LISA STICKLEY, author and illustrator

Stickley lives in a Victorian maisonette in south-east London with her husband Richard, their two daughters and a goldfish called Ginger

We’d longed for a new kitchen for a while, and it’s only been possible with money left to us by my lovely mum who sadly lost her life to pancreatic cancer in 2020.

I had the idea to open up the wall to the lounge with a large internal window. We couldn’t afford Crittall ones, but our brilliant kitchen chap made us a wooden alternative. We used Eleven Eleven Kitchens; I loved the contrast of the plywood and Formica they used within the original 1890s space.

Richard left me to the design, with one piece as a starting point: a cast-iron pestle and mortar. It informed the calming palette of the matte Formica worktops and cupboard doors: black/brown ‘Graphite’ and ‘Sno White’ to balance and brighten it up a bit.

I’d always wanted a utilitarian school-canteen-meets-modern-vintage aesthetic. I chose 10cm squared plain white tiles with black grout, which I found on eBay. I pined after an industrial-looking copper tap, and Bow Street Craft Co made one for me. For the sink surround, I went for ‘Compac Venecia’, which is a tutti-fruiti, terrazzo-style quartz, harking back to a design I’d created for Tate 10 years ago.

The original floorboards were insulated and re-laid with reclaimed boards, then painted in Little Greene’s ‘Slaked Lime’. I found antique cast-iron table-ends from Rugged London to support the tabletop, which was made from 150-year-old floorboards arranged in a parquet design.

We have to pinch ourselves every day. Not only can we see the views across London from the large internal window, but with a tap on the glass, we can take orders from those in the lounge for popcorn or cups of tea! lisastickleystudio.com