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How to decorate a Victorian terrace
The unusual, perhaps defining quality of Victorian housing stock is just how much of it there is. Queen Victoria is surpassed only by the late Queen Elizabeth when it comes to the length of her reign; her span on the throne from 1837-1901 saw the tail end of the Industrial Revolution and the height of the Pax Britannica, as well as the boom in population – particularly urban – that it engendered. As such, Victorian terraces dominate the suburbs and quieter neighbourhoods of many of our cities, from London to Glasgow to Oxford to Manchester. Making one of these houses stand out from the rest is an enjoyable challenge, given their versatility.
The first thing to consider is light. It’s easy to knock down all the internal walls of a Victorian house to create one large space, and many houses are likely to have had previous owners who did just that – in which case, the horse has bolted, and you should decorate with what you’ve been left with. Use rugs and furniture to carve out different spaces within the open plan, demarking sitting and dining areas.
If you still have the original layout, though, make the most of it. Put floor lights in those corners, and furniture against the walls. “It is much more difficult to plan a sitting room layout and flow when a couch is not backed on a wall,” says Deniz Bayern of Studio Bayern, who has renovated and decorated Victorian houses in the past.
In Victorian houses, kitchens were often considered secondary to living and drawing rooms, as were bathrooms (by contrast, contemporary living often now centres the kitchen as a focal point for families or when hosting guests). Consider, then, how you lay your kitchen out – a butcher’s block and shaker table combination can give guests a good place to congregate. Many Victorian terraces have extensions built onto the back of the kitchen, and this can be a good place to experiment with brighter, contemporary colours – say yellows or reds – where you might get more light. Sometimes these extensions will incorporate what was once a side return in a semi-detached house, as well. Think about the division between contemporary furniture and period Victorian pieces in this light. If you have a newer space attached to the house, then you might want to use modern furniture there, and opt for more classical styles in the older section of the building.
Architectural historian Oliver Gerrish calls Victorian houses “Georgian in proportion, but with a load of icing on top.” In practice, this means you can expect a profusion of those mass produced decorative elements decried (but, ironically, also made popular) by the architectural critic and historian John Ruskin. Your otherwise relatively modest terrace might have neo-Gothic ogee arches scattered throughout, for example, or it might have an abundance of mouldings. In this case, don’t go too complicated – a mixture of modern and historic furniture can work really nicely in an ornamented room. If you think a room is too architecturally busy, just use light furniture with clean lines.
In all, Victorian terraces are versatile and plentiful, but call for a balancing act of styles. Read on for some of the best examples of these houses from the House & Garden archive.
Mark Anthony Fox1/15Entrances which open straight into sitting rooms or staircases can be a problem in many narrow Victorian terraces. In her warm and comfortable London house, interior designer Charlotte Boundy made the transition less abrupt with a half-glazed door between the porch and living room, which she had made by a carpenter. Underfoot, reclaimed pine floorboards, sourced from Lassco, run throughout the entire downstairs of the house.
Christoper Horwood2/15If you're sticking with the original hallway layout, you may as well make a decorative feature out of it, as Lucy Williams has done in her London house. The space is a study in pink, with Myland's Soho House on the walls and reclaimed quarry tiles on the floor. In a complementary tone, the stairs are painted in Paper & Paints Porphyry Red. The ceiling light is another Beata Heuman piece, whilst the pine wall light - one of Lucy's “absolute faves" - is a vintage find. Providing a stylish focal point is a side table found at Alfie's Antiques, which displays a ceramic vase by Bettina Ceramica.
Paul Massey3/15This house in west London has been thoughtfully reconfigured by Todhunter Earle Interiors to accommodate a family with young children, as well as their growing collection of antique ceramics and artworks. Originally in the central part of the house, the kitchen was repositioned at the front by Flower Michelin Architects, allowing natural light from the west-facing windows to flood into the room. Original features such as the chimneypiece were left untouched, respecting the house’s Victorian origins. Having open shelves rather than wall-mounted cabinets enhances the sense of width in quite a narrow room, and a seat built into the bay window helps to make the most of every bit of space.
Owen Gale4/15A bold red-and-peach take on the kitchen in this house by Angelica Squire catches the eye, as does the fact that here the kitchen is also in the front room of the house, with the bow-fronted window facing onto the street. The walls in the kitchen are painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Setting Plaster’, and the cabinets are in ‘Preference Red’. The blinds are in Guy Goodfellow’s ‘Pomegranate Print’ fabric, while cafe blinds on the bottom half of the windows allow for privacy while still letting in the light.
Paul Massey5/15In the rear extension of this Victorian house renovated by Tom Morris, a bespoke table by Matthew Cox is teamed with vintage Bruno Rey chairs and an antique dresser. The space is bright and colourful.
Owen Gale6/15In the basement of this Victorian terrace by Honor Devereux, three rooms were turned into one, with space for the kitchen and dining area. A white plastic conservatory was replaced with smart Crittall doors, and Honor had the picture window above the dining table added.
Owen Gale7/15Sandra Barrio von Hurter’s four-bedroom Victorian terrace has a downstairs front room typical of many of its kind. When choosing the colours for the living room, Sandra landed on ‘Lichen’ by Farrow & Ball on the walls, with ‘Hunters Dunn’ in a gloss finish from Paint & Paper Library for the woodwork. A layer of pink tones in the furniture and her and her husband’s collection of books and some of their art complete the scheme.
Boz Gagovski8/15Creative consultant Max Hurd’s London terrace is the perfect illustration of his eclectic influences, from Oscar Wilde to Verner Panton. The result is a flamboyant contemporary take on country-house style realised in collaboration with the designer Benedict Foley. The ground floor of the house has been opened up so that there are still separate rooms, but they all flow into each other, so that light travels right from the back to the front of the house. The front room has become the library, with glossy green walls, a deep, comfortable sofa and bookshelves full of reassuringly well-thumbed titles. A drawing room with a drinks tray adjoins it and leads into the kitchen, with its tongue-and-groove panelling and crenellated cabinets.
Christoper Horwood9/15Many Victorian terraces have an awkward middle room between the kitchen and front room; in her house, Lucy Williams has created a cocktail bar on a smart cabinet, while the other side of the room contains statement armchairs for evenings in front of the fire.
Paul Massey10/15In this Victorian house by Studio Kaya, geometric wool mix curtains from Peter Jones cleverly divide the open-plan sitting room in two. The sofa is from Loaf and the small coffee table was bought at The Old Cinema.
Owen Gale11/15The living space at the back of Angelica Squire's house is long and cosy, given a lateral feel by low furniture including two chairs from Halabala, covered in Veere Grenney’s ‘Folly’ fabric.
12/15Pale walls emphasise the high ceilings and elaborate mouldings in Sarah Chambers’ Victorian terrace in south London. Statement artwork draws the eye to the fireplace, which has been enhanced with a modern marble surround, while the deep blue of the velvet sofa adds a touch of opulence.
Paul Massey13/15Make the most of tall ceilings in Victorian houses with a statement wallpaper. Bedrooms are a good place to try it out, as Joanna Plant has done with Watts of Westminster’s ‘Walzin Chinoiserie’ wallpaper in the bedroom of this 1840s house in west London.
Paul Massey14/15In the bathroom of the Studio Kaya house there is a melange of new and old pieces: the washstand is made from a converted serving table, bought from Kernow Furniture. It stands on modern cement floor tiles by Popham Design. A wall light from Pooky sets off a vintage mirror from Retrouvius.
Michael Sinclair15/15There's no particular reason why you should aim for a traditional feel in a bathroom, but we like how Guy Tobin has approached the bathroom in his London terrace, pairing an antique cabinet with a rolltop bath reclaimed from Chelsea Manor Studios, where the cover for The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album was shot. Farrow & Ball’s fiery orange ‘Charlotte’s Locks’ adds a new dimension to the bath.
