Salvaged & stylish
Interior designer Paula Barnes employed her flair for rescuing and repurposing antique and vintage finds in her latest project: a renovated Victorian mews and garden store
‘My partner Paul had never so much as thought about knocking through his kitchen/ dining room in his previous home, so he was a complete novice to house renovations,’ laughs Paula Barnes as she describes the thrills and spills involved in her most recent project: converting a Victorian mews property that had formerly been the garden store, vinery and stables, into a habitable home. ‘It was our first house together post both of our divorces, so it was a new life and new start, which I loved.’
Originally built to serve the large townhouse on the street behind, the mews building had long since fallen into disrepair, and was, according to Paula, ‘literally a garage full of stuff ’. On the upside, the lack of use meant that most of the period features remained, the most impressive of which was the dilapidated vinery on the upper level –a glorified roof-top greenhouse, which was di cult to use. ‘It was boiling in the summer, cold in the winter and had become a dumping ground,’ Paula explains.
The kitchen is typical of Paula’s ingenuity: she bought an old 1960s school locker, cut it in half and added Formica worktops, while the sink came from a school laboratory and is virtually indestructible 
a corner of Paula’s ‘kitchen garden’. 
tongue and groove panelling painted in School House White by Farrow & Ball adds a homely contrast to the industrial elements
‘What’s important with vintage industrial pieces is knowing how to use them to maximum effect’
Today, the space is a light and airy kitchen/ dining room, furnished with a clever selection of vintage and industrial pieces in sympathy with the working history of the property: from factory lighting to old school chairs and quirky vintage school lockers, which Paula has repurposed to use as drawers for kitchen paraphernalia. The result is a wonderfully original space, and improved insulation means that its original horticultural purpose has been maintained: ‘You can grow all sorts of exotic things in there,’ Paula says, ‘just like the Victorians would have done.’ This year she grew cucumbers, chillies, pomegranates and lemons, adding a whole new meaning to the term ‘kitchen garden’.
This upstairs level also had two very pretty bedrooms that would have been the servants’ accommodation. With their cast-iron replaces and period windows restored, they provide a delicate change of aesthetic from the industrial kitchen and the raw, warehouse style of the main studio space below. ‘The ground floor was just an enormous old garage-like space with a concrete floor and a garden store, which has a really amazing vaulted brick ceiling,’ explains Paula. ‘With this space, my approach was “less is more” and I kept the walls as they were.’ In some places this means exposed brick and elsewhere, ‘lots of lovely peeling paint from years of use’.
Keen to embrace the pared-down simplicity of the original space – which comprises a large book-lined living room and a bedroom in what was the garden store – whilst sticking to a tight budget, Paula applied some creative thinking and inventive measures. The result is an interior that is lled with personality, though it cost next to nothing. Although used to working with big budgets on large-scale projects for clients, this renovation required a much simpler approach, she explains, adding that she adopted ‘the aesthetic of functional materials and ings’, with which she has created something unique.
For example, Paula reused scaffolding boards as flooring and made some of her own lights by buying all the components from hardware stores and builders’ merchants, saving over £1,000 on similar o -the-shelf factory-style lighting in the process. Key pieces of furniture were picked up at local ea markets, antiques fairs and auction rooms, creating a wonderfully bohemian mix of industrial, reclaimed, vintage and modern. ‘What’s important with vintage industrial pieces is knowing how to use them to maximum effect,’ she says, pointing to the four enormous ex-street lights that hang from the living room ceiling. This space required lights appropriate to the scale, she explains, adding that she installed four for dramatic effect.
Lovely industrial and factory references are a recurring theme throughout the house, from the ex-laboratory sink in the kitchen to the scaffolding bed frame in the spare room, all adding to the vintage charm. And, luckily, Paul loves it too – now that it’s complete. ‘He knew that a ‘developer-style’ house wasn’t an option, and he just let me get on with it,’ says Paula. ‘He really loves the place and refers to it as his “handmade home”.’
‘I really try to avoid doing anything too trendy. I use things that I love and, as I live here, that is important’
