‘I used all my design tricks to transform this house’

From going bold with dark hues to upcycling vintage treasures, interior designer Carley Kyle knew how to give her already characterful Edwardian home even more personality

Upcycling and bold colours have helped Carley Kyle add character to her Edwardian home

Carley and Fraser Kyle bought their Edwardian terrace in July 2018, when their daughter, Sienna, was just 10 months old. ‘It was in very poor condition, but thank goodness we were able to stay with my parents for a few months while the basic structural work was done,’ Carley says. They rejigged the downstairs to create a kitchendiner that opens onto the garden and a more spacious family bathroom, while the original kitchen is now a useful utility room.

When they eventually returned from staying with Carley’s parents, there was still plenty of work left to do. ‘When we moved back into the house in November, it still wasn’t finished: there was no flooring or kitchen cabinetry until the following March. We just had a microwave, fridge and sink,’ Carley recalls. ‘My dad is a builder, and my mum makes curtains and soft furnishings, so everything was done in record time – we’re very fortunate I know, they are a dream

‘We moved here from a modern apartment, so we were delighted with the character of the house. We knew we wanted it straight away.’

‘I can’t resist a bargain and realise I’m very lucky that I can combine high street finds with more expensive pieces that I can source through work.’

team – but it was still a real test of patience, especially with a toddler!’

Carley and Fraser found themselves making tricky financial decisions when it came to choosing fixtures and fittings, but found money-saving DIY solutions. ‘We wanted a Quooker tap, for instance, and a Dekton worktop in the kitchen, but realised we had other priorities,’ says Carley. ‘We had to be inventive – my dad made the kitchen worktop out of concrete, and the result is great.’

While the bones of the house were excellent, with lovely period features in the main rooms, there were other practical problems to solve, too. ‘We moved here from a modern apartment, so we were delighted with the character of the house. We knew we wanted it straight away,’ Carley says,

‘but there were challenges that we had to

solve inventively. For instance, there is very little storage space, as there’s no attic, so Fraser and I have made an effort to install creative storage solutions everywhere we can, sometimes bespoke and sometimes by upcycling second-hand shop finds.’

Fraser is a keen cook and made the major decisions in the kitchen, but tends to leave the rest of the decorating choices to Carley, in acknowledgement of her expertise as an interior designer. He opted for a range cooker with no extractor and an easy-clean tiled wall behind the cooker, which is located beside French doors that open into the garden for cooking with a view.

INSPIRED LIVING

Carley studied interior architecture when she first went to university, then took a career break when she had her daughter and studied photography. ‘I missed interiors, though, so I went back,’ she admits. Lockdown was another opportunity for a change and Carley found herself experimenting with concrete homewares; she loved them so much she decided to set up her own concrete homeware company called House Leopard, with its own Etsy shop. ‘I make colourful planters, trays and vases,’ she explains. Carley is a talented painter as well, so throughout her home, wherever there’s a blank wall, she fills it with a beautiful painting of hers.

Her home is also a blank canvas to experiment with colours and fabrics, as well as upcycling vintage finds. ‘I can’t resist a bargain and realise I’m very lucky that I can combine high street finds with more expensive pieces that I can source through work,’ she says. ‘My favourite shops are TK Maxx and, of course, Jeffreys, the interior design studio in Edinburgh, where I work.’

A HARMONIOUS HOME

For a sense of flow throughout the house, Fraser and Carley have laid engineered oak flooring in every room except the main bedroom. ‘It was freezing with wooden flooring, so we carpeted it,’ Carley says. Paint has been used to create a sense of continuity, too – painting most of the woodwork in Railings by Farrow & Ball was a bold choice, but Carley is pleased with the result. She has also displayed a mix of photos, her own artworks and prints by other artists. ‘Hanging family photographs, drawings, paintings and prints we’ve been given over the years, often to mark major celebrations, gives our home a sense of history,’ she says.

Carley and Kyle are now turning their attention to the outside of the property, as there’s a great feeling of community on their terrace, with the back gardens side by side. ‘We love getting together of an evening.

We’ve realised the garden is like another room – it’ll be our next focus,’ reveals Carley.

‘There is very little storage, as there is no attic, so Fraser and I have made an effort to install creative storage solutions everywhere we can.’

EASY UPDATE

To DIY a colour-block

room, wall like in Sienna’s

line first draw a horizontal

like the at the height you’d

Use a plate scallops to be. to draw the scallops,

then paint!

While Carley’s husband chose the practical details in the kitchen, as he loves to cook, Carley’s background in interior design is evident in the way she’s balanced deep navy with warm wood and cool concrete

Every room in the house has a touch of blue in it, so it was an obvious colour choice for their front door. Carley went for a pastel tone for a cheerful, welcoming feel

KITCHEN Carley has dotted geometric patterns throughout her kitchendiner, including herringbone metro tiles on the island and the gold pendants above, as a subtle way to match her tiled splashback, the centrepiece of her scheme

OUR MUST HAVES Ted Baker Stepped Up tiles, £39.99 per sq m, Luxury Tiles UK. Linear Midnight matt tiles, £44 per sq m, Topps Tiles. For similar pendants try Bremen easy-fit pendant in Copper, £22, Dunelm. Carley made her dining table from an ex-display tabletop, bought from a design shop in Edinburgh called Catalog. The chairs were also one of her DIYs: she picked them up at auction, then painted and reupholstered them

The living room is filled with Carley’s found and inherited second-hand gems; she bought the arched mirror above the fireplace at auction and sprayed it gold, and inherited the brass standard lamp from her grandmother

Carley has softened the dark, dramatic blue in her living room with delicate pinks and rich rusts, punctuated by punchy brights like her Julian Chichester print – a gift from one of Carley’s interior design clients in honour of the family’s whippet, Red

OUR MUST HAVES Ziggy sideboard in Copper, £699, Swoon. Estate emulsion in Railings and Strong White, £49.50 per 2.5L, Farrow & Ball. For a similar cushion try velvet pinsonic cushion in Rust, £14, Julian Charles.

LIVING ROOM Pick up the same tones in different textures and materials to bring depth to your scheme, as Carley has by matching her metallic copper sideboard with burnt-orange cushions Carley’s own artwork takes pride of place between geometric wall lights, featuring chic velvet shades made by a friend, who has a shop, Firefly, on Facebook. The bench is another of Carley’s creative projects, which she reupholstered in a patterned velvet by Susi Bellamy

Carley echoed the brass of her inherited vintage standard lamp with an elegant Eicholtz armchair from the interior design company she works for, Jeffreys Interiors, an art deco-style side table and quirky monkey candle holder

BEDROOM To accentuate the daylight streaming in from the bright window, Carley has used only a smattering of dark blues in the main bedroom so it’s a light, serene sanctuary, adding warmth with the same rich rusts as in the living room

OUR MUST HAVES Monstera leaf wall light, £125, Graham & Green. Alamo dressing table with mirror, £229.99, Wayfair. Tropical clouded leopard fabric (seen on patterned cushions), £140 per m, Timorous Beasties. To add a vintage detail to its modern geometric scheme, Carley bought a floral WC and basin on a local Facebook page for her en suite – her dad was a bit horrified at first, but admitted they looked great when in situ!

STUDY Carley’s study is where she works on her homeware business, House Leopard, and its décor reflects the colours she uses in her designs, with walls painted in Oval Room Blue by Farrow & Ball and a pink shade and blind OUR MUST HAVES Morocco tribal shaggy rug, from £15, B&M. Home Source ladder shelving unit in White, £42.99, Amazon. Fejka artificial potted plant, £6, IKEA.

BATHROOM Choose one item to build your scheme around, as Carley has with her large-scale, patterned tiles in the bathroom, which she’s matched with woodwork painted in Downpipe and walls in Setting Plaster, both Farrow & Ball OUR MUST HAVES Mode Hardy free-standing single-ended slipper bath, £559, Victoria Plum. Monobloc mixer tap in Rose Gold, £140, Lusso. You Look Lovely bathmat, £19.99, eBay. Orlando wire cage wall light in Brass, £49, Industville.

1 ‘I love to pair vintage styles with modern finds – and to add metallics for a touch of glam!’ Carley 1. Briz table lamp in Antique Brass and Pink, £69, MADE.com 2. Dutchbone bodega rug, £279, Cuckooland 3. Golden monkey dish, £16, Margo & Plum 4. Platinum Cabana Mono vinyl, £22.99 per sq m, Carpetright 5. Miami gold palm velvet cushion in Rose, £32, The French Bedroom Company 6. Round mirror tray in Gold, £8, B&M 2 3 4 5 6 STEAL MY STYLE

SIENNA’S ROOM Carley has kept things fun with a mix of prints in a pretty pastel palette in three-year-old Sienna’s room, wallpapering one wall and painting the others with scalloped colourblocking in Pink Ground from Farrow & Ball OUR MUST HAVES Pink leopard-print wallpaper, £80 per roll, Eleanor Bowmer. Hemnes daybed, £215, IKEA. For a similar cushion try Natural rainbow cushion, £8, George Home.