Edwardian Eclectic Project, North London

This Edwardian property in North London was undergoing a loft conversion and kitchen refurbishment, full redecoration throughout was required. The loft conversion was providing the property with a third bedroom and second bathroom.

I joined the team to provide an interior design style that would incorporate their many artifacts collected from years working abroad in the Middle East and Mexico.

I addition to this, new wooden flooring was required throughout as well as a complete colour scheme, new lighting for the stairwell, wall and floor tiles where appropriate and a new kitchen.

Design concept

During the initial consultation I took a good look at their collection of art and objects and came across the tiles shown in the first image above.

The client had bought these samples with a view to potentially using them somewhere, and she and her husband advised that they really loved the different shades of blues, reds and greens that they contained.

I decided to build the design around the colours of these tiles due to their appeal to the client and their similarity to the colour tones common in Mexico.

These shades are richer and earthier than ones traditionally used in the Edwardian era which were much lighter and more pastel in appearance, often combined with floral patterns, but my plan was to include a lot of warm, white paint to make sure the light feel they were after was delivered, and this too would be in keeping with the era of their home’s architecture.

‘Edwardian eclectic’ design style

I was really inspired by the ‘Edwardian eclectic’ style, born of people travelling abroad during that time and bringing back all sorts of bits and pieces to be displayed in their home.

It was a time of luxury and opulence initiated by King Edward who loved to travel, and he drew much inspiration from his journeys around Europe.

People welcomed this eclectic approach to décor after the traditional heaviness and darker colours used in the Victorian era before it. With the client’s collection and Edwardian property, this style was absolutely perfect for this project.

Colour palette and materials

I found blues, greens and terracotta reds from the NCS (Natural Colour System) paint range that matched those in the sample tiles.

The client also had a gorgeous, original panel of stained glass above the hallway entrance in a flower pattern, which also contained similar reds and greens to the ones on the tiles so this was the perfect anchor to pull the colour scheme together.

The wood floor boards were sourced locally from Nagl Flooring, they were a beautiful golden oak with a rustic, scraped appearance, engineered to accommodate the under floor heating.

The entrance and hallway were quite narrow and being an Edwardian property, the ceilings where high and the walls had a dado rail running the length of them.

I decided the coloured paint could be placed below the dado rails, and the warm ‘Cushion White’ (a Johnstones trade paint colour) would go on the walls above the dado rail as well as on the doors, the skirting and the ceilings to bounce the light around and maximise the sensation of space and light.

Their artwork could be hung where appropriate on the white walls, and the coloured paint below the dado rail would pick out the various, similar shades in the paintings nicely for the respective rooms they’d been selected for.

I chose a large brass pendant ceiling light to light the stairway to the loft.

The kitchen walls were done in the ‘Cushion White’ and provided a complementary contrast to the stunning blue granite sourced locally as an offcut (reducing the cost significantly), for the heavy use working areas.

Wood work surfaces were installed in the lighter use areas, and the terracotta floor tiles also sourced locally added warmth.

The loft bedroom and bathroom was done entirely in ‘Cushion White’, the mix of tiles shown in the third image along above were sourced for the loft bathroom: the white tiles for the lower half of the walls, the duck egg blue tiles for the shower area, the deeper blue for the floor, and the wonderful ‘mowgli’ tiles for the basins splash back.

I loved working on this project, the clients were fantastic to collaborate with and the end result was simply stunning.

Please contact me for more information on my interior design services.

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