{"id":31330,"date":"2024-03-04T15:29:25","date_gmt":"2024-03-04T14:29:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/6d4209dc-b6bf-44be-a705-361513cd2b88"},"modified":"2024-03-04T16:36:37","modified_gmt":"2024-03-04T15:36:37","slug":"a-hands-on-restoration-of-an-edwardian-home-in-london","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/rss_feed\/a-hands-on-restoration-of-an-edwardian-home-in-london\/","title":{"rendered":"A hands-on restoration of an Edwardian home in London"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a laborious, hands-on restoration of their Edwardian London home, Sheila and Giles Udy turned to interior designer Susanna Thomas to rekindle its decorative charms. Feature Serena Fokschaner. Photographs Rachael Smith <\/p>

By <\/p>

Published: Monday, 04 March 2024 at 14:29 PM<\/p>

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The early months of marriage are, traditionally, wrapped in an atmosphere of carefree rose-scented romance. Giles and Sheila Udy took a different approach. \u2018One of the first things I did after we got married was to enrol on a soft furnishings course<\/a>,\u2019 recalls Sheila, who was then working in insurance. Giles, a historian, was dispatched \u2018not unwillingly\u2019, he says, to learn woodworking.<\/p>

The pragmatism has paid off. To say that the pair have done work on their Edwardian<\/a> house, in a tree-shaded corner of south-west London, would be an understatement. Over the past two decades they\u2019ve pooled their practical skills \u2013 cabinetry, floor-planning and curtain making \u2013 to transform the property, which had been turned into a series of bedsits in the 1970s.<\/p>

\u2018We gutted the house \u2013 Giles worked on it hands-on full-time, bringing in a plasterer and others to help with the work,\u2019 says Sheila, who has recently retired from a second career as a florist. But resourcefulness can only take you so far. When the last dust sheet was whisked away and the final floor plank banged into place, something was not quite right. The house lacked esprit. The paint colours didn\u2019t sing, heirloom furniture lurked in dark corners. A creative eye was needed: \u2018Someone to bring it to life,\u2019 says Sheila.<\/p>

Enter Susanna Thomas: an interior designer with a literary bent, who specialises in schemes that \u2018reflect their owners\u2019. Susanna is a longstanding friend, and knows the house well. She has sat at the kitchen table, \u2018the Aga<\/a> whirring with pots and pans\u2019, listening to renovation stories: such as the time they uncovered the Edwardian axe originally used to remove the lath under the horsehair plaster. Or the way that the new railings outside the front of the house are based on the originals, removed during the Second World War when iron was scarce. <\/p>

\u2018The house had all the ingredients, but they hadn\u2019t quite cooked them properly,\u2019 says Susanna. She was given carte blanche, says Sheila, \u2018to do what she liked. We bought new wallpapers, lampshades and furniture but Susanna also made what we already had look beautiful.\u2019<\/p>

You might also like <\/strong>An upcycled Edwardian home<\/a><\/p>

The search for new furnishings began in Sheila\u2019s fabric<\/a> room, the shelves crammed with sale steals amassed over the years. \u2018I spent hours among the rolls and remnants that Sheila had bought in secret triumph \u2013 checks, stripes, brocades\u2026 The florals sprigged with flowers, large blooms, trailing vines. I\u2019d never seen so many different fabrics in one room,\u2019 says Susanna. Gradually, the fabrics found a new sense of purpose. \u2018I encouraged Sheila to use her beloved pieces and she\u2019d happily sew into the night, presenting her creations to me the next day. Her make-do-and-mend approach was a tonic.\u2019<\/p>

Sheila remembers Susanna flinging a vibrant rug across a table to use as a tablecloth. \u2018I said, \u201cYou can\u2019t do that!\u201d But it looks wonderful there.\u2019 In the bedroom<\/a>, a set of soft pink cushions from Sheila\u2019s grandmother and an antique kantha set against brass Indian lamps remind her of her childhood home in Calcutta, where she spent the early years of a peripatetic childhood. \u2018One of my earliest memories there is of eating homemade ice cream: it gave me a taste for cooking and a fussy palette.\u2019<\/p>

Now that Sheila and Giles\u2019s four children have grown up, the way the house is used has also changed. The book-lined second sitting room was once a dining room. It was Susanna who persuaded them to track down the sociable round table. Sheila made the hemp tablecloth adding the twinkling bullion fringe. \u2018There was just enough to cover the front, which, luckily, is what you see from the street.\u2019<\/p>

Heirlooms \u2013 \u2018not valuable, but part of our story\u2019, says Sheila \u2013 were also restored, such as a small bureau desk where her grandmother used to hide the chocolates, and the wingback armchair<\/a> where Giles\u2019s scholarly grandfather read his mother stories, translating the Ancient Greek into English.<\/p>

Colour<\/a> has played a key role in the transformation. The yellows, reds and greens draw on Sheila\u2019s love of flowers and her own garden, a mass of David Austin roses in summer. \u2018We spent many happy hours honing the palette,\u2019 says Susanna. It was Susanna who persuaded Sheila and Giles to paint the kitchen<\/a> a rose-petal pink. The design is Giles\u2019s: he made the cherry wood carcasses, while a joiner added the doors. Sheila\u2019s grandmother\u2019s dinner service \u2013 retrieved from a box \u2013 is now displayed behind glazed doors. <\/p>

\u2018She chose it to match a sample of curtain fabric. We don\u2019t use it, but it\u2019s wonderful to look at,\u2019 she says. Susanna unearthed the basalt-style pottery, now arranged on top of the kitchen cabinets, in the cellar. \u2018I sent a photo of it to my son. He said that\u2019s \u201cVery on trend\u201d,\u2019 says Sheila. Which proves that sometimes all you need is another \u2013 more expert \u2013 eye to make the best of what you already have. <\/p>

Find out more about Susanna Thomas by visiting susannathomas.co.uk<\/a><\/em><\/p>

– Rachael Smith –<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
\"Edwardian
– Rachael Smith –<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
\"Edwardian
– Rachael Smith –<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
\"Edwardian
– Rachael Smith –<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
\"Edwardian
– Rachael Smith –<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
\"Edwardian
– Rachael Smith –<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
\"Edwardian
– Rachael Smith –<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
\"Edwardian
– Rachael Smith –<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
\"Edwardian
– Rachael Smith –<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
\"Edwardian
– Rachael Smith –<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
\"Edwardian
– Rachael Smith –<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
\"Edwardian
– Rachael Smith –<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/div>