Whimsical home renovation adds bright colors and scale-like shingles

When London’s Office S&M was approached to refurbish this Victorian terraced home in Ealing, the client’s needs were clear: a larger living room on the ground floor, and an extra bedroom so each of the family’s three daughters could have her own space.

Architects Catrina Stewart and Hugh McEwen got to work, creating a whimsical top-floor bedroom clad in scale-shaped cedar shingles and punctuated by three arched windows with yellow trim. A new side extension on the ground floor opens up the kitchen and living areas and adds natural light from a new skylight.

"Essentially, we gutted the top and bottom of the house and left the middle largely alone," Stewart said in an interview with Dezeen. "The initial concept was to have a space upstairs for the children and a more pared-back space downstairs for the adults."

All photos by French & Tye via Dezeen

Color is used throughout the interior to add character; the “snakes-and-ladders bannister” is also painted a vibrant yellow while the stairway is green, and the floor tiles in the entry are an encaustic design of mauve and grey. A richer palette of materials—glazed herringbone tile, fabric banquettes, plywood fingerpulls, and marble handrail ends—elevate the lower floors.

Via: Dezeen