LEAP OF FAITH A neglected Victorian property has been transformed by one couple’s creative vision

Taking on a neglected four-storey Victorian property was a brave decision, but it’s paid off for one creative couple

It’s a grey autumn day and the wind is whipping around Judith and Ian Archer’s garden, but inside is a picture of calm. Judith is curled up on the sofa in her spacious, light-filled kitchen-diner, watching the trees swaying from behind a bank of gleaming glass doors. ‘I love this room,’ she muses. ‘It’s great at this time of year, when you can enjoy the views from the indoor warmth. Then, in the summer, the bifold doors open all the way across the back of the space, bringing the outside in.’ It’s been 12 years since textile designer Judith and furniture designer Ian, and their daughters Jasmin and Amber, moved into their fourstorey Victorian property in Bristol’s desirable Clifton neighbourhood. Over that time, they have transformed the grotty dark rooms, with their dated 1970s decor, into stylish and comfortable spaces filled with covetable pieces by local artists and small design businesses. However, it wasn’t until the renovation process was complete that Judith was able to appreciate their new family home.

‘I didn’t like the house much to start with,’ Judith laughs. ‘Buying it was definitely a decision of the head, rather than the heart.’ At the time, the couple were living a few streets away in a smaller townhouse, which they adored, but with two growing girls they needed more space. ‘Ian and I wanted to stay in the area and tried to buy a couple of other places, but the market was going crazy and we were gazumped three times,’ she says. ‘We kept walking past this property; it was in a real state and had

been on the market for ages, but it ticked all the boxes. It had a bigger garden and off-street parking, so we put in an offer and it was accepted.’

The main work, and the first thing to tackle, was transforming the basement from four dark rooms – including a brown and orange 1970s kitchen – into an open-plan, kitchen-cum-living space. Ian designed the layout and a builder carried out the work, keeping the kitchen in the front bay and adding a boxed-off utility room and WC adjacent to it. The back of the room, which overlooks the garden, was opened up for dining and socialising. ‘It took about six months and was incredibly disruptive, but we managed with a makeshift kitchen in the hallway upstairs,’ says Judith. ‘The worst bit was having a large hole in the back of the house that was just boarded up while we waited for the doors to be made. It was worth it, though, as once they were in they transformed the space.’

The couple wanted a kitchen that was simple and wouldn’t date, so chose white units to go along one wall, and a walnut island. The appliances are situated on the opposite side, which has additional built-in cupboards. Unlike the other rooms in the house, the floor in here is engineered oak. This is because the original floorboards in the basement had been laid directly on bare earth and were beyond saving. Insulation had to be installed before the new flooring could go down. Elsewhere, the original boards were simply sanded and stained.

While the building work was carried out in the kitchen, the entire house was rewired and replumbed. Later structural additions not in keeping with the property, such as the toilet by the front door and the sauna in the main bedroom, were stripped out. ‘The bedroom had been cut in half, so we put it back to its original footprint and reinstated the cornicing,’ explains Judith. Other rooms were gutted and replastered and a new bathroom was fitted. The couple then began decorating the house from the bottom up, using a neutral palette of whites and greys. ‘We do like our greys, but it’s the new beige, isn’t it?’ Judith laughs. ‘The girls complain a lot about there being no colour.’

Originally, Judith and Ian decorated mostly with paler greys, but over the years have became bolder, introducing darker charcoal walls into the basement five years ago and painting the whole of the living room in a deeper shade a couple of years back. ‘It’s a big room with high ceilings, so it can take it,’ says Judith. ‘It doesn’t feel oppressive when you’re in it – just cosy. I find it calming and tranquil. It’s my favourite room.’

Key to making the greys work has been balancing them with expanses of natural wood flooring, sumptuous upholstered furniture – such as the enormous curved green velvet sofa in the living room – and pops of bold colour in accessories. All of the sofas in the house are Ian’s designs, and every room is filled with pieces by other small design businesses, which the couple go out of their way to support. In the basement, Ian’s wood-framed Stix sofa and Raffa armchairs, upholstered in light greys, are enhanced with yellow geometric cushions designed by Judith. It’s these careful decisions about furniture and accessories that have created such a calming and cohesive scheme throughout.

‘I enjoy living here now,’ says Judith, looking out onto the windswept garden again. ‘When we moved in, the property didn’t have the appeal of our old house, but we could see the potential and what we could do with it. Once you make somewhere your home, it becomes a place you love.’ See Archer & Co furniture at archerandcompany.co.uk

‘The bedroom had been cut in half, so we put it back to its original footprint’