London Family Home
by Shalini Misra Design

A double-fronted Victorian villa in north London, transformed across five floors without extension. The design works through spatial manipulation rather than addition: ceiling heights are adjusted room by room, volumes are divided by sliding screens, and a four-sided mezzanine void cut into the upper-ground floor creates two distinct zones from a single vast space. The original architecture is both respected and reframed. Ornate plasterwork cornicing and ceiling roses are retained and reinstated where lost, sitting alongside floor-to-ceiling glazing at the rear that opens the lower floors entirely to the garden. The entrance hall is anchored by a bespoke geometric marble floor and a sculptural curved staircase in polished dark timber.

Throughout, material choices are made with precision: the principal bathroom features a marble bath surround and matching floor; the master bathroom contains a bespoke double vanity unit in warm-toned hardwood with Carrara marble tops and paired caved mirrors; the garden room is defined by a canopy of sculptural ceiling lights above full-width glazed doors. The palette shifts floor by floor, from the cool greys and stone of the bathrooms to the warmer tones of the drawing room, where deep velvet seating and herringbone parquet sit beneath restored Victorian plasterwork.

The lower-ground floor takes a darker register entirely, with panelled walls and a graphic inlaid stone floor. Across the project, the level of craft and specification is consistent: bespoke joinery, hand-finished plasterwork, and site-specific detailing throughout.

Photography: Mel Yates