ONE ROOM RENOVATIONS
Thanks to some outside help, an uninviting space has become a welcoming retreat
Toby McMillan lives with Hannah McCarthy and their toddler Isaac in a Victorian terrace in south-east London
Before
‘The room was looking a bit tired with washed-out green paint combined with a brown floral Victorian fireplace surround to create a drab, depressing 1970s kind of vibe’
Tell us what prompted the makeover…
When we moved into the property in December 2021, Hannah and I agreed the reception rooms were looking tired, with uninspiring decor and an unattractive fireplace. But what made us take the plunge was the overly fussy chandeliers with pink porcelain roses on spidery brass arms – they made looking up in those rooms a shudder-worthy experience.
How did you go about changing it?
Hannah had done a great job decorating our previous home, but we were expecting a baby imminently so decided to get help from interior designer Romilly Turner. She had wonderful vision and an uncanny sense of what we’d like – we ended up buying almost all of the pieces she sourced. That might be why we went over budget!
What look were you aiming for?
An inviting space we’d enjoy spending time in. We were also keen to move away from whites and neutrals, so for the walls we chose an emulsion described as ‘a daringly bare plaster pink’, which felt contemporary yet complemented the Victorian aspects of the room. For the woodwork, we chose the same charcoal blue that we’d used in the adjacent room to link the two spaces.
Did you replace a lot of old with new?
Most of our existing stuff went, apart from some ceramics and a silk rug we’d inherited. Buying the sofa was transformative – it was the most money we had spent on any one thing and we knew we’d have to love it for a long time! There were also some pricey woollen ceiling pendants – we loved them so much, we just bit the bullet.
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