Never Mind Quiet Luxury – The Designer of This London Townhouse Fixed a ‘Frankenstein’ Open-Plan Layout and Filled It With Joyful Color

‘Like a sunny embrace’ is how interior designer Carina Raymond, of Studio Raymond, describes the sitting room of this 1930s home, whose cinnamon walls, elegant arches, and overscaled chandelier read more like a dappled Tuscan retreat than a London townhouse.

Perhaps that’s no surprise, given both Carina’s Lebanese heritage and the cosmopolitan approach of its owners, recently relocated from Amsterdam.

‘Our previous house designs were quite Scandi in sensibility,’ says Melissa Sayer, who lives here with her husband Daniel and their three children, aged 10, eight, and six. ‘But it didn’t feel right to go for that this time. We’re quite malleable in our preferences and were ready to introduce some color and pattern.’

First, the layout and flow needed to be addressed.

It’s rare for a renovation to involve reintroducing walls, but the house had previously undergone what Melissa refers to as ‘quite the Frankenstein of works’, leaving a vast open-plan space at its heart, with awkward split levels, dead areas, and underutilized rooms.

The rear had already been extended, and the loft converted, so the project involved unpicking several architectural elements to restore a sense of scale and intimacy.

‘Carina took the floor plans and fixed them,’ says Melissa, who had originally appointed an architect to tweak the space. ‘Her ideas felt less complicated and more intuitive, as well as cost-effective.’

As a result, the ground floor was zoned into a family room, formal living area, and kitchen-diner, partially separated by three arches that add drama and definition.

‘The challenge was that the two spaces sit on different levels, with the dining room three steps lower due to the previous extension,’ says Carina.

‘Melissa was keen to reintroduce the period features that had been stripped from the house, so we added wall paneling in both for continuity. That softening was further enhanced by the arches, inspired by the porticos seen on classic London homes.’

Upstairs, four bedrooms were reworked to produce a main suite comprising a dressing room and bathroom, plus bedrooms for the children, while the loft, previously the couple’s room, has been turned over to a guest suite and home office.

Everywhere there are clever symphonies of form and function, whether the pantry carved from a redundant space and painted purple, the extendable dining table ideal for bigger gatherings, the built-in joinery in all the bedrooms, or the cozy clover-laden walls of the guest bedroom.

‘We wanted to touch on a sense of country living but in a modern way,’ says Melissa, who cites the Cotswolds as a favorite retreat.

Fittingly, the family repurposed as much as possible. The kitchen’s existing island was extended and topped with Rosso Orobico marble, while its original white quartz was reused in the utility room and a bathroom; elsewhere, Melissa’s headboards and rugs were reframed in a new context.

‘I enjoy working this way as it feels less wasteful and presents a satisfying design challenge,’ says Carina. ‘But when you can’t start from scratch, it can be quite challenging, too. On the plus side, we had a blank canvas in many areas where we reworked the layouts entirely, but the kitchen felt more restricted.'

Rather than replacing it, we focused on optimizing what was already there, which helped avoid the cost of a brand-new scheme. Instead, those funds were redirected into bespoke joinery elsewhere. The existing cabinetry was in good condition, so simply switching it up from navy to an earthy mushroom tone and adding new ironmongery made all the difference.’

Above all, this is a home given over to what Carina terms ‘moments of fun and surprise’.

The family room’s walls are papered in a denim-like finish and joinery is saturated in blue; seat pads in the hall feature richly embroidered tapestries; umber walls are offset by upbeat red and white stripes; dreamlike cloudscapes spread across bedroom ceilings; and the cloakroom reveals a modern citrus repeat that Melissa is so enamored with she’s made up two tablecloths in the same pattern.

‘It’s become a really interesting home,’ she says of the artwork and mementos that lend a personal touch. And no one could ask for more than that.

Carina Raymond's 5 Rules for Repurposing Furnishings

• Firstly, think about where you would like to focus your budget.
• Offcuts of kitchen worktops can be repurposed for utility rooms and bathrooms.
• Reimagine furniture – a clever use of fabric, skirt, and trim can revive an old upholstered piece.
• I always reuse good-quality decorative rugs and build a scheme around them.
• Consider whether light fixtures can be reimagined. Simply changing a lampshade can completely transform a piece.

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