Nine outdated, self-contained rooms for rent once made up the floor plan of this 1918 Victorian in North London. However, Monique and Trevor Alexander watched beyond the mustard-colored rugs, crimson painted brick and a boarded-up staircase and altered the area by stripping off the drab elements to show its stunning original features. After a year of patient renovations, including a rear extension with skylights and a kitchen that is fresh, the outcome is a magical scoop of modern atop stunning conventional structure.
in a Glance
Who lives here: Monique and Trevor Alexander, with their 2 young daughters
Location: Muswell Hill, London
Size: 320 square meters (3,444 square feet); 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, home office
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The Alexanders extended the rear of the house to make this casual dining room beneath skylights. “The skylight makes such a difference once the times get so grey and dark throughout wintermonths,” says Monique. “It makes me feel as though I’m not in London.”
Glass patio doors open to the backyard, where the few expects to soon redesign the backyard with a new fish pond and barbecue area.
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This Knoll dining room table and chairs were the beginning point for the layout style and colour palette at the kitchen.
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Although the kitchen comes off as a well-thought-out implementation of sleek style, the design process was much more off the cuff. Having a newborn baby in tow, Monique selected the floor, fixtures, fittings and finishes in only one week. “Fortunately, I know what I like,” she states.
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The area, which combines stone tiling, walnut cupboards, granite worktops and white MDF composite cabinets, has become the household’s action hub. “We live from the kitchen,” says Monique. “Occasionally from the time Trevor comes home before the time we go to bed, we’ve just been at the kitchen! We do art in here with the kids; we eat, cook, socialize — everything.”
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Because the kitchen is such a massive part of their lives, the couple’s 25,000-pound ($37,897) budget because of it went toward state-of-the-art appliances and a high quality decorative. “I had a very clear image of what I desired: black, with marble to match the one-off Italian table we had,” Monique, shown here, states.
Function was significant, also. “I do a lot of cooking, baking and fun, so I invested a lot of time exploring range ovens. I just had to have a fantastic range. That was my one major splurge,” she states. Her handmade one is out of France, by Lacanche.
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The casual dining area serves as a playroom for the couple’s two young girls.
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A formal dining room is right off the kitchen. Aubergine-hued upholstered seats sit alongside a bespoke wooden table in The Real Wood Company. “We chose how mottled we wanted the timber to be,” says Monique.
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During the renovations the few tried to respect the home’s original details. “We wanted it to seem like an old Victorian house, so we retained the traditional-style features,” Monique says. They upgraded the space with modern furnishings, including an elegant, custom-designed Rocco Borghese tiered chandelier. Borghese is a Italian chandelier specialist in Crouch End who, notably, furnished the lighting for celeb chef Jamie Oliver’s London restaurant.
Much like many older homes, structural challenges did arise, despite a building report that told a different story when the Alexanders became the home’s fourth owners at 2008. “It was just when we pulled off the rotten dressing table that we saw that the house had extensive underpinning. The dry rot from the living room required a lot of time to get treated,” Monique says.
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An easy leather Natuzzi sectional wraps the distance beneath three framed butterfly art prints at the living room, which Monique says she uses chiefly for entertaining and playdates with other moms and kids. She strives to maintain the room, like the majority of the house, without any clutter. “It stresses me out having things lying around,” she states.
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Because the stairs was boarded up when the couple bought the house, they had no idea what they would find.
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“We knocked down the dressing table to show the most beautiful timbers,” she states.
Wall sconces: Rocco Borghese
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Checkerboard flooring tiling provides a picture element to the otherwise stark entryway.
Chandelier: Rocco Borghese
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Traditional furnishings and a warm colour palette create a soothing master suite, and it is still a work in progress, Monique states.
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The master bath features stone tiling and walnut cabinetry, much like the kitchen. The spa tub was just another major splurge. “I wash every night,” says Monique. “It is my way of regrouping, centering myself following a hectic day.”
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A second-floor guest bedroom has pistachio mattress linens and lotion furnishings.
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The guest bathroom soothes with a walnut vanity, slim-line basin and cream tiling.
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The couple’s oldest daughter loves a sorbet-hued room, with high ceilings, a first flame surround and a fun playhouse.
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Her Cinderella carriage mattress was a recent present from her daddy. Lilac walls and pale pink tones during make for a calm retreat for reading books and enjoying.
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The couple’s youngest daughter also enjoys first Victorian details, including an elaborate fireplace surround and high ceilings.
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The gentle lilac walls blend swimmingly with Pip Studio floral wallpaper.
Crib: Mamas and Papas
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An upholstered charcoal-colored feeding chair sits beneath expansive windows with Venetian blinds. The room features stunning views of Muswell Hill’s town church.
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Monique, found here with her two brothers, couldn’t be more happy about the renovation. “I feel really blessed to live in this beautiful house,” she states.
See more photos of this home
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The outside of the house was originally painted red. The couple had to carefully remove the paint to show the first brickwork, then enlist a specialist to refill the grout.