed to hang the wallpaper myself when I was six months pregnant.
