Our client had been living in her detached Victorian Richmond house for almost four decades. Age had taken its toll: the radiators barely worked, the floorboards were draughty and many of the light fittings were so old you couldn’t even buy bulbs for them.

The renovations required were significant, but our client had no intention of leaving a home and location which she cherished. She reached out to us for a complete refurbishment and interior design service to give her home a second wind.

After we agreed on the brief, our client rented a nearby house, put a lifetime’s worth of possessions into storage and cleared the way for us to get to work.

The more layers we peeled back in the house, the more problems we discovered. Time hadn’t just taken its toll on its appearance and its services, many of the walls and ceilings were so badly damaged that we had to strip them back to the masonry.

This was especially challenging in the ceilings, where we had to dig out holes for new light fittings while also trying to protect the original plasterwork cornices. Worst of all, the ceilings were lath and plaster, an old building technique which requires delicate, specialist repairs.

Next, we had to figure out where to relocate the plant room. The best option was to stick it out of the way in the cellar, which meant damp proofing the space so that it could accommodate the boiler, heating and electric controls.

Once the dust was settled and the paint was dry, our client moved back into a home which was both familiar and brand new, with perfect lights and plumbing, and a pristine finish to walls, floors and ceilings throughout.

The draughty old floorboards were ripped out and replaced with airtight herringbone parquet floors throughout the ground floor and up into the first floor drawing room.

This herringbone pattern is continued into the master en-suite bathroom’s custom marble floor tiles and aquamarine wall tiles, contrasted with ridged gold panels which shimmer beautifully in the light.

An equally bold facelift is found in the guest bathroom, where both floor and ceiling are decorated with a modern, geometric black and white tile.

The most striking room is the dining room, which is now a bold pink colour picked from carefully restored original Victorian tiles in the entrance. All other rooms in the house are a tasteful pale grey.

While the front of the house is largely unchanged besides some touch-ups, the rear has been given a striking refresh with black frames for the windows, doors and pergola – a contemporary twist which complements the classic Victorian architecture.