Welcome to my home

Walking into this flat with the estate agent, Lu Fitoussi-findlay and her husband Raphael had mixed feelings. ‘On paper, it wasn’t great,’ says Lu.

‘It had been lived in by tenants, the hall was dark, the layout was terrible and the basement needed a major sort out. But as soon as I walked into the sitting room, I wanted to take the For Sale sign down.’

At the time, the couple were living in a modern, one-bedroom flat in north London, so the period features and high ceilings won them over. ‘We wanted a project we could take on together,’ says Lu. ‘The kitchen was in the small room at the back, which is now the study, and where the kitchen is now was a strange dining area with a lot of wasted space.’

The couple embarked on a four month renovation project. ‘I started an Instagram account called @thehousepotnoodlesbuilt, because that’s exactly what we lived on for several months while the work was carried out,’ says Lu. The couple relocated the kitchen into the old dining area, blocked in the old kitchen doorway and added a new one.

‘By comparison, the basement was a much bigger project,’ Lu continues. ‘It had been used as a laundry, and the smell of damp was horrible. We opened up the bricked-up windows and moved an internal wall to screen off the washing machine, but made sure to leave enough space for a guest bedroom.’

The hard work hasn’t put the couple off tackling another renovation project. ‘Now we’ve got the bit between our teeth, we’ll probably go for something completely untouched next time!’

“The f lat had been rented out, so it was in a bit of a state, but we’ve loved putting our own stamp on it”