The practice of interior design is something of a problem-solving job – taking a jumbled up floor plan, looking past questionable inherited decorating decisions, stripping it all back and conjuring up a sensible, beautiful house from what was previously chaos. This is precisely what former lawyer turned interior designer Laura Logan has done in her Victorian house in Leytonstone, which she shares with her husband and two young children.
The family moved in in 2019, having lived nearby for a number of years. ‘We’d previously renovated a smaller house in the local area, which we were really happy with,’ Laura explains. ‘However, I used to walk past this one on a regular basis and always noticed its handsome Victorian frontage. The more often I passed it, the more I noticed it, much in the same way kids notice things; slowly at first, then in a more interested way and eventually I fell in love with it.’ Luckily for her, it came on the market and she was able to buy the object of her desire.
Anyone stepping inside now will find a bright, open, incredibly serene house, with large, light-filled spaces and an aesthetic that is modern minimalism at its best; limewash paint, large vases with structural branches placed in them, swathes of neutral fabrics and light oak used for the beams inside and framed façade outside. This is not, however, how they found it. ‘The kitchen was incredibly small and cramped,’ details Laura, and ‘it had doors and windows that seemed to have been positioned by Rene Magritte. The décor was eccentric to a fault, including gold leaf ceilings and Michaelangelo-style murals in the bedrooms.’
The exterior of the house is framed in oak, which continues inside. All the joinery was done by Tim Gaudin and Laura worked with EJ Studio on the extension.
Owen Gale