{"id":458856,"date":"2026-03-05T12:09:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T12:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/458856\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T12:09:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T12:09:10","slug":"a-victorian-house-in-south-london-given-a-pretty-and-sophisticated-revamp-for-the-third-generation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/458856\/","title":{"rendered":"A Victorian house in south London given a pretty and sophisticated revamp for the third generation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>To fit the brief, Scarlett left much of the joinery on the ground floor in place, just adding extra storage here and there \u2013 such as in the dining room \u2013 or adding new colour to cupboards whose wood was of good enough quality to retain. She had a bespoke mahogany television cabinet built to sit on the right-hand side of the fireplace, which blended with the older joinery. \u2018It actually looked quite antique when you set it beside all the other antiques and furnishings in the room.\u2019 Inherited furniture became a through-line, too, with antique pieces reupholstered and reconditioned, including some by George Smith. A Murano glass pendant which was the client\u2019s grandmother\u2019s was kept in place, offering a touch of vintage individuality and continuity \u2013 but also something a little different to the rest of the room, which was smartened up considerably.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Image may contain Window Architecture Building Furniture Indoors Living Room Room Home Decor and Chair\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"ResponsiveImageContainer-dkeESL cQPiWi responsive-image__image\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/South%20London%20family%20home%20by%20Sims%20Hilditch14.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The drinks cart is by Eicholtz, and the curtain is in De Le Cuona linen with a Haywood trimming braid on the leading edge. The armchair is the client\u2019s own, upholstered in Studio Atkinson\u2019s \u2018Chequerboard\u2019 in Toffee.<\/p>\n<p>Simon Brown<\/p>\n<p>Colour was deployed with vigour to enliven spaces which otherwise underwent relatively minimal changes, in particular a soft blue from <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/www.farrow-ball.com\/paint\/oval-room-blue\" class=\"external-link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/cna.st\/affiliate-link\/2nDhMAPbGAJ1mSfnzAYVknRPuxQfBbqEpC3Mby7BPR5MZXgpPM4cYtXaLKiy82tTiwaxMimbrnocRt2ZeEPZ1whBSGdMD8NJw4QzU385cyHraqu2jDaGAD5mwmycZbMmJVWNQ9Qzjwyg2zHbykCGerk3rSU7oz3x2VHiHaptN9s8jYqpc4Dhex97zh9CdhV6Rzt8xYsVvSvqEzLJK3tPNt4PBBUbX9x4nwZMPwvY8rA2QvB8DmYMXPgPPCneG47dBabwMpdgMJJWAUfE1PuU7AhaTKmqDtytkge7Tv8U6qm7Es4E6zcJuyHYvcduvuSKunbtrsbgdkH3hmqtg95CJczpK4rB75rEh16hKHsg9PZeF6q6d5XUnU7CRR6kUgcnazHiqHnD5LdNZYEYSTks88ubPdhobFVRjrugJoCUpf74UkrZ&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/cna.st\/affiliate-link\/2nDhMAPbGAJ1mSfnzAYVknRPuxQfBbqEpC3Mby7BPR5MZXgpPM4cYtXaLKiy82tTiwaxMimbrnocRt2ZeEPZ1whBSGdMD8NJw4QzU385cyHraqu2jDaGAD5mwmycZbMmJVWNQ9Qzjwyg2zHbykCGerk3rSU7oz3x2VHiHaptN9s8jYqpc4Dhex97zh9CdhV6Rzt8xYsVvSvqEzLJK3tPNt4PBBUbX9x4nwZMPwvY8rA2QvB8DmYMXPgPPCneG47dBabwMpdgMJJWAUfE1PuU7AhaTKmqDtytkge7Tv8U6qm7Es4E6zcJuyHYvcduvuSKunbtrsbgdkH3hmqtg95CJczpK4rB75rEh16hKHsg9PZeF6q6d5XUnU7CRR6kUgcnazHiqHnD5LdNZYEYSTks88ubPdhobFVRjrugJoCUpf74UkrZ\" rel=\"sponsored nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Farrow &amp; Ball called \u2018Oval Room Blue\u2019<\/a>. In the living room, which was already wallpapered in a de Gournay design of some 10 years, Scarlett freshened up the paint and replaced a roughly 15-year-old carpet, which \u2018completely changed the life\u2019 of the room. The floor on the ground floor was kept as a herringbone pattern, but Scarlett and the client opted for a browner tone than the reddish floor that was in situ. The client took a little more persuading to agree to the colour of the kitchen island \u2013 a light-pink rhubarb tone \u2013 but eventually took the plunge.<\/p>\n<p>Where fittings and furniture needed refreshing, they were recontextualised with textiles: Colefax and Fowler, Studio Atkinson, Beata Heuman. The client loved animal print and was keen to incorporate it in the house, but otherwise Scarlett had a broadly free hand. \u2018They told us what sort of colours they liked,\u2019 she explains, \u2018but they did give us quite a lot of free rein in terms of exactly what fabrics to use.\u2019 In the end, \u2018a little bit of leopard print\u2019 made it into many of the rooms of the house, albeit subtly thanks to contemporary prints from Colefax and Fowler and Schumacher.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Image may contain Indoors Interior Design Flower Flower Arrangement Plant Architecture Building and Furniture\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"ResponsiveImageContainer-dkeESL cQPiWi responsive-image__image\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/South%20London%20family%20home%20by%20Sims%20Hilditch16.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The fireplace fender is upholstered in Zak &amp; Fox\u2019s \u2018Rapscallion\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Simon Brown<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Image may contain Architecture Building Furniture Indoors Living Room Room Cushion Home Decor and Interior Design\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"ResponsiveImageContainer-dkeESL cQPiWi responsive-image__image\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/South%20London%20family%20home%20by%20Sims%20Hilditch17.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>A Julian Chichester \u2018Calender\u2019 side table sits next to an existing George Smith sofa which was reupholstered in GP&amp;J Baker&#8217;s \u2018Racing Stripe\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Simon Brown<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To fit the brief, Scarlett left much of the joinery on the ground floor in place, just adding&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,6642,7884,1120,96,21383,7888,13905,7886,7887,56,54,55,35814],"class_list":["post-458856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-city","tag-city-houses","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-houses-by-members-of-the-list","tag-houses-by-our-top-100-interior-designers-architects","tag-london-houses","tag-traditional-city","tag-traditional-houses","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-victorian-houses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}